I applied for a position, and the questionnaire on the company website included a salary requirement. I put down my rate. They reach out for an interview. I accept. I put in time and effort to present my best self in the interview. At the very end of a very lengthy and comprehensive interview, the topic of salary comes up. They tell me that their pay rate is lower than the one I put in their application questionnaire. They then go on about how they don’t pay the rate I explicitly put in my application. They then say that they will be in touch about a more realistic salary. I don’t understand this. I would not have bothered accepting an interview and wasting my time/energy had I known this. I don’t understand why they bothered to reach out at all. The rate I put in is just enough to be a living wage. Barely. And they still want to pay less. I’ve worked too hard for years on end to accept a dirt wage for a demanding full time job. I’ve had enough of that. My student debt payments will be resuming in May. Costs of living keep getting higher and higher. I’m not going through another cycle of hard work for low pay and burnout. I don’t have it in me to go through this over and over and over again. I’m at my wits end. This was a waste of my time. I’m frustrated and over it.