Few interview questions create more quiet panic than "What are your salary expectations?" It usually arrives early, sometimes in the first ten minutes of a phone screen, long before you know what the job really involves. Answer too low and you may lock in a smaller offer. Answer too high and you worry about being screened out.
The good news: this question is predictable, which means you can prepare for it. Here is how to handle it at every stage without underselling yourself.
Why Recruiters Ask So Early
Recruiters ask about salary expectations for two reasons. The first is practical: they have a budget, and they do not want to spend three weeks interviewing someone they cannot afford. The second is strategic: the first number mentioned in a negotiation tends to anchor everything that follows.
Knowing this changes how you should respond. Your goal in an early screen is to confirm you are in the same ballpark without committing to a specific figure before you have any negotiating power.
Do Your Research Before the First Call
Never walk into a screen without a number in mind. Spend an hour gathering data:
- Check salary ranges on job postings. Pay transparency laws in states like California, New York, Colorado, and Washington require many employers to publish ranges.
- Look up the role on salary aggregator sites and filter by location, company size, and experience level.
- Ask peers in your field. A short message like "I'm benchmarking for a negotiation, would you be open to sharing a range?" works better than you might expect.
From this research, build three numbers: your walk-away (the lowest offer you would accept), your target (what the role should realistically pay for your experience), and your stretch (the top of the market range).
The Deflection That Works, and When to Stop Using It
In a first screen, it is reasonable to hold your number. Try this:
"I'd like to learn more about the scope of the role before I commit to a figure. Can you share the range budgeted for this position?"
Many recruiters will simply tell you. Companies increasingly expect this question, and in several states they are required to answer it.
If the recruiter pushes back a second time, stop deflecting. Refusing twice starts to feel evasive and can sour the conversation. Move to a range instead.
How to Give a Range Without Boxing Yourself In
When you give a range, follow two rules.
First, make the bottom of your range a number you would be happy with. Employers hear the bottom of a range as your acceptable price. If you say "90 to 110" hoping for 110, expect an offer near 90.
Second, anchor slightly high. Set your range from your target to your stretch, not from your walk-away to your target. A useful script:
"Based on my research and the scope we've discussed, I'm targeting somewhere between X and Y, depending on the total package."
That last phrase matters. It signals that base salary is one part of the conversation and leaves room to discuss equity, bonus, or flexibility later.
What If They Ask About Your Current Salary?
Salary history questions are illegal in many jurisdictions, including California, New York, and more than twenty other states and cities. Even where the question is legal, you are not obligated to volunteer an answer.
Redirect politely: "I'd prefer to focus on the value of this role. Based on the responsibilities, I'm targeting between X and Y."
Notice that this answers a different question than the one asked. In practice, almost no interviewer pushes past it.
Timing Changes Everything
Your negotiating power is lowest in the first screen and highest the moment an offer lands. By then the company has interviewed you, compared you to other candidates, and decided it wants you. Every stage you advance, your number becomes easier to defend.
This is why locking in a figure early is so costly. If you must give a range in a screen, keep it wide. Narrow it only once you understand the full scope of the role.
Mistakes That Cost Real Money
A few patterns show up again and again:
- Naming a single number instead of a range. It removes all your room to move.
- Apologizing for your number. Phrases like "I know this might be high" invite a lower counter.
- Accepting on the spot. Even a great offer deserves 24 to 48 hours of review. No reasonable employer rescinds an offer because you asked for a day.
- Negotiating only base salary. Signing bonuses, equity refreshers, extra vacation, and remote flexibility are often easier for a company to grant.
Practice Saying It Out Loud
Reading a script is not the same as saying it. The salary question triggers real discomfort, and discomfort makes people ramble, apologize, or blurt out a low number.
Practice your range answer out loud until it sounds boring to you. Rehearse with a friend, or run a mock interview with an AI practice tool like CareerGraph and have it press you on compensation twice. The second push is where most people fold.
You have one goal when this question comes up: sound like someone who knows what they are worth and has options. Preparation is what makes that true.