I applied for a job (NSW, Australia) and my partner works with them. He knows that about 3-4 people who are in that role are making $65k base.
The company has an option to give a reference and if they hire the reference they pay the referrer. The HR lady advised that they only considered me for it because of that referral (my partner which they only believe to be my friend) given it is a Level 1 (Entry Level) IT Support position.
They said that the salary would be $55k base and there is no wiggle room “to keep it fair for the other employees”.
I hate how cheap they are being with their payment system.