I got contacted by the company recruiter after sending my CV and being shown interest from the hiring manager. After a quick talk about what location I would have preferred applying for, I've been immediately asked for the salary range. The salary range was mandatory, despite almost no information about the role. I gave the average salary of a software developer from Glassdoor in Amsterdam, since that would have been my preferred location. The salary request got rejected, despite the salary in line with my seniority level (3 yrs) and the market value of such position. I answered them to kindly share with me what they would be willing to pay me, since they explicitly stated they were searching for "top talents" but an average salary was too much for them, but they refused to share such information.