I recently went through what I believe to be the most unprofessional recruitment process in my career. For my interview process at Dotdash Meredith, I had three rounds: the recruiter screen, the hiring manager, and a panel consisting of the Heads of the HR & TA team and two cross-functional partners, the SVPs of Engineering. The conversations went well for the most part. One thing to note was that one of the SVPs of Engineering showed up 15 minutes late for our 30-minute discussion, impacting the value of our conversation, especially since we were both assessing if our partnership was a fit. Regarding salary, I had been transparent about my compensation expectations with the recruiter and the hiring manager at the start of the process, and both parties said they were aligned. A few days after the panel interview wrapped, I received an offer for lower compensation than expected. The recruiter said she would chat with the team about the agreed-upon salary and return it to me. She circled back to me and said the team could not make that number work. I agreed to accept the offer with the lower number. The recruiter said she would go back to the team again and let them know I accepted the offer. She then called me back to tell me that the team had withdrawn their verbal offer and given the position to someone else, with no apology. I found the recruitment and HR team's behaviors incredibly inconsiderate, wasting my time and energy and denying that they had done anything wrong because the offer was not in writing. I feel that Dotdash Meredith unfairly retaliated against me because I had asked to negotiate, with the organization pulling a bait and switch at the offer stage. Employee/candidate experience is incredibly important to me. I feel relieved that I did not join this organization, especially in an HR capacity where you have the unique privilege of ensuring everyone has an equitable and fair experience.