Received a call from the recruiter after I applied. She said "In this company we try to be as 'upfront' as possible, hence the call and not a mail". Scheduled an interview with the hiring manager. First interview: Video call. Hiring manager joined 5 minutes late but anyway... Questions were around background, knowledge of the role, skills required. I also asked if my poor German skills will be an issue. She said that most of the employees are not German and so they all speak English and specially for the team she was hiring for, only English was needed since she, herself didnt know a word of German. Everything went really smooth and she seemed genuinely interested until she asked me for salary expectation. To which, I replied 40000-50000 Euro per year and open to negotiation. This was ofcourse after finding out the average salary and positioning my skills based on the job role. She almost couldnt believe I was asking for so much and it showed on her face. The conversation afterwards dipped in quality and I was sure I wouldn't be invited to the next round. Surprisingly, at the end I was told that I will be called to their office for an in-person interview. Interview rating for myself (9/10) Second interview: Reached the office and meeting room 30 minutes early. The two interviewers (hiring manager and one other senior management) arrived 30 minutes late. I honestly thought it was a test and on purpose but they said they got delayed but anyway...More questions about my background. This time about my family and why I want to live in Berlin. My education and work culture in my home country (weird) were questioned with an undertone of mistrust but anyway... The senior manager seemed quite particular about why I wanted to join the firm despite my 3-4 layered reasons. I had to justify my skills and experience quite a lot. Felt more like an interrogation than an interview. An hour of repeated questions and finally they seemed quite happy (nothing more they could possibly ask me about). I was told I will get a response soon. Interview rating for myself (9/10) No news for 2 weeks like I suspected. Finally reached out to the recruiter multiple times. No reply. The 'Upfront-ness' suddenly disappeared I suppose. Reached out to the hiring manager on LinkedIn asking for an update. No reply from her either. Finally got an automated mail from the recruiter the next day with a rejection. I wanted to know why I wasn't selected and where I lacked so that I could improve on it for other applications elsewhere so I mailed the recruiter and hiring manager. Dear reader, I am still waiting for the response...