He was employed, comfortably, at a large company with good benefits — and watching it restructure and lay people off. So he kept applying, selectively, to roles he actually wanted.
In August, after about four weeks of searching, an offer arrived. It sat at the bottom of the advertised range: roughly $120,000 for a role posted in several places with a band running up to $240,000. He negotiated a small increase. Then he and his partner did the maths on total compensation and found his break-even point was two to three years out. He turned the job down.
He took a few months off the search. Last week he saw the same role reposted — with a starting range $25,000 higher than the offer he had received.
He was not angry so much as baffled. The money had apparently existed. It simply had not been offered until the first candidate walked away. The company is still looking. So is he.