Most candidates lose the negotiation before an offer ever exists. It happens ten minutes into a recruiter screen, the moment someone asks about your salary expectations.
Short answer: don’t bring one number to the salary expectations question. Bring three – a floor, a target, and a stretch – then answer with a range that starts at your target and climbs from there.
Here’s the thing: that question isn’t small talk, and it isn’t HR paperwork. Let me give you the translation. What they’re really asking is whether they can afford you, and how cheap you’re willing to be. Whatever comes out of your mouth becomes the reference point every later conversation drifts toward. Harvard’s Program on Negotiation calls this anchoring: the first number on the table exerts a gravitational pull, and counteroffers bend toward it instead of toward what the work is actually worth.
So the goal isn’t to dodge forever. The goal is to make sure the anchor is yours.
Why the salary expectations question decides your offer
Most people treat comp as a conversation that happens at the end. In practice, it happens at the beginning, and the end is just paperwork confirming it.
I hear a version of the same mistake on nearly every intake call. Someone tells me they’re targeting $180K, then admits that when the recruiter asked, they said “I’m at $155 now, so something in that neighborhood works.” The role was budgeted well above that. Nobody lied to them. They simply handed over the anchor and spent the next four rounds negotiating against themselves.
That’s expensive. Across my clients who actually negotiate their offers, the average lift is about $26K in total comp. Not because they’re better negotiators by temperament, but because they don’t give the number away in round one.
Build three numbers before anyone asks
Do this before your first screen, not the night before your final round.
- Floor. The number below which you say no and mean it. Calculate it from your actual life – rent, savings rate, what you’d need to not resent the job in month four. This one never gets spoken out loud. It exists so you can recognize a bad offer instantly instead of talking yourself into it.
- Target. What the market pays someone with your scope at a company of this size. This is the number you build your range around, so it needs to come from data, not hope.
- Stretch. Roughly 10-20% above target. It’s not fantasy – it’s the number you’d get if the process goes well, they have budget flexibility, and you’re clearly their first choice.
Then build your range upward from target. Columbia researchers Daniel Ames and Malia Mason found in a 2015 study that what they call a “bolstering range” – your target at the bottom, extending up – pulls larger concessions from the other side than a single aggressive number does. It anchors high while still reading as flexible rather than greedy. Their caveat matters too: stretch the range too far past the base and it stops being credible.
In other words, “$185K to $205K” works. “$185K to $260K” just tells them you’re guessing.
Look up the range before you guess at it
Here’s the part most candidates skip. You may not have to estimate at all.
More than a dozen states plus Washington, D.C. now require employers to disclose a pay range, and many of them require it in the posting itself. So before you build your three numbers, go read the posting again. If the range is there, your target isn’t a guess anymore – it sits in the upper half of their published band, and your job shifts from estimating to justifying.
If the posting shows nothing, ask. The recruiter screen is exactly where that question belongs, and it’s one of several questions worth asking a recruiter before you spend six weeks on a process. Try this: “Before we go further, what range has been approved for this role? I want to make sure we’re in the same ballpark before either of us invests more time.”
That framing works because it’s mutual. You’re not demanding; you’re protecting both calendars.
What to actually say
Three scenarios cover almost every version of this.
They ask early, and you’ve got no data yet. Deflect once, cleanly. “I’d rather understand the scope before I put a number on it. What range is approved for the role?” If they answer, the anchor becomes theirs to defend instead of yours.
They push for a number anyway. Give the range, then stop talking. “Based on what I’m seeing for this scope, I’m targeting $185K to $205K on base.” No apology, no justification, no nervous addendum. Silence after a number is a feature.
They name a number first, and it’s low. Don’t counter immediately. Ask what the band tops out at, and what would move someone to the top of it. Then you’re negotiating against their ceiling instead of their opening. And if you’re weighing this against something else in flight, remember that real bargaining power comes from a live alternative – which is a different problem with multiple offers on the table.
The words that quietly cost you money
Watch the hedges. “I think,” “around,” “somewhere in the neighborhood of,” “about” – each one hands the other side permission to treat your number as negotiable downward before they’ve even pushed. You said it was approximate. They believe you.
Same with “I’m flexible.” You may mean it as goodwill, but it lands as “I’ll take less.” Flexibility is something you demonstrate later, in what you trade for. It isn’t something you announce up front.
Cut “at least,” too. “At least $185K” sounds like a floor you’ll defend, but it reads as a starting bid you expect to be talked down from.
One more: don’t volunteer your current salary as context. Beyond the fact that many states now restrict salary-history questions entirely, your current pay is only relevant if it helps you. If you’re underpaid today, saying so imports that problem into the new job – which is precisely the trap that makes changing jobs for a raise go sideways.
Salary expectations FAQ
Should I give a number or a range?
Give a range, built upward from your target. Ames and Mason’s research suggests ranges pull better concessions than single figures, and a range signals flexibility without conceding anything.
What if the recruiter insists on a single number?
Give your target as the number, not the midpoint of your range. If they need one figure, that figure should be the one you actually want.
Can employers ask what I currently make?
In a growing number of states and cities, no – salary-history inquiries are restricted. Check your own state’s rule rather than assuming you’re obligated to answer.
What if my target is above the posted range?
Say so early and directly. “Your posted band tops out at $180K and I’m targeting $195K. Is there flexibility, or should we stop here?” A wasted six-week process costs you more than an awkward ten-second exchange.
Should I ever say “I’m flexible”?
No. It reads as a discount you offered before anyone asked for one.
What to do next
If you want to see which part of your search is leaking the most value, take the RHINO quiz. Five minutes, no email required.
If the offer stage is where you keep leaving money behind, read Equity Negotiation: The 6 Questions to Ask Before You Sign next – base is only one line of the package.
If you’d rather have someone build your three numbers with you and pressure-test them before the call, book a free strategy call.