Ok so just ranting
Had an interview with a local non profit focused on sustainability that requires a lot of manual labor. I will never being attending an interview again without asking the wage beforehand. Listing said “competitive wage”, so I mistakenly confused that with “living wage”. This job was in the county next to mine so I would be commuting 30 min to get there. This county has multiple universities, private schools, more industry, and a higher living wage at over $19 hr while where I live it’s a bit above $16. The interview was ok, I was clearly super overqualified but I really needed a job asap so I was exploring all options. We talked for a while and the format was pretty corny, asking me tons of generic questions off a list that seemed redundant and excessive. Finally the interviewer wrapped it up and said she thought I would be a good addition, blah blah blah, but she needs 3 references. Then she says “it starts at 14” I was confused, she clearly knew this is a terrible wage since she told me as vaguely as possible, and I thought this was a street address number or something since they have multiple locations and asked if that’s what she was telling me and where that was. I didn’t expect working at a non profit to be well paying but couldn’t imagine that the pay would be below 15 an hour. She blushed and said this is what they pay their employees when they start out. I said ok I’ll have to think about this and left immediately, I was sure I would not have to think about this since this is impossibly low pay for me with gas prices. I forgot to follow up and she contacted me the next day asking for 3 references. I told her that was excessive request for this position (the main role being sorting garbage and recycling) and I would need a job that could pay me a living wage. Then she told me they are also hiring drivers for 14.25. But I would need to know how to drive manual and have a cdl license. Did not respond. Looked them up online a bit more in depth later and saw that they have a “program” that “trains community members to enter the workforce”, which is literally just using people with criminal records and minor disabilities for free labor.