Arrow Electronics Senior Systems Engineer Interview

Interview Details – I had submitted the resume online on Arrow's website in Jan 2010 and I got a reply from the HR representative in last week of March 2010 asking for a phone interview with the manager. I had a phone interview with one of the persons in technical team instead of the manager and was called in for an in person interview on April 15, 2010. I had a 1-1 with 3 people, first the Enterprise Architect who touched upon the basics of Java, JDBC (since the position I interviewed for needed these skills). But later I learnt that these were the standard questions that he asks whomever is interviewed. Next was a semi-HR and technical interview with the Director. This mostly was regarding my previous projects and work experience. Lastly my immediate manager, asked me a few other questions regarding my work experience and how I would like the environment to be. Overall the interview process was good.

They replied to me on May 4, 2010 that they were interested in giving me an offer and that I would receive the offer letter in a week's time. The worst part starts now, a week went by and 2 weeks too, I havent heard from them. I tried contacting the HR rep through email and phone in those 3 weeks but have not got a reply.
I decided not to wait and go ahead with other interviews and pursue other offers. Hence in the 4rd week of my waiting I decided to email the manager, director and the HR saying that if I do not hear from them I would be going for another offer. Initially when the HR answered, said she was waiting for the CIO's approval and then later she said they had a budget crunch and could not get it approved until now.
Instantly I got an email within a day that had my offer letter.

But the twist here is, I was interviewed for a Senior Software Engineer position and in the offer I found that the position has been demoted to Software Systems Engineer and the salary was way less for NY standards. I had called up the HR and also the manager about this. They had a weird explanation and said they found my experience not enough for this position hence they demoted the position. I tried to negotiate my salary but they said they would not know how much more time they would take to get me a revised offer letter. I had accepted the offer even though I felt uncomfortable with it, since it was full time job.

Negotiation Details – I think negotiations can be done with this company, but you need to be really direct and shrewd with them. Otherwise they take you for granted. Even the work environment is like that, that is the reason why I quit.