After I applied, it took the recruiter over a month to reach out to me. They reached out by email, requesting responses to screening questions that are usually asked during a screening call. My assumption was this was the recruiter's attempt to streamline their work load. Either way, it was very impersonal, so I requested a phone screening to have the opportunity to discuss the position and give myself an opportunity to ask any questions. The recruiter reluctantly scheduled a phone screening, then called 20 minutes past the scheduled time. Instead of taking ownership over their tardiness, they used their busy schedule and lateness to justify why they sent a screening email instead. After that, they decided they wanted to conduct a checklist style interview with no attempts to actually discuss any of my qualifications and experience. When I expressed "I'm looking for a competitive salary for my qualifications and experience" and inquired about the target salary range for the position, they refused to share then demanded that I share my salary expectation. Then they continued to lecture me on how they had never been asked for a target salary range in their many years of recruiting. Which made me question their integrity, since this type of inquiry is pretty common and reflects pay transparency from a company these days. Tired of the unprofessionalism, I simply hung up and sent them a email detailing why I was no longer interested in working with them as a recruiter. I rated this interview very difficult just due to the unprofessionalism that the recruiter exhibited towards a qualified and experienced software engineer candidate (not that is would've been justified if the candidate was unqualified and inexperienced). As a candidate's first impression of the company, they should've at least conducted themselves professionally and treated a fellow professional with the respect that they were being given.