1.) Contacted by Sage Recruiter after applying on site, basic screening type questions, gave current and desired salary range, was told it needed to be discussed with hiring mgr. 2.) Sage recruiter contacted me a day later to schedule an interview with hiring manager. 3.) Interviewed with hiring manager -- Great interview! I killed it! Everything is looking awesome at this point... 4.) A new recruiter contacts me from Sage and tells me she's replacing the recruiter I was previously working with. She tells me the interview went great and they'd like to move forward to schedule a 2nd interview. Emails me a new questionnaire regarding my current & expected salary. I complete the questionnaire within an hour. 5.) Next day recruiter calls me back and proceeds to tell me my salary expectations are out of the range for the position. I come down 5k, I'm told they're going to discuss internally and she will call me back. I receive no call, just an email to schedule a conf. call for the 2nd interview. I can only conclude my range is acceptable. 6.) 2nd Interview with SVP over the phone -- interview goes great, slam dunk! 7.) Next day I receive emails to complete formal job application, a background check, and to formally submit 5 references to be contacted. 8.) I contact all my references to let them know to expect an email survey. Everyone completes their surveys. 9.) 2 days later I receive a call from recruiter telling me I'm qualified, possibly over-qualified, and that my salary range is simply too high and that they're moving on. I tell them that if salary is the only barrier at this point, I'm open to negotiation. Recruiter tells me she will go back to hiring manager to further discuss and contact me. 10.) 4 days later, no word. I send an email follow-up, wait 2 days for a response, still no word. I call 6 days after last contact, I'm finally told that even my base salary in my current job is out of range for this position. The very same base salary I shared on the first day of being contacted, the same base salary I shared in their online application, the same salary I shared on the phone with the 2nd recruiter, and the very same salary I shared again in her email questionnaire? How an organization allows one to get this far in the interview process (3-weeks) while knowing all along that they salary range they're coming from AND what they're looking for are BOTH out of the range budgeted for the position -- AND then at the very end blame it on the salary range completely escapes me. Complete waste of my time and what an embarrassment to have contacted former managers, co-workers, and friends for references only for this to happen.