This question usually arrives in the first ten minutes of the first call, which is exactly when you know least — about the scope of the role, about the level they'd hire you at, and about how much they want you.
That asymmetry is the whole difficulty. Answering too precisely too early caps you; refusing to answer at all reads as evasive and, with some recruiters, ends the conversation. What works is a short answer that is genuinely useful to them and still leaves room.
Why they're asking
Almost always to disqualify, not to negotiate. A recruiter on a first call has a band and a list, and the question is a filter: are you inside it?
That reframing helps, because it means the goal of your answer is not to win a negotiation that hasn't started. It's to stay in the conversation without anchoring yourself below where you'd land.
The negotiation happens later, after they've decided they want you, and your leverage on that day is enormously higher than it is on this call.
The two questions to ask first
Before giving a number, it is completely normal to ask:
"Has the range been set for this role? If it has, it's easier if you tell me — then I can say straight away whether it works."
Roughly half the time they'll tell you. That's the best outcome available and it costs one sentence. In many places they're required to publish it anyway.
If they won't, the second question narrows what you're pricing:
"Can I ask what level you'd be hiring at? The gap between a senior and a lead here is wide enough that I'd give you two different answers."
Then answer. Don't ask a third question — at that point it starts to read as manoeuvring.
Scenario one: the recruiter asks on the first call
Give a range, and give the basis. The basis is what makes a range hold up instead of becoming the bottom of itself.
"Based on what I've seen for senior backend roles at this size of company in this market, I'd be looking at somewhere between 85 and 100, weighted by scope — if this role owns the platform rather than sits on it, that's the top of that. Does that sit inside what you've got?"
Three things are doing work there. The range is narrow enough to be useful and wide enough to move. The basis — market and scope — makes it a considered figure rather than a wish. And the question at the end puts the ball back, which often gets you the band anyway.
A range without a basis collapses to its lower number. "Somewhere between 85 and 100" on its own tells a recruiter you'd accept 85, so 85 is what they'll write down. Naming what would put you at the top — scope, level, the specific responsibility — turns the range into a statement about the role rather than about your flexibility. It also gives you something to point back to later: if the role turns out to be bigger than described, you've already said what that means.
Scenario two: an application form demands a number
A single box, no context, often required. Three options in order of preference:
- Put the top of your range, if the box takes a number. It's a filter, not a commitment, and you can revise upward with cause later.
- Put a round figure with a note if the form allows text: "95, negotiable on scope."
- Write the range if the field accepts it.
What not to do is put a low number to get through the filter. Forms feed the offer system, and that number will be quoted back to you in eight weeks.
Scenario three: they push for a single number
"I appreciate a range, but where in it are you really?"
This is a fair question and dodging it twice starts to cost you goodwill. Answer with the top half and a condition:
"If the scope is what we've described — owning the service end to end and the on-call that comes with it — then 98. If it's narrower than that, I'd want to hear what it actually is before I put a number on it."
You've given a number, so you're cooperative, and it's tied to something, so it isn't arbitrary.
Scenario four: they ask what you currently earn
In several countries it's illegal to ask, and where it isn't, it's still not information that helps you — particularly if you're underpaid now, or changing career, or moving from a market with different rates.
Decline without making it a confrontation, and redirect to the thing that actually matters:
"I'd rather not anchor this to my current role — it's a different scope and it was priced three years ago. What I can tell you is what I'd be looking for here, which is 85 to 100 depending on level."
Almost nobody pushes past that. If someone does push hard, it's worth noticing as information about how the rest of the process will go.
The open-ended answer
“I'm flexible, really — I'm more interested in the role and the team than the number, so I'm sure we can work something out.”
It sounds agreeable and it removes you from the conversation. The recruiter still has to write a figure in a box, and with nothing from you they'll write the bottom of the band. Flexibility expressed before an offer exists is just a discount.
The range with a reason
“85 to 100, weighted by scope — the top if this owns the platform. Does that sit inside your range?”
Specific enough to filter on, justified enough to defend, and it ends with a question that often gets you their number. You've been helpful and you haven't given anything away.
When the offer comes in low
Different conversation, and now you have the leverage you didn't have on the first call — they've spent weeks deciding they want you.
Two things make a counter work. Be specific, because "is there flexibility?" invites a small improvement. And give a reason that isn't about you, because a reason about your needs is a request, while a reason about the role is an argument.
"Thank you — I want to do this job. The number is below where I can get to, though. Based on the scope we've talked about, particularly the on-call and the two people I'd be supporting, I was expecting closer to 98. Is there room to get there?"
Then stop talking. The silence after a counter is the most valuable silence in the whole process, and filling it is how people negotiate against themselves: why silence sounds professional in interviews.
If the answer is a firm no on base, that's the moment to ask what else moves — a review at six months with a written criterion, a signing amount, holiday, title. Some of those are easier for a hiring manager to approve than base pay, because they don't touch the band.
Two things to avoid
Don't name a number you'd resent. If you'd take 90 unhappily, don't say 90. You'll spend your first year measuring the job against it.
Don't negotiate before they want you. Raising money in a second-round interview costs you goodwill for no gain. The answer to "what are your expectations" early in the process is a range and a question — not an opening position.
Where in the process this question lands, and who has the authority to answer it, is covered here: recruiter interview vs hiring manager interview.
Practical target: say your range out loud with the basis attached, three times, until the number doesn't change pitch. Most people's voice rises at the end of the figure, which turns it into a question — and an interviewer hears a number said as a question as a number that's available for discussion. Flat delivery, then the question back to them: that's the whole technique.
