Recruiter reached out to me about a contract proposal writing opportunity. She sent the hiring team my resume, and they immediately scheduled an interview. Interview was fine, very easy. I asked what their budget was for the position, they said that they did not know. I told them to let me know when they had figured out a budget/hourly rate. Recruiter followed up within two days with a verbal offer which included a start date and a very, very low rate for the industry. I asked if there was any chance they could go higher on the rate, she said she'd ask the team and get back to me "by the end of the day." I followed up a few days later, no response. Start date came and went. I followed up again, no response. After the third time I followed up (at this point I knew they were hiring someone else who would do the job for low pay) I received a response, "We went with someone else." Super unprofessional behavior. Just tell me that you can't go higher on the rate. Don't just ghost candidates who you recruited in the first place who simply asked if there was any room in your budget to pay them a higher rate.