I've applied for a job with a startup - young but, judging by the number of job ads published, quickly growing company.
They invited me to an interview, paid me a flight in first-class, a really good hotel and booked me a chauffeur. I'm not kidding.
That's absolutely untypical in my country, especially given that I'm not applying for a job on a C-level. I've applied with big wealthy corporations before but even they weren't so generous, they weren't even close. My skills are ok I guess, but it's not like I'm the only person in the country having them.
What are the reasons for this generosity? I can think of the following explanations:
- the company wants to show how generous they are so that I accept a lower salary than the salary expectations I gave them with a promise that I will get a raise quickly
- the company hasn't learned yet to be careful with money and is doomed
What point does a company's generosity during the interview process have?
// Update //
I attended the interview and got an offer. It was one of these we-are-all-one-family-companies that expect you to have no life outside of work and identify with the company 100% - making company seem generous can help with that I guess. They stressed that they get free coffee and some (tiny) benefits other companies don't cover, but... The company expected their employees to work 12+ h/ day (which isn't even legal in my country)! And the salary offered didn't reflect the work times at all. Basically, it was what I expected it to be.