I began by interviewing for a different role, making it to the final stages with three other candidates. The hiring manager for the initial role was extremely kind and thoughtful—providing meaningful feedback, transparency and respectful communication. After they moved forward with their chosen candidate, the VP of Marketing thought it would be worthwhile to introduce me directly to the co-founder for a Design Engineer position. I never applied for this position, but I was open to the conversation and appreciative of the opportunity and thought given the positive experience so far. The call was pushed 2.5 weeks past our initial introduction and ended up landing on a Monday morning directly after their team offsite. I think the co-founder had forgotten why the call was arranged because the conversation was pretty negative. I was essentially scolded for applying to two opposing roles (though I had only applied to one). During the process for the initial role, the co-founder had been added to my Figma portfolio review and take-home assignment, so I had assumed he was aware of my skill set and general fit (or not) for the role. The salary posted for the job was listed as a range of $170K–$260K. He told me they could only offer around $90K should things progress and that he would require a four-week working trial because I was “so junior” as an engineer. Considering Ashby’s product is an Applicant Tracking System, it might be worth interviewing candidates who actually applied for your roles instead of taking 30 minutes to meet with a lead from a team member you don’t believe is qualified out of the gate.