I did not leave the first interview with a positive feeling. I explained I was targeting for more than the posted salary range, but I explained that "the salary cap was not a deal breaker." Interviewer replied, rather flippantly, "well, you had that information [salary range] when applying," as if I was wasting their time for even thinking about asking for more money. Red flag number 1. I was really put off by this and for the record, the pay range was low, so having such pushback on the top salary cap was already unsettling. I ultimately decided to withdraw my candidacy before the next round as I was reading through the technical screening and was taken aback by the need to essentially create a "free" operations consulting proposal with no guarantee to be hired. The claimed it would take 2-4 hrs, but it would definitely take longer with the "working session" with the team. Free work? In this economy? Red flag number 2.