Because it's not fixed. We don't usually hire for a particular, specific level of talent/experience except in rare cases when we need to fill out a specific growth area. We just bring in people who seem interesting and then see if we can fit them somewhere.
Also, we're honestly pretty new at this. Our company's a little over two years old, and only in the past year have we gone from poaching people we already know and trust to interviewing people we've never met.
A) If how much money you want from us isn't even an option, we don't waste your time.
Because it's not fixed. We don't usually hire for a particular, specific level of talent/experience except in rare cases...
You may not realize it, but those two statements are contradictory.
Asking price and value are correlated values. If you have a hard limit on what you can pay, you have a soft limit on the quality of your candidates. And by putting a low-pass filter on the interview process, you are clipping off higher levels of talent/experience.
Then if the amount of money I want from you as a potential employee isn't an option, I won't waste both of our times in applying.