9y
I'm sorry to hear that you felt we were looking for someone on the cheap side. If that's how you felt at the end of the interview process then please accept my apologies.
I ask the salary question early on to make sure a candidate's compensation preference aligns with our budget. It's designed to make sure you (or our interview team) doesn't in fact waste 5 hours of time by completing the interview only to find out our budget doesn't align with your salary targets.
If you were invited onsite it means that your salary target was in fact aligned with our budget. We appreciated the time you spent with us and I hope you found a great company to work for. I wish you the best of luck in your career. - Zach Johnson, Sr. Recruiter