ZEISS Group interview questions

The interview process consisted of four stages: an initial screening with Human Resources, a subsequent interview with the hiring manager, a technical assessment, and a final discussion with senior leadership, including HR. I successfully completed all four rounds. However, my attempt to negotiate the salary was met with a rejection and no further negotiation was offered. During the process, I specifically requested that we continue only if the organization could meet my salary expectations. HR confirmed that they had discussed this with leadership and that my expectations were agreed upon. Despite this assurance, they offered 10% less salary from my expectations. I am unsure whether the role has been filled or if the organization has hired another candidate who accepted the initial salary offer.

From my understanding, they structured the interview in a way where the first interview is for the recruiter to get to know the candidate more. The second interview offers candidates the opportunity to ask questions and know about the job scope in detail. However, this makes my first interview feel very one-sided. There wasn't even an introduction of the recruiter or of Zeiss. Moreover, the recruiter wasn't very smiley, and it really simply was a ping-pong conversation between questions and answers. So the overall atmosphere felt tense.