Behavioral · Stories with evidence
What are your salary expectations?
Short answer
Give a researched range for the role and market, anchored to total compensation, and ask for their band. Stay collaborative and avoid naming a number before you understand the scope.
This is a negotiation conversation, not a trivia question. The interviewer wants to know whether you are informed and whether the numbers are workable, not whether you can be pressured into the lowest figure.
How to answer well
- Ask for the band for the role and level first
- Give a range based on market data, with the bottom being a number you would accept
- Compare total compensation: base, bonus, equity and benefits
- Tie the number to scope and level, not to your previous salary
If pushed for a number early, give a range and say it depends on the level and the full package. That keeps the conversation open without refusing to engage. Never inflate a current salary; it is easy to verify and hard to recover from.
Follow-ups you should expect
Interviewers use these to check whether the first answer was understanding or memorisation.
- 1What is your current compensation?
- 2Would you accept the bottom of that range?
- 3How did you arrive at that number?
- 4What matters more to you, base or equity?
Say it in the interview
I am targeting a range of X to Y for this level, based on market data for similar scope in this location, and I am flexible depending on the full package. Could you share the band for the role so we can check we are aligned? I care about the level and the ownership more than optimising the last few percent, but I do want the number to reflect the scope.
Use this as a model, not a script. Saying it in your own words is what makes it survive follow-up pressure.
Related questions
Reading is step one
Now say it out loud.
Understanding an answer and delivering it under pressure are different skills. Rehearse this topic in a live Behavioral mock interview and get scored feedback on depth, clarity and confidence.