I applied for a Software Engineer contract with Pulselive via LinkedIn. The contract rate was specified in the job posting. It took 2 weeks before I received an email inviting me for an interview. I arranged my schedule so I could prepare for the interview. I took time to research the company and underwent the usual technical interview preparation. A day before the interview, I received a call from Pulselive HR stating that they are now not happy to pay the advertised rate, they asked would I mind being considered at 20% less! I agreed to negotiate slightly but explained that 20% was too extreme. Two hours before the scheduled interview, they called me to say that the hiring manager does not want to progress with my application. I found this to be very bad form and extremely unprofessional. In many ways, it's probably a blessing in disguise and tells me a lot about the culture of senior management at this company. I probably dodged a bullet.