Many of us are familiar with this scenario: You’re filling out a job application online and you arrive at the dreaded “desired salary” field. You have no idea how to answer. How can you respond to this question in a way that doesn’t box you into a salary that’s too low, or get you booted from consideration for naming a salary that’s too high? In this article, we’ll outline three possible strategies for handling this question.
Why not just answer the question?
The job application is typically the earliest stage in the interview process — too early to discuss your desired salary. In fact, answering what your salary expectations are this early is usually not in your best interest. If you do enter an amount and it’s too low, you may lose leverage in negotiating your salary later. Conversely, if you name a figure that’s outside of their budget, the hiring team might not pursue your application at all.
Also, you likely don’t have enough information at this early stage to give an accurate answer about your salary expectations. You can only go off the job posting and the responsibilities laid out there. But as you go through the interview process, you may learn more specifics about the job that would justify a higher starting salary than you initially thought.
For these reasons, the best strategy is to delay the salary discussion for as long as possible.
Option 1: Don’t answer
The simplest option is to avoid answering the question completely. If the ‘desired salary’ field isn’t required, you can leave it blank and move along with your application. Unfortunately, however, many applications won’t let you move forward without filling in the salary field. If that’s the case, what is your next option?
Option 2: Enter ‘negotiable’ or ‘000’
If you can fill in the field with ‘negotiable’ or ‘000,’ you can get around answering the salary question. If you’d like to expand on your answer, look for a section for notes in the job application. You can use that text field to give more context to your salary answer. You might say something like, “As far as my salary expectations, I look forward to hearing more about the salary range and available benefits for this role.”
If there’s no text field where you can leave a comment, it’s fine to submit the application without providing that context. The salary question will come up again during the interview process and you can prepare now to answer it then. Here’s how to answer interview questions about your salary expectations.
If the application does not allow you to enter ‘negotiable’ or ‘000,’ you have two choices. You can either decide not to proceed with the application, or you can enter a range.
Option 3: Enter a desired salary or salary range
If you can’t get around the salary question and still want to proceed with your application, you will need to enter a desired salary. There are a few ways to come up with your range.
1) If the company has included a salary range in the job listing and that salary range is acceptable to you, feel free to copy/paste it into the job application. If the posted range is lower than what you’re looking for, it could be a sign for you to move on to other applications.
2) If the company has not included a salary range, you will need to do your own research. First, start with online data sources. Payscale’s Salary Survey is a great place to begin, as it will give you data about what peers in your industry might be earning. Plus, filling out the survey adds more data points, which helps improve accuracy for everyone. Because of nuances in job titles, industries, and geographic locations, no online data source will be 100 percent accurate, but they can give you a range to work with.
Next, you can talk to colleagues in your industry to see if you can learn what their companies might offer as a starting salary for a similar position. Use your network to help you refine your range.
3) Now it’s time to calculate your range. First, keep in mind that employers typically default to the midpoint of a salary range when determining the starting salary to offer. So, if the midpoint of the range you found when researching is a number you would be happy with, feel free to make that number the low end of your range. If your desired starting salary is higher than the midpoint, you might need to justify why you deserve it. You should also make sure you understand that getting a higher starting salary could mean lower pay increases during your time with the company.
4) Don’t name a range you would be unhappy to accept. That means checking in with yourself about the low end of your range. If it’s lower than you’d accept, you should choose a higher number for your low end — if your research supports it. It also means you should avoid giving a range that’s too broad.
Let’s say you’re hoping for a starting salary of $80,000, so you enter a desired salary range of $70,000 – $85,000. If you’re offered a salary at $70,000, you’ve boxed yourself into trying to negotiate another $10,000. In this case, if your research supported it, your low end should have been $80,000.
Some applications don’t give you the option of entering a desired salary range and instead require you to enter a single number. In this case, look at your research and enter the number you would be happy to accept as a starting salary.
It can be frustrating to feel forced to answer questions about your salary expectations in a job application before you’ve even had the chance to interview. We hope you now feel more confident in the knowledge that, even when required to answer this question, you still have options and flexibility.
Start researching your desired salary today by taking the Payscale Salary Survey.