What are your salary expectations?
Why interviewers ask this
Employers have budgets. They ask about salary to check that your expectations are within their range before investing more time, and sometimes to see how well you know your market value.
How you answer matters too: a calm, researched response shows professionalism and makes later negotiation easier for both sides. Answering well protects you too: a researched range makes it less likely you will undersell yourself or be ruled out for asking too much.
How to answer
- Research before the interview using job ads with published salaries, salary surveys and conversations with people in similar roles.
- Give a range rather than one number, with the lower end being a figure you would genuinely accept.
- Base the range on the role, its responsibilities and your experience — not on your current salary alone.
- Mention that you are open to discussing the full package, including benefits, flexibility and development.
- If it is very early in the process, you can politely ask about the budgeted range first.
Example answers
Based on my research into similar marketing manager roles in this city, and considering that this position includes managing a team of three and the paid media budget, I’m looking for something in the range of 58,000 to 65,000 a year. That reflects my six years of experience and the results I’ve delivered in my current role. I’m also interested in the full package, so things like the bonus structure, training budget and flexible working are part of the picture for me. I’m happy to discuss it further once we both know more about whether I’m the right fit.
That’s a fair question. Before I give a number, could you share the range budgeted for this role? It would help me make sure we’re on the same page. From what I’ve seen in similar laboratory technician roles in the region, salaries are typically somewhere in the mid-thirties to around forty thousand, depending on experience with specific equipment. Given my four years in a clinical lab and my experience running quality control, I’d expect to be toward the upper part of that. But I’m flexible, and I’d also consider things like shift patterns and training opportunities when looking at the overall offer.
Mistakes to avoid
- Naming a figure without any research, which risks undervaluing yourself or pricing yourself out.
- Saying “whatever you think is fair”, which hands all the negotiating power to the employer.
- Giving a range so wide it is meaningless, or one where the bottom is lower than you would accept.
- Justifying your number with personal costs like rent or debts instead of the value of the role.