Ask HN: How do you answer the question “what salary do you expect?”

One that reflects what I bring to this company, what value the market places on my skills and what level the company is willing to reach to secure my services.

It is a tricky question. Never quote a figure. Instead say " I am very confident that if I am the right person selected for this role, you'd make me a fair offer based on the market, my skillset etc." The reason being, if you quote a number, you are locked in and the employer has the upper hand. There is always room for negotiations although they will say they are only willing to pay X at this time. If they really want you, they will cough up the money and bring you on board.

I don't let the question rattle me. I do some research to work out what the market rate is for the skills and in the geographic area. Based on that I work out what I would be happy with and then add 15-20%. That gives me a buffer for negotiating. If the potential employer baulks and wants to pay much less, I think it is best if we don't get more involved.

I actually prefer it when the employee goes first. It shows your confidence and anchors the perception of your value.

Taking a job for less than what you would be happy with is an immediate recipe for dissatisfaction. That is a very bad way to start a job.

if they already said they want to hire u.. it doesnt matter, just pick a high number. going back through the job applicant process means 10s of hours of more boring ass work/loss of productivity.

answering your q: i usually just say my last salary +$X/hr. maybe adding "but I'm flexible".

I'm on the flip side of this normally. I work at a large silicon valley tech company and do a fair amount of hiring.

If you feel you're making well below market value for the industry & geo that you're interviewing in, I wouldn't set an 'anchor'. You have nothing to gain. Just wait for them to make you an offer. This is especially true if you're interviewing at a smaller company where they have less rigorous compensation guidelines for a given position, and they might be more tempted to low-ball you. A good manager at a large company shouldn't change their comp decision if you're making surprising little now... but you never know.

If you're currently in-line with the market, you can tell them or not. Either way you're in a good position to negotiate if the offer comes in a bit soft. Most candidates I see in this situation are upfront about their current comp and it makes the whole process more efficient.

If you're making more than market or more than they're expecting, be up front. Especially at a large company. Once they get approval to issue an offer it might be impossible or extremely difficult to increase the comp outside the band for that level. If they know in advance that you're making more than expected they can consider an offer at the next higher level. Also, don't just make up a number that puts you above market. First, if it is clearly too high it will make them question your honesty. Second, it might preclude you from an offer altogether if they don't feel you're ready for the next grade level.

As a side note, when candidates defer on the comp question, I assume they're making less than market. Almost as a rule 9 out of 10 candidates who defer are coming from other geo's or other industries that don't pay as well. As a policy, I try to keep my team's comp equitable & calibrated (much more tightly than just blindly following our company bands & guidelines) so I don't give them a lower offer. But other managers might not do the same.

Tell the truth. Decide on a salary that would legitimately make you happy and tell them that figure. If they had planned on offering you more, the worst case scenario is that you will get offered your ideal figure. If they had planned on offering you less, the worst case scenario is that they will try and negotiate you down. Either way, whatever their next move is gives you clear insight into their perception of you.

Decent employers don't try to negotiate everyone down by default. The better employers recognise the value a decent employee brings to the table and goes out of their way to ensure that money isn't a concern.

patio11 offers some good advice here - http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

Here are the common mistakes employees make

#1 Give a "range". When you are asked what your expectations are, it should be a single finite number. The minute you give a range - say 0.8X to 1.2X, you've just settled for the lowest number i.e. 0.8X. Why would any sane employer offer more?

#2 Give a quotation before they prove value. Always quote a price when all the interviews are done. At that time you are in a position of power.

#3 Price themselves based on what the market says and not on value provided. Think in terms of how much business you are bringing in, how much money you are saving them, how much would it cost if the employer got someone really bad.

#4 Not seeing the employers view point. The employer wants to get a "good deal". He wants to have saved money in the deal. If you ask for 2X and then settle for 1.5X, both parties leave the deal feeling like they have won.

Lots of great advice here I would just add to do your research and know what your skills are worth and what others in similar positions are being paid. I would not add that you're flexible right off. As someone that hires people I prefer people that confidently tell me what they're worth and what they expect. Most hiring managers will go for the low number once they see you're nervous or immediately offer that you are willing to negotiate after naming a number. It really is best to have a number - definitely higher than you will settle for but not so high that it puts you out of the consideration set.

In any negotiation:

[1]. Learn as much as possible about the other side. Information is power.

[2][3]. Salary isn't the only thing. There's a lot more that goes into an employment negotiation. Don't get stuck on an issue, come back to it later.

[1] I knew I was getting a pay cut, and I was OK with that, different company and environment, I was getting more of what I wanted. But I made it a real sticking issue, and was sure not to get too much of a cut, including references to where I was 2-5 years ago as if to anchor myself to. This made HR really uncomfortable as they had no bargaining point, I was the high ball and I knew out of range.

[2] As salary, but flexibility and essentially "50% time" (in Google lingo) was my goal I had it written into contract but not binding on my side. It was true 50% time with no penalty, only upside. I knew what they needed to deliver, and could do this on the existing 50%. Risk on my side if I couldn't.

[3] You may be handed the unexpected in the meantime, as they thought you thought it was valuable, but to them it's cheap (for example, holiday). Exasperated at my calling my wife over every clause (an ultimate hard negotiation style), or having a 'breathing time' break every 10 minutes, and my constantly deferring actual wage talks, they just gave 10 extra days holiday per year. They said I mentioned it, perhaps from a previous contract I mentioned off-cuff, and had no impact on my decision on final agreement. While at the same time constantly signalling a win-win to HR, graciously appealed body language, etc. And then back to calling my wife for every other clause.

I highly recommend Harvard's Program on Negotiation: pon.harvard.edu (I think). It opened my eyes to looking at other ways to discuss things, and how being non-single issue focused really wins the day. Subscribe to their newsletter, lots of case studies and examples shared, all free. Probably not easy to learn in a day. For others reading, it would be a really good experience to gather together some of their exercises (really low prices, around $2 per copy) and practice some similar role-plays together. Sally Suprano, Eazer's Garage and The Consultant most immediately recallable in contract negotiation.

More for personality (they know how much for you already), so just declare your top and be prepared to negotiate.

The problem here is that it's difficult to delay this question forever. So rather than delaying, you can address it in a way that makes it clear information needs to go both ways.

I read an article from a real estate agent about negotiating, and he had a pretty clever answer to a common question. He said people would often ask "would your clients take 10% below asking?". His answer "make an offer!" That certainly is one way to find out.

It's a good answer. The agent explained that what people are trying to do here is get information for free, without committing to anything themselves, yet the answer accomplishes this not by getting preachy or defensive, but by moving the negotiations toward what the agent wants to see most - an offer.

That should be your goal when an employer asks you what salary you'd accept or what your current salary is (a similar question in disguise). They're essentially asking for information without giving you any in return - they now know what you make, but you have no idea what they typically pay. You could try to stonewall for a while, but I think it's better to have an answer that moves toward an offer. If they ask what your salary is, you could say something like "I work for a small startup right now, so my guess is that a senior software engineer's salary at a big company would be higher - what is typical in your organization?" That way, you haven't said "no, I won't tell you", nor have you said "you have to tell me if I'll tell you" so bluntly. What you've done is posed it in a way that moves them toward putting a number onto an offer, and they will have to acknowledge, through their response, that they were actually fishing for free info to give themselves the upper hand here.

Now keep in mind, employers are clever, and odds are they do this a lot more than you do (not always, consultants in particular do negotiations more often than their clients). But keep in mind the principle behind the response "make me an offer." It's a way to remind the person you're negotiating with that they have information you'd like just as much as you have information they'd like, and that to get it, they're going to need to take a step forward themselves.

One more thing, if you're desperate for a job, it's much harder to do this. Ideally, you'd be in a position where you'd really like a job (if you're indifferent, why are you doing this), but coming form a position of relative strength. Also, keep in mind, if asking a question like this "poisons" the relationship with your employer, it's probably not going to be a good one anyway.

I never hear this question anymore- or at least, not where it hasn't been answered already.

The trick? That's literally the first thing I bring up with a prospective employer, even before hello- "I'm making X right now." It's remarkably effective and rather than making one sound difficult to work with, it makes one sound valuable. It also sets a negotiation floor and trims off wastes of time.

In a boiler-room metro like San Francisco right now, employee turnover is rampant, so the "let the inexperienced candidate negotiate against his own salary" stratagem that matches employers' instincts throughout the country really bites companies here, because other employers can come in and +50% the employee's salary after 3-6 months.

Tell them what you want and stick to it. If they offer less, say no.

Worked for me, anyway.

I always give them the highest reasonable number I can come up with. For one thing, whatever you give them is the floor - if you say "I expect $140k" and then counter a $140k offer you're likely to piss them off.

I don't think giving them a low number is likely to actually generate more offers. Think of yourself as a Veblen Good - if the price is too low companies wonder about the quality and actually want you less. That's my theory, anyway.

It's hard to know if I've ever lost an offer by going to high, but I've never had any trouble getting offers, so I doubt it. I have had companies come back and say something like "We can't offer what you were expecting, but we do have a great benefits package we think will compensate." It doesn't, but it allows you to take the offer without losing face.

It has been a few years since I looked for a job, so it's possible things have changed. That's what I'd still do, though.