The key insight:
The first number spoken in a process becomes the ceiling everyone negotiates down from, and it is usually spoken before anyone involved has enough information to set it well.
The salary expectations question is unlike every other negotiation a senior professional has, for one specific reason: it arrives before an offer exists. There is no number on the table to negotiate against, no confirmed scope to price precisely, and usually no clear sense yet of what the employer has actually budgeted for the role. Answer too high and you can be screened out before anyone has properly assessed your fit. Answer too low and that number becomes the ceiling every later conversation negotiates down from, regardless of what the role turns out to actually require.
This is a different problem from the ones covered elsewhere on this site. Once an offer genuinely exists, negotiating it is a different exercise with a real number and a real counterparty motivated to close. Asking your current employer for more with nothing on the table is different again, built on evidence rather than a live process. This guide is about the moment before either of those exists: what to say when someone asks what you expect to earn, and no number has been offered by anyone yet.
JOH Partners Intelligence
Get the fortnightly brief on GCC careers, salaries, and market moves.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time.
Why a range beats a number, almost every time
The pattern below reflects how the executive search team at JOH Partners sees this question handled well and badly across hundreds of senior mandates. The core problem with a single figure is that it is set with less information than either side will have later in the process. You do not yet know the full scope, the team, or what has been budgeted. The employer does not yet know your full value against their specific need. A number given this early is, in a real sense, a guess dressed as a commitment.
| Approach | What it risks | What it protects |
|---|---|---|
| A single, specific number | Anchors you low if it undershoots the role's real value, or screens you out if it overshoots before fit is assessed | Nothing meaningfully, beyond appearing decisive |
| A researched range, tied to scope | Almost nothing, provided the range is credible and not absurdly wide | Keeps the conversation open on both sides while still answering honestly |
| Refusing to answer | Reads as evasive in most processes and can end the conversation | Only useful as a last resort, and rarely necessary if a range is offered instead |
The range approach works because it answers the question asked, honestly, while explicitly reserving judgement on the number until the scope is confirmed. A useful version sounds like this: "based on what has been described so far, the market range for a role like this typically runs from X to Y; I would want to understand the full remit and package before narrowing that further." It signals market awareness, cooperation, and appropriate caution about committing to a figure before the job itself is fully defined, all in one answer.
Pro tool
Walk into your negotiation prepared
Get a personalised negotiation script based on your salary data and target offer.
Build my script →Where the range should actually come from
An anchor without a source is just a guess in a more confident tone. Build the range from the role's actual scope and level, not from your current salary and not from a round number that feels fair. If you are unsure where your own experience sits against the market, the Salary Benchmarker on AssessYou gives you a calibrated range for your specific role and level before you are asked the question, so the figure you offer is evidenced rather than improvised under pressure.
The question itself is also changing, and it is worth knowing why. A growing number of US jurisdictions now restrict what an employer can ask on the way into a role. Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act prohibits employers from asking about or relying on a candidate's salary history when setting pay, and increasingly requires the compensation range to be disclosed in the posting itself rather than extracted from the candidate first. The direction of travel across most of these laws is consistent: what you earned before is being taken off the table as a reference point, while what you expect to earn going forward remains a fair and common question. In the UK, the Employment Rights Act 2025 is moving through a similar period of reform, with pay and transparency provisions still being phased in through 2026 and 2027. The practical effect for a candidate is the same in most jurisdictions regardless of the exact law: expect the expectations question to keep being asked, and expect it to arrive with progressively less room to defer it by pointing to what you currently earn.
What to do once a real number is on the table
Everything above is about the screening stage, when no offer exists and the question is really "is it worth both sides continuing". Once an actual offer arrives, the calculation changes completely, because there is now a specific figure, a motivated counterparty, and considerably more information than either side had at the expectations stage. That is the point to move to negotiating the offer itself, and if a specific number needs to go in writing rather than staying in conversation, our guide to the salary negotiation email covers what belongs on the record and what should stay spoken. Treating the early expectations question and the later offer negotiation as the same conversation, requiring the same tactics, is the most common way senior candidates give up ground they never needed to give up.
If the honest answer to "what do you expect to earn" is that you are not fully sure what your leadership capability is worth beyond the number, take the free Leadership Psychometric before your next conversation. It will not set your salary range, but a director stepping into a bigger seat is priced on capability as much as on the market band, and walking into the conversation with a clear read on your own strengths changes how the whole discussion is framed.
For more on the conversations either side of this one, see the rest of our Career Strategy coverage.
Key Takeaways
- Answer the salary expectations question with a researched range tied explicitly to the scope described so far, not a single specific figure.
- A single number risks anchoring you low if it undershoots, or losing you the process if it overshoots, before either side has enough information to negotiate properly.
- Refusing to answer usually reads as evasive; reframing with a conditional range answers honestly without committing to a figure prematurely.
- Salary history is increasingly off-limits for employers to ask across a growing number of jurisdictions, while your forward-looking expectations remain a fair question.
- Treat the pre-offer expectations question and a post-offer negotiation as genuinely different conversations; the tactics that work for one will cost you in the other.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you answer what are your salary expectations?
- Give a researched range rather than a single figure, anchor it to the market and the scope of the role as you currently understand it, and make clear the range is provisional pending more detail on the full remit. A workable line is: based on the scope described, the market range for a role like this typically runs from X to Y, and I would want to understand the full package before narrowing that further.
- Should you give a salary range or a specific number when asked your expectations?
- A range, almost always, and early in a process. A single number either anchors you below what the role would have paid, if it undershoots, or risks removing you from consideration, if it overshoots, before either side has enough information to negotiate properly. A range keeps the conversation open while still answering the question asked.
- What happens if you refuse to answer the salary expectations question?
- In most processes, a flat refusal reads as evasive rather than strategic and can cost you the next round, because the interviewer still needs to know whether continuing is worth both sides' time. The better move is not refusing but reframing: answer with a range and a condition, rather than declining to engage with the question at all.
- Is it illegal for an employer to ask your salary expectations or salary history?
- It depends on jurisdiction. A growing number of US states and cities restrict or ban asking about salary history specifically, while still permitting employers to ask what you expect to earn going forward. Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act is one detailed example, prohibiting employers from asking about or relying on pay history when setting a wage. The trend across most of these laws is the same: what you earned before is increasingly off-limits, but what you expect to earn is still a fair question.
- How early in the process should the salary expectations question come up?
- Often earlier than candidates expect, sometimes in a first screening call before the role's full scope has been explained. Answering with a provisional range tied explicitly to "the scope as described so far" is the way to respond honestly to an early question without locking in a number based on incomplete information.
JOH Partners Intelligence
Get the fortnightly brief on GCC careers, salaries, and market moves.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time.