I am an undergraduate student who is graduating in April. I've been working with a nonprofit since last summer, paid work until December, volunteering since then. It's a great organization that works in my area of interest. I saw that they had a summer job posting for a research fellowship, full-time, $20, between 20-40 hours a week depending on the preference of the hiree. I was very excited about it; the fellowship was basically framed as an opportunity for students or recent (under)grads to get some research experience. I spoke to my boss about it at the beginning of the month and she told me to apply, but that she wasn't in charge of hiring, so to make sure to put in the application that I've worked with them before.
I honestly felt like it was a done deal, that I was going to get it no sweat. I had another meeting with my boss today for something else but asked if there were any updates. She told me that they had gone with other candidates, she had basically been given the top 4 candidates to interview and pull from and I wasn't one of them. She told me not to feel bad though, because 3/4 of the candidates had master's degrees and I basically had no shot. I was shocked, firstly the job description and requirements were 100% entry-level, and it's a summer job that only pays $20. For reference, this is Canada where the minimum wage is usually about $15.
I was disappointed about not getting the job, but it's clear I wasn't even in the running. As I thought about it more though, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that people with master's degrees were competing for $20 an hour summer positions. I know nothing here is ground-breaking but it's the first time I have ever come across something like this myself and it just feels so miserable. I feel bad that these are the jobs that these highly educated people are competing for and also a bit pissed off that a position I was definitely qualified for is picking between several very overqualified people.