How to answer “What are your salary expectations?” in English

What is the interviewer really checking when they ask about salary?

Most of the time it is a budget check, not a trap. Recruiters need to know early whether your number fits the range for the role, so nobody wastes three rounds of interviews.

• Budget fit: is your expectation inside, below, or above what they can pay?
• Market awareness: did you research the role, or is the number a guess?
• Composure: can you talk about money calmly and directly?
• Flexibility: are you focused only on base salary, or open to the full package?

The way you say the number matters almost as much as the number. A clear range said in a steady voice tells them you know your market. A number buried in hedges tells them there is room to go lower.

How do you work out your range before the interview?

1. Check the job ad. In many places, ads now include a pay range. If it is there, your answer should respond to it.
2. Look at salary data for the same role, level, and city, or for remote roles, the market the company hires from. Use two or three sources and look for overlap.
3. Ask people you trust in similar roles, or recruiters who place people in your field.
4. Decide three numbers: your walk-away point, your target, and an ambitious number. Do not say the walk-away point out loud.
5. Build the range from your target to a bit above it. The lower end of what you say should be a number you would be happy with.

Also check how salary is usually expressed in that market: annual or monthly, gross or net, with or without bonus. Say it the way the company will think about it, for example “ninety to a hundred thousand a year, base”.

What should you actually say?

Use range, reason, flexibility. Three short parts, then stop talking.

1. Range: “I’m looking for something between ninety and a hundred thousand a year.”
2. Reason: “That’s based on what similar roles pay in this market and on the scope we’ve discussed.”
3. Flexibility: “I’m open on the exact number depending on the full package, like bonus and equity.”

If it is a first call and you have little information, you can ask for their range first: “Before I give a number, could you share the budget for the role? I want to make sure we’re aligned.” Many recruiters will tell you. If they do not, give your range. Refusing twice tends to sound evasive.

What does a weak answer sound like compared with a strong one?

Personal costs are not a reason the company can use. Market data and scope are.

What are good model answers for different situations?

Early call with a recruiter, software engineer: “Thanks for asking. For a senior backend role in this city, I’m looking at roughly a hundred and ten to a hundred and twenty thousand base. I’m flexible depending on equity and the rest of the package. Is that within the range you have for this position?”

Later round, project manager, after the job ad showed a range of 70,000 to 85,000: “I saw the range in the job description, and I’m comfortable with it. Given that I’d be running the two programmes we discussed, and I already have experience with your type of client, I’d be looking at the upper half, around eighty to eighty-five.”

Career changer moving into a new field: “I know I’m coming from a different industry, so I’ve tried to be realistic. From my research, entry-level roles in customer success here pay between forty-five and fifty-five thousand. Given my management experience, I’m aiming for the top of that, around fifty to fifty-five. I’m also interested in how the role develops, so I’d like to understand what progression looks like.”

What if they push back or ask about your current salary?

• If they say your range is high: “I understand. Can you tell me where the budget sits? I’d like to see if the rest of the package can close the gap.”
• If they insist on a single number: “If I had to give one figure, it would be ninety-five.” Pick a number in the upper half of your range.
• If they ask your current salary: in some places it is not allowed to ask. Either way, you can redirect: “I’d prefer to focus on the value of this role. For this scope, my expectation is…”
• If you need time: “Thanks. I’d like to think about the full offer and come back to you by Thursday.”

What mistakes do non-native speakers make when talking about salary?

• Saying numbers unclearly. “Fifteen” and “fifty” sound close when you are nervous. Stress the ending: fif-TEEN, FIF-ty. Say round numbers and practise them out loud.
• Over-hedging. “Maybe around more or less something like” gives away negotiating room. One approximation word is enough.
• Over-apologising. You do not need to say sorry for asking to be paid. It signals that you expect a no.
• Translating money expressions literally. Some ways of expressing salary, like monthly payments over a different number of months, do not exist in other markets. State an annual figure and say if it is base or total.
• Filling the silence. After you say the number, stop. If you keep talking, people tend to lower their own number.
• Speaking faster when the topic is uncomfortable. Slow down for the number itself.

How do you rehearse salary questions out loud?

1. Write your range and the one-sentence reason.
2. Say the full answer out loud ten times. Money language feels strange until it does not.
3. Record it and listen only to the numbers. Are they clear? Did you rush them?
4. Apply the one-breath test: range, reason, and flexibility should fit in two breaths in total.
5. Practise the push-back lines with someone playing a tough recruiter.

Eloquent can play the recruiter in a custom roleplay where you describe the role and the company. You give your number out loud, handle the push-back, and the debrief quotes what you said, with a cleaner line where you hedged or over-explained.

Frequently asked questions