The interviewer was on time and immediately began running through my resume and skillset, focusing solely on my copywriting skills.
She jumped right into my salary expectations, and when I replied with the industry standard range, she proceeded to tell me "To be honest with you, we're not going to pay that". Turns out they already hired for the role but wanted someone to focus solely on copywriting, despite me (and everyone else) having applied for a MULTIMEDIA position.
Copywriting is one of my skills but I would never have applied for a copywriting role. The skillset, the pay, and the responsibilities are entirely different.
I can only assume that leadership put her in that situation and that they did not want to put out a new req for an entirely different position in order to fill the role quickly.
I am shocked and disappointed in their behavior for intentionally misleading and wasting every single applicant's time.