I had a phone interview today with a recruiter at a major clinical laboratory. S&P 500 company, record profits last year presumably due to the pandemic, and made a profit of 16 billion dollars in 2021. I am a chemist and have 7 years of experience so I applied to a job in their special chemistry department. They were offering a 1000$ signing bonus. I thought all looked promising. The interview went well and they wanted me to go to the lab right after the phone call to meet the hiring manager. Then the salary talk came. They pay 17$ an hour for qualified chemists. This is about 50% less than what I currently make at my job which is nowhere near a multi billion dollar company. I was astounded. They had my current salary as part of my application. They had to have known I wouldn’t accept 17$ an hour. But yet they kept trying to sell me this job praising their benefits, sign in bonus and opportunity for advancement. I asked her what a lab supervisor made and it was STILL less than what I make now. I was astounded and obviously declined the offer. The recruiter apologized which I thought was odd. I’m not the desperate one here. I just simply do not understand how a company like this pays so extremely low other than corporate greed….