What to say when you’re asked about salary expectations

A recruiter has asked what you’re looking for. Which reply you send depends on one thing: whether you know enough about the job to put a price on it. Both are replies in their thread. Replace everything in square brackets.

The first gets you a number to react to. The second puts yours on the table in a form nobody can misread. Neither needs a paragraph about what you’re worth: the recruiter asked a practical question, and a practical answer helps them most.

Early on, you may know the job title and little else. How many hours, how much weekend cover, whether there’s an on-call rota, how senior the role really is: each one moves the number you’d want. If you can’t answer those yet, any figure you give is a guess.

Filled in, it reads like this. The names are made up.

One question about money and one about the job. The second tells Jo why you’re not giving a number yet, and it’s a real reason: a support role with a weekend every month is a different job from one without. A role is usually approved with a budget before anyone is called, so asking for the range is asking for something they may already hold.

For example: “For the hours we discussed, I’m looking for €48,000 to €54,000 gross base pay per year. Does that fit the budget?” Those figures are an example. Replace them with numbers you’d actually consider.

Two sentences, and each part of the first one has a job to do.

1. 01

   The hours you’re pricing

   “For the hours we discussed” ties your number to the job as it was described. If the job grows later, with more weekends or a bigger team, your number can fairly grow with it.

2. 02

   A range you’d accept

   Both ends are figures you’d say yes to. If they come back with the bottom of your range, you should be glad to accept it. If you wouldn’t be, the bottom is too low.

3. 03

   Gross base pay per year

   The currency, before tax, without bonus, and the period. A few words now stop a misunderstanding that would otherwise surface at the offer.

4. 04

   A question back

   “Does that fit the budget?” asks for a yes, a no or their range. It keeps the conversation moving instead of leaving your number hanging.

A range only works if both ends are true. The figures should come from what you need and what the work pays, not from what sounds bold on the day. Four steps get you there.

1. 1Start from what you need. Work out the monthly amount you need after tax, then turn it into a yearly gross figure for the country you’d be paid in. That’s your floor. Below it, the job doesn’t work, however good it sounds.
2. 2Look at what similar roles show. Read the pay on postings for similar roles, at a similar level, in the same country or city. Check the currency and whether each figure is yearly, monthly or hourly before you compare.
3. 3Ask people who know. A former colleague in a similar role, a recruiter you trust or a professional community can tell you whether your range sits in the right place. Ask about the range, not about their own salary.
4. 4Adjust for the job in front of you. Weekend cover, on-call, travel, a long commute or a bigger remit are reasons to move up. A shorter week or a fully remote role can change the sum too, in either direction.

Then set the range: the bottom at a number you’d accept without regret, the top at what the job is worth if it’s as big as it sounds. A range a few thousand wide, like the €6,000 in the example, is easier to discuss than one so wide it tells them nothing.

Sometimes the recruiter can’t share the range, or won’t until you’ve said something. Asking once is fair. Asking twice starts to look like you’re dodging the question, and the conversation stalls. Give your range, tied to what you know so far.

“Based on what I know so far” is honest: it’s your number for the job as described. If the job turns out to be bigger, you’ve already said the number may move, and nobody can say you changed your story.