I applied for an internal role within my company. This was the second time I did so, with the first resulting in someone with 10 years’ experience getting hired for a junior role and the manager of the team getting fired two months later. I really wanted this role because a) it is aligned to the skills I want to develop and projects seem interesting, and b) it would be at least a 15k increase in salary based on the range they had posted. Well today I got offered the position, but their offer was only an 8k bump in my salary. When I asked our HR person about why the offer is lower than the minimum in the posted range, they said they were told I did not meet all the job requirements and that merit increases will happen in a couple months anyway. I live in a HCOL area for context. I’m disappointed to say the least and feel insulted, especially seeing they did not specify what “requirements” I did not meet to justify paying me less. Everyone is telling me to quit, since they’ll continue to take advantage of me. But I have been unemployed for a few months before while switching jobs and it gave me too much anxiety. Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone can relate or share their advice. Thanks