I was contacted by a recruiter via LinkedIn to apply for a Team Lead / Lead iOS Developer position. The opening was with Deloitte Netherlands, and the position and possibilities really matched my current situation and development direction, so I was genuinely interested.

After an initial call with the recruiter, I had two on-site interviews with Deloitte: one with my future manager and a member of the team, and the other with a senior manager and a software architect. Both interviews went just fine; they were more about personality and leadership and less about technical stuff.

It is important to mention that both times the interviewers explained that they would present their decision and feedback to me, whether positive or negative. They stated that the feedback itself would be of huge value to me.

After the interviews, we had several calls with the recruiter in order to negotiate the salary, which was a surprise to me. I expected to have these conversations with someone who was in charge of the decision-making so that I could influence the outcome, or at least have a chance to provide the ground for my requirements.

The recruiter turned out to be genuinely not interested in negotiating for me. He made it clear that my salary expectations were too high for the position. He even tried to push me into reverse-bidding for the position, mentioning that the other guy interviewing for the role was going to agree to a significantly lower salary.

Afterward, I received a call from the recruiter saying that the decision was made in favor of the other guy because of financial reasons. During the conversation, it became obvious that the recruiter did not even try to negotiate for me. My reasoning behind my requirements had not been considered (or even understood correctly), and most importantly, the feedback about the interviews, which I expected and which held significant value to me, would NOT be made available, contrary to what Deloitte promised.

The exact questions are not too relevant to be mentioned in the review.