HR calls candidate's salary expectations 'cute' before proposing a 50-hour work week. Their response deserves applause

That gut-wrenching feeling of finally seeing an interview invite hit your inbox after months of silence is usually followed by a wave of relief. However, for a particular candidate, who goes by u/thunder____boy on Reddit, that relief turned into pure disbelief just five minutes into a video call. The applicant had done thorough research on the company and decided to go ahead with the interview only because it looked "decent" on paper. As expected, everything was fine until the recruiter asked the candidate about their expected salary. While they quoted a completely justified rate, the interviewer dismissed it, saying the company prefers to hire people driven by purpose — not the paycheck. The candidate shared how they handled the situation on April 21, and their post has received 31,000 upvotes online. 

The unreal expectation

As soon as the interviewer heard the candidate's response, he chuckled, leaned back in his chair, and said, "That's a cute number, but we prefer to hire people who are driven by the mission, not the paycheck. We expect 50-hour weeks, but the base rate is non-negotiable." The applicant had the same reaction as most of us would have had if we were in his situation. Confused, they inquired whether the job offered any equity or bonuses, but the recruiter's response left them even more shocked. The interviewer replied, "No, just the opportunity to work with a rockstar team." Now, despite hearing this, given how bad the job market is right now, most of us would've swallowed our pride and taken the offer. However, not this applicant, who politely declined the offer, saying, "I don't think our expectations align. Thank you for your time," and hit the end call button.

People are out of options

While this person didn't take this job and decided to wait, that's not how people with just one offer on the table usually respond. According to ZipRecruiter's Q4 Job Seeker Confidence Survey, more workers are willing to make lateral moves (16.3%, up from 14.7%) or even pay cuts (27.3%, up from 24.5%) to secure a job. The biggest motivator for taking a pay cut or making lateral moves is unemployment. In fact, more than half of the respondents (64.5%) who accepted pay cuts confessed they did so because they were unemployed and needed a job. Moreover, the report revealed that long-term unemployment has increased by more than 15% in just a year. 

Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/garbagecleric wrote, "Money isn't the only thing I consider, but the mission and 'rockstar' teammates don't matter at all if I can't pay my bills. And I would 100% hang up on a recruiter who called my salary expectations 'cute'. I would even prefer something like 'delusional' or 'absurd' to 'cute'. 'Cute' is just demeaning and unprofessional." Meanwhile, u/latecraigy commented, "For enough money, I can be passionate about anything. But I’m not driven by any mission for free."

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