I was contacted by a third party recruiter shortly after submitting an application on LinkedIn for this contractor position. The recruiter shared details about the role and asked me several questions to ensure I was a good fit for the position. She also shared the rate for the role which was within my range. The recruiter felt that I was a great fit for the position and submitted me to the hiring manager. I was also asked to create an online profile as part of the application process, which took another 30 minutes of my time. I was told to expect an update regarding the status of my application within a couple days. After not hearing back for about a week after submitting my application, I assumed that there was no interest in me. However, another couple days later, I finally received an update indicating an interest in setting up an interview.
During the start of the interview, I was told that the rate I was quoted for the role was incorrect and that the actual rate was significantly lower by about $30 less per hour! The interviewer indicated that it was her fault for the mistake and not the fault of the third-party recruiting agency which originally submitted my application. She apologized, but it raised a lot of questions about their attention to detail and whether I could trust them with other more important information that might be shared about the role. I obviously could not accept a significantly lower rate and we ended the call shortly afterwards. It was also puzzling that the correct rate was not shared with me via email when the mistake was realized so that we would not waste time with the call. It was also very concerning that the incorrect rate was not addressed until a week and a half after I originally submitted my application for the role. This does not speak well for the hiring team.