They didn't have an actual need for an employee on this specific team. All they were looking for was free consulting on a business problem. They used the interview process to get free work. I'd reccomend pushing back on the request to solve some task as part of your interview prep. Ask that you solve a more abstract question.

A friend had referred me for a Director of Engineering role and the interviews were arranged within a week. Over a two week period, I had a chance to e-meet with senior members of the team I'd be taking over, some of the peers, the hiring manager himself and his boss. Overall, the interview process was smooth, efficient and well thought out. The hiring manager called and informed they'd like to make an offer. A recruiter got involved at this stage and that is when things started unraveling a bit. This recruiter at first seemed genuine but on the second conversation she went on to ask about my current compensation (which is illegal in California) and came up with a low ball offer that was below my current compensation. Eventually, they did bump it up a bit but it was still lesser than my current compensation. Nevertheless, I would have taken the offer except for the manner in which the process was handled over all. If Salesforce was basing their offers on current comp, my impression of them being an employee-friendly place started to crumble and I decided to politely decline the offer. 1. Either the recruiter felt she wouldn't get anything out of closing this (because I'm an internal referral) and decided to field other candidates that she had sourced 2. Title inflation is common-place at Salesforce and while the position is for a Director of Engineering, the comp and the impact was significantly less (more in line with an L4 engineer at Google/Facebook) Advice to Salesforce team: It is illegal to solicit a candidate's current compensation and make an offer entirely based off of that. In rare situations (where expected comp is way higher than the top of your band), it might be ok to know if the candidate has competing offers but current pay should not be a factor at all. Please consider fixing this so your reputation as an employee-friendly place doesn't suffer. Advice to candidates: Title inflation (especially in the middle of the leadership ladder) is quite common-place at Salesforce. If you are interviewing for a Director / Senior Director / VP role, keep in mind that the offer might equate to something substantially less than at competing firms.