I had a similar experience with some of the other candidates that have expressed their satisfaction about the recruitment processes at TUI. I was simply ghosted after a long recruitment process with the company that took around 3 months. First they give me an offer below agreed salary expectations, which I declined. Then, they say I should interview for another position. I was interviewed and told that they were gonna "make it work" only to ghost me. Just be honest with your candidates, and (a) tell them you can't afford them from the get-go; (b) don't ghost candidates that "you really want on the team". Everything had to be done as soon as possible when they were trying to hire me for the first position, but they completely disregarded my time as a candidate when the roles were reversed. Just be up-front, reject who you don't see fit, don't try to low-ball Developers, and you'll end up with better reviews.