"What are your salary expectations?" arrives early, often in the first phone screen, and it is the one interview question where a bad answer has a price tag attached. Answer too low and you have set a ceiling before anyone has seen your work. Answer too high without context and you can get filtered out before the real interviews begin.
Most candidates handle it one of two ways: they blurt out a number they have not researched, or they dodge so awkwardly that the recruiter notes it as a red flag. There is a better path, and it starts with understanding why the question is being asked at all.
Why recruiters ask this so early
A recruiter asking about salary in the first fifteen minutes is not trying to trap you. They are usually doing one thing: checking whether the range approved for this role and the range you have in mind overlap enough to justify everyone's time.
That is useful information for you too. If the approved band tops out at 40 percent below what you need, you want to know now, not after five rounds. So the goal is not to avoid the conversation. The goal is to get through it without anchoring yourself at the bottom.
Step one: know the range before the call
You cannot answer this question well from instinct. Before any first conversation, spend 20 minutes building a defensible range for the role, the level, and the location (or the remote-pay policy, if the company has one).
Pull from several sources rather than one. Salary transparency laws in places like New York, California, Colorado, and Washington mean many job posts now carry a range you can read directly. Glassdoor and Levels.fyi give you crowd-sourced data points. Your own network, especially people who moved roles in the last year, is often the most accurate source of all.
Write down three numbers: the floor you would not go below, the midpoint you expect, and the top of what the market supports for someone with your background. You will use all three.
Step two: try to get their number first
The party that names a figure first sets the anchor for everything that follows. So your opening move is a polite, direct attempt to learn what they have budgeted.
Something like: "I'm flexible and more interested in the overall fit right now. Could you share the range that's been approved for this role so I can tell you whether we're aligned?"
Many recruiters will simply tell you. Those in states with pay transparency laws are often required to. If they share a range, respond to it rather than volunteering your own: "That works for me, and I'd expect to be toward the upper part of that band given my experience with X." You have just anchored high inside their own numbers.
Step three: if they push back, give a range with a reason
Some recruiters will decline and ask again. Do not deflect a second time; that is where the awkwardness starts and where you begin to look evasive. Instead, give a range, but attach it to something.
"Based on what I'm seeing for senior product roles at companies of this size, I'm targeting somewhere in the $140,000 to $160,000 range for base, and I'm open to how that's structured with equity and bonus."
Three things make this answer work. It is grounded in market data, not personal need. It is a range, which leaves room to negotiate. And its bottom is your true midpoint, not your floor. Whatever you say first is the number they will remember, so the low end of your stated range should be a number you would be glad to receive.
The numbers you should never say
Do not lead with your current salary. In a growing number of jurisdictions, employers cannot legally ask for it, and even where they can, volunteering it turns a market conversation into a "how much of a raise do you want" conversation. If asked directly and you would rather not answer, "I'd prefer to focus on the value of this role rather than my current compensation" is a complete and professional response.
Do not name your floor. If your floor becomes the offer, you have negotiated against yourself. And avoid a single specific number this early; a range keeps the door open while still signalling that you have done your research.
What if the range they share is too low?
Say so, kindly and immediately. "I appreciate you sharing that. It's a bit below where I'm targeting, which is closer to X. Is there flexibility at the top of the band, or in other parts of the package?"
Sometimes there is more room than the recruiter initially offered. Sometimes the role is genuinely capped and you both save weeks of effort. Either outcome is better than nodding along and hoping it works out at offer stage, when you have far less leverage than you think.
Practice the answer out loud
This is the question candidates most often rehearse in their heads and least often rehearse out loud, and it shows. The numbers come out hesitant, the range gets mumbled, and the reasoning gets dropped under pressure.
Run the exchange with a friend, or with an AI mock interviewer, until you can say your range in a level tone without apologising for it. Confidence here is not about being aggressive. It is about sounding like someone who knows what they are worth and expects a reasonable conversation about it.
The short version
Research a range before the first call. Ask for their number before offering yours. If pressed, give a data-backed range whose bottom is your real target. Never lead with your current pay or your floor. And if their range is too low, say it early while you still have the leverage of walking away.
Handled this way, the salary question stops being a trap and becomes exactly what it should be: a quick check that you and the company are in the same neighbourhood, with the real negotiation saved for when they already want to hire you.
