Employee rejects job offer from a company that did not hire him during the 2008 recession

The impact of a recession is universally harsh, regardless of when or how it occurs. Individuals from all walks of life feel its effects and companies struggle to survive amidst significant challenges. One Reddit user, u/Washedupcynic, shared a personal story about how they desperately looked for a job during the 2008 recession but were rejected by a specific company, which now seeks to recruit them after 15 years. However, they knew exactly how to shut them down confidently.

They shared in the post, "I finished my Ph.D. just in time for the 2008 recession to hit. I managed to land a postdoctoral fellowship, then once that was over, started looking for jobs in my field; at this point, it was 2011. The next town over from where I went to school had a biotech company start-up that grew rapidly." They sent numerous resumes and job applications to this company, but unfortunately, they never received any response, let alone an interview.

This was a recurring pattern with most of the biotech firms he applied to. "I moved on with my life and got a job in a completely different field while maintaining a consulting side hustle in my field," they added.

The person hustled for almost 10 years with underpaid jobs, all in order to maintain health insurance and finally landed a position with a company that offers them great benefits and pay, where they can even maintain a work-life balance. Then all of a sudden, 15 years after getting rejected by the said biotech company, the Reddit user got a call about recruitment. The recruiter, named Amanda, informed them there was an opening for a cell culture quality control analyst and would the Reddit user like to apply for this position.

"I'm currently employed and I love my job, so much so that you'd have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers. I'd only be interested if you can meet the bottom line. $40 an hour, 4 weeks vacation, insurance benefits without a deductible, and mandated overtime to be paid at 3x the hourly rate," the Reddit user added. They got a bit of silence from the other side as the recruiter informed them that their maximum hourly pay rate was $30. "I know," they dropped a snarky reply and disconnected the line. The person also clarified that the position they were offered only required a bachelor's degree and the salary they were offering was criminally low for that particular position.

Fellow Reddit users showed up to share their thoughts. u/diabeticelephant wrote: "Seeing posts like this where people with PHDs are struggling to find decent paying jobs with ok benefits really help me appreciate unions that much more. I’m a high school dropout that went through an electrical apprenticeship and then joined the IBEW after learning about labor unions and I’m making $55/hr right now and my employer pays for my retirement and health benefits with nothing coming out of my pocket."

u/HoppyHopalong commented: "Yeah, nonprofit and academia are often worse than people outside of them expect when it comes to salary. They lean heavily on 'You’re here because you have passion, and that should make up for having to pay for food and shelter.'" u/TheCommitteeOf300 shared their experience: "I just left a lab job for a job in my field (engineering) and I went from 36k to 76k. Also, the 36k job was in one of the most expensive cities in the country so I had to live with my parent and drive an hour and a half to work and back every day. Now I drive 12 minutes to work."

A lot of others pooled in to comment about how some people with minimal education are still making more or getting better offers than a Ph.D. holder. According to the reports of the Corporate Finance Institute, the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 took its toll on individuals and institutions around the globe, with millions of Americans being deeply impacted. Financial institutions started to sink, many were absorbed by larger entities and the US Government was forced to offer bailouts to keep many institutions afloat. Coming back to the story of this Reddit user, we can say they gave the apt reply to the recruiter who offered them low pay.