“What salary are you looking for?” How to answer this question
Twenty minutes into a friendly call with a recruiter, when it’s all been going rather well, the question arrives. “So, what are you looking for salary wise?”
And you hear yourself say a number you’ve never thought about properly. Usually your current salary plus a bit more. Then you spend the rest of the day wondering whether you just talked yourself out of ten thousand euros.
Almost everybody answers this question badly, and it’s not because they’re bad at negotiating. It’s because they’re answering it caught off guard, without doing the proper preparation.
Here’s how to answer it, and what to do before anybody asks you.
Why “what salary are you looking for” Is Such a Hard Question
Three things are going on at once, which is why your mind goes blank.
- You’re being asked what you want to get paid for a job you know very little about… You can only go off a few bullet points on a job description. You don’t know what the job really entails, what the budget is, or what the person who had it before you earned. You’re guessing. They’re not.
- You were taught it’s rude. Most of us grew up not talking about money, and then suddenly we’re expected to say a number out loud to a stranger without flinching.
- You’re frightened of two opposite mistakes at the same time. Say a number too high and you worry they’ll reject you for salary. Say one too low and you lose out on a lot of money, because every pay rise after this one is a percentage of it.
The Three Numbers To Work Out Before Any Call
Not a range, but three numbers, written down, before you go anywhere near a conversation. You’ll only use one at a time, but you need to know all of three of them.
1. Your floor
The lowest figure you could genuinely live on. Work it out from what your month actually costs, not from what you earn now. The mortgage or the rent, the bills, the childcare, the food, the travel, the holiday you’re not giving up, the pension, and something going into savings. Most people have never added this up, and the number usually comes out well below their salary. That gap is room you’ve been assuming you didn’t have.
Why you need it. “But I’d never accept my floor,” I hear you say. Probably not, and hopefully you’ll never have to. But knowing it gives you a bit of breathing room if push comes to shove, and most people find they can get by on a lot less than they thought they needed. That on its own can bring you a bit of peace.
When you’d use it. Hardly ever. It’s very rare that anyone would take their floor unless they really, really had to, say if they’d been out of work for a very long time and were really up against it. You don’t want to end up there, but if you ever do, you’ll know exactly how low you can go. It also tells you straight away when a job’s range is too low to bother with, which I’ll come back to below.
2. Your target
The figure you actually want. It’s not your current salary plus five per cent. Find three real adverts for the job you’re going for, in your city, with the money printed on them. Look at what people with your years behind them get paid, not what people starting out get paid. Then add what you’re bringing that the next candidate isn’t. That’s your target.
Why you need it. When you’re asked what salary you want knowing this number stops you blurting out your current salary plus a bit more.
When you’d use it. Every time somebody asks. It’s the one you say on the call, the one you type into the application form, and the bottom of any range you give (meaning if you give a range, you put your target number as the lowest number not top). Practise saying it out loud! Get comfortable with it.
3. Your right-job number
This is the lowest figure you’d say yes to for a job that’s really worth it. It’ll probably sit somewhere between your floor and your target.
Why you need it. For the right job, you might be happy to take a little less than your target. Maybe you’re making a pivot into a new field, or there’s a company you really want to work for because it would give you some very specific sector experience.
When you’d use it. If an offer comes in below your target for a job you really want. This only works if you’ve done your homework. If you know why you’re moving and what you’re looking for. Only then can you say to yourself “If they can offer me XYZ, I’d go below my target.” It might be working four days a week, working from home most of the time, or getting that particular company on your CV. Decide what those things are before the call, not while the recruiter is waiting for an answer. And keep this number to yourself, because you still ask for your target.
So your target is the one you ask for. Your right-job number is the one you’d say yes to for a job that’s really worth it. Your floor is the one you know you could live with if you really had to.
What To Say When a Recruiter Asks Your Salary Expectations
You hand the question straight back to them.
So after they ask you what your expectations are, or what your current salary is, just say:
“Would you mind sharing the range for the role, and then I can tell you if that’s within my expectations?”
That’s the whole sentence. No apology after it and no explanation before it. The recruiter has a range. They’re asking you first because whoever says a number first has given something away, and they’d rather it was you.
If they genuinely won’t say, give them your target (not your floor) as the bottom of a range.
So if your target is 65K you’d say, “I’m looking at sixty five to seventy five.” Not sixty to seventy five, because sixty is the number they really hear.
Leave Yourself Room To Negotiate Your Target
Salary negotiation starts in that first conversation, not when the offer lands in your inbox. It’s important that in that first conversation you already plant the seed and leave the door open to negotiate whatever they offer.
Whenever you give a number in that first conversation, add this straight after it:
“However it really depends on the role and responsibilities, and as I learn more about them through the interview process, my number may change.”
You have to say this at the beginning, because it’s very hard to add later.
Say you tell them you’re looking for 65 to 70, and three interviews later they offer you 70,000. It’s quite hard to negotiate at that point, because they’ve offered you exactly what you asked for.
Now say you told them, “I’m looking for 65 to 70, but this will depend on the role and responsibilities as I learn about them.” In the interviews you find out the role is indeed much bigger than you thought. They offer you 70, and you can go back and say, “I know I said 70, but I also mentioned this was dependent on the scope and now I’ve seen how much bigger this role is, I feel that 80K is far more representative for a role of this size”
That one sentence in the first call is what makes the second conversation possible.
What If They Ask What You Currently Earn?
You don’t have to tell them, and you’re allowed to say so pleasantly. You can use the same line as above:
“Would you mind sharing the range for the role, and I can tell you if that’s within my expectations?”
This is actually really important, because if your current salary is below the market, and plenty are, telling them that number means you’ll probably get lowballed again.
What If Their Range Is Below Your Floor?
Then you’ve saved yourself a lot of time, and that’s a good outcome rather than a disappointment.
Say it straight away and say it pleasantly. “That’s useful to know, thank you. However, this range is below where I can go for this kind of move, so I don’t think the timing works, but do keep me in mind if something comes up higher up the range.” You lose nothing. Recruiters remember the people who were clear with them, because almost nobody is. And trust me, as an ex-recruiter: I’d rather know in the first call that this person will never accept the offer because the salary is too low than go through six rounds of interviews and then find out!
What If The Application Form Makes You Put a Number In?
Sometimes the form won’t let you move on until you’ve typed something.
Put in your target, the one you actually want. Not your floor, and not your current salary.
If there’s a notes box, write “depending on the role and responsibilities” in it. It does the same job as the sentence you’d say on the phone, and leaves you room to change your target later.
Changing Career, and Frightened The Money Will Drop
This is the version I hear most often, and it’s usually not as bad as people think.
People decide a change is impossible because of the money, but they’ve never actually figured out their floor number, and when they do, they realise the gap is actually smaller then they thought and it also won’t be forever.
Sometimes the gap turns out to be large and real. That’s worth knowing too, because then it’s something you can plan rather than guess.
Either way, you can’t have this conversation with yourself in your own head at eleven o’clock at night. Write the numbers down.
What To Do This Week
Add up what your month actually costs. On paper, properly, including the things you’re not willing to give up.
Find three real adverts for the job you want with the money printed on them, and write down what somebody with your experience gets paid.
Write down what a job would have to give you for you to take less than your target, whether that’s four days a week, a move into a new field or a particular company, and the lowest figure you’d say yes to for it.
Then write all three numbers at the top of a page and keep it next to you on every call from now on.
If The Money Question Is The One You’re Dreading
Working out your three numbers is something you can do on your own, at the kitchen table. Saying your target out loud to a recruiter is much harder to practise by yourself. Most people’s voice goes up at the end, or they say sorry straight after it, or they knock five thousand off before anybody has even pushed back. So ask a friend or your partner to play the recruiter. Get them to ask you the question when you’re not expecting it, and to tell you honestly how you sounded.
If the money is only one part of it, and what you’re really working out is whether to make a bigger change in your career, book a call with me. We’ll talk about where you are now and what you want next, and whether my programme is the right way to get you there. It’s free, and it’s on Zoom.If you want help saying your number book a free call with me.
[Book a call with me] https://calendly.com/alicegraves/50min