Company offers high salary but spends 4 months low-balling their 'top choice.' His response matched their disrespect

After spending four months navigating multiple interview rounds and being repeatedly told they were the company’s top choice, one senior candidate thought they were finally at the finish line. Instead, the process ended with what they described as a shockingly low offer at the last minute. On May 19, 2026, frustrated by the experience, Reddit user u/AdditionalRise5722 shared the full story that has since received more than 1,000 upvotes and sparked widespread discussion online.

Kept in the dark

The person's story started about four months ago, when they applied for a senior role at a well-known tech company. Surprisingly, the hiring manager contacted the person almost immediately, which is, of course, a great sign. Soon, the interviews began one after another, and everything was going smoothly. In the meantime, the person made it clear that they needed to know the salary and wanted the hiring manager to be fully transparent in that regard, to which the manager agreed. 

"I even gave them a sort of discount and asked for the midpoint of the range they had advertised for the position," the employee said. After this, the company told the person that even though they were their first choice, they wanted to interview the other candidates just in case, which the employee was completely fine with. Four months had passed, and the company finally decided that this person was the one they still wanted, but with a twist. 

Four months for this?

When the company reached out to them again, the employee revealed, "They came back saying I wasn't quite at the 'senior role' level. Instead, they offered me the job for just a little over half the salary we had discussed." The person felt it was a huge insult, especially with them already making things crystal clear about the compensation. So, they told them, "I know my worth, and you and the hiring manager know it too." This was the final straw, as not only did the employee decline this offer, but also shut the door for the future.

The person couldn't understand how a company could operate like this and go back on their word. After brainstorming for a while, they came to the conclusion that this could be a "bait-and-switch" tactic from the beginning, as it would be the only logical way to explain the time they wasted. Nonetheless, this was a bold move from the candidate, given the tough job market at the moment.

The current job market

Although this candidate didn't fall prey to the company's dirty tactics of saving money, not everyone has this luxury. According to a survey held by Revelio Labs cited by Business Insider, out of all the white-collar people who switched their jobs, almost 40% took pay cuts of more than 10%. This is quite astonishing, given that people usually switch jobs for higher pay, not the other way around. Additionally, even though just 4.4% of the US workforce is unemployed, this fails to reveal the number of people working jobs out of their domains just to make ends meet. 

Readers spotted the classic 'bait and switch'

That's why people in the comments praised this person for taking a stand against such malpractices from the companies. u/Iluciferl wrote, "Classic bait and switch strategy to use the economic downturn and your willingness to get employed quickly against you. It's a feral corporate technique used by slimy companies." At the same time, u/chortle-guffaw commented, "And now you know why they called you back. They made comically low offers to other candidates who turned them down before you did. You were the Hail Mary pass."

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