Initially, it began with one of the consulting service managers from their AdaptiveIT group who reached out to me via LinkedIn because of my "not looking, but open" status. After providing some contact information, I received a call from the manager who explained the position as a full-time hire Field Engineer position. That position was not a fit from pay perspective, but he contacted me a month later about another position. He called and we spoke for a bit again about my experience and pay expectations. I sent my resume following the call, and he contacted another one of the managers there and they asked me for an in-person interview.
The interview started with basic questions, like "what are some of your strengths?" and "What would you say are your 3 strongest technical skills?". That said, they bad-mouthed my current employer right away by asking "what makes you want to leave your current employer, other than that they suck?" (My current employer is a competitor of theirs, so I get that it was a joke, but seemed very unprofessional).
Eventually, the interview moved into a Q&A section designed to "test my skills". There were some reasonable technical questions, mostly infrastructure related with Microsoft AD, VMware, SAN, VDI, Citrix, etc.
All-in-all, I thought the gentlemen were friendly during the interview, and accommodating. The manager I originally spoke with didn't really say too much, and was giving glances back and forth to the one who was grilling me on my technical knowledge. They even explained somewhat a couple of the items I initially missed or needed something to jog my memory. Following the interview, as promised, they provided me with a list of the company's benefits.
Two days later, I received an email (not a call, an email) offering me the position with stipulations I needed to sever my current employment within two weeks so I could attend training and then immediately begin with the contracted work they had lined up. I had voiced my concern with not giving a 30-day notice for my current employer, as is my standard given the level of my position and the amount of professionalism I pride myself in having. Additionally, the salary offered was LESS than what I'm currently making. When combined with worse benefits than I currently have (no bonus program, lower 401(k) matching, etc.), it would have been a pay cut plus being required to sign a non-compete clause and adding up to 80% travel.
I responded very politely and turned down their offer, citing these things as concerns. I thanked them 3 times in the email for the opportunity and mentioned I'd be open to other opportunities in the future. They tried to counter by offering a little over 2% more, but again, this would be a pay-cut with the loss in bonus/benefits. I politely declined again, this time citing the amount it would take for base salary for me to accept this position, given the discrepancies. His response, in my opinion, was rude and disrespectful, citing "we have field engineers with much more experience making those amounts...good luck in your future endeavors." He insinuated I'd misled him on my salary expectations (when I had told him twice what I currently make, and that I'd expect an improvement in that). I responded defending myself, but no other correspondence has been had since then.
