Real conversation, not exaggerated. Actually slightly toned down:
“We offer a competitive salary! It’s $number!”
“I have 2 offers 10% higher, from a shipping company and a finance company, in the same city”
“We don’t compete with the finance and shipping sectors”
“And 15% higher in one of the consultancies”
“We don’t compete with consultancies either”
(I think I’m going to put Reigninh Monarch of Norway on my CV. I just don’t compete with King Harald.)
Haha, that’s the attitude :)
I did say, in a nice way, that “they are your competitors either way”.
And yeah, companies treating interviews as a one-way evaluation is a red flag.
There was this book that was hype around 2010, called “Are you smart enough to work at Google?”. It was full of interview questions and brainteasers that I strongly suspected I’d find interesting, but I couldn’t get over the title. I wanted to scream “Fuck you, book! Is Google smart enough to hire ME?!”
We are, as a profession, systematically manipulated via these interview processes to feel stupid and inferior to drive down wages. I’d rather come off as slightly too arrogant now and then, rather than submit to that.