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Salary expectations: the answer, written for you

When a form or a recruiter asks for your salary expectations, the goal is two sentences: the basis for your number, then a range with a floor you would accept. Everything else, your rent, your last raise, what a friend earns, weakens the answer.

Enter your range and the basis for it, and the tool writes the written and spoken versions.

Your details
A figure you would accept, not one you would resent.
Leave blank and the tool adds about 12 percent to the low end.
Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. The answers are worked out in your browser.
What to enter
Fill in the details on the left and the exact text to enter appears here.

The structure that works

Basis, then range, then one line on flexibility. The basis shows you did the work and makes the number hard to argue with. The range gives both sides room. The flexibility line signals you are negotiating the package, not holding out for a number.

On a phone screen, finish with a question: does that fit the range you have for the role? It hands the next number to the recruiter, and recruiters usually answer.

When to answer and when to ask first

On an application form you have to answer; use the written version. On a first call you can ask for their range first, once, politely: I would rather make sure we are in the same range before I give a number. Do you have a budget for the role? If they decline, give your range. Asking twice reads as evasive.

What not to say

Your current salary, unless asked and unless it helps you. Your expenses. That you are flexible on everything, which is read as no floor at all. A single number with no basis, which invites a counter at the same number minus ten percent.

How FastApply answers this for you

FastApply answers salary expectation questions on application forms from the expected salary and currency in your profile, and it can mark the figure as negotiable where the form allows text. Longer written questions are answered in your voice from your profile and the About-you box.

Salary expectations: common questions

Give a range whose low end you would accept and whose high end is in the top third of the market for the title and city. Say what the range is based on. A range inside the posting's own band, if it shows one, is never priced out.
Based on what similar product manager positions pay and the scope described, I am targeting 95,000 to 110,000 dollars a year. I am flexible on the split between base and the rest of the package for the right role. The tool above writes this for your own numbers.
On a form, give a range. On a call, you may ask once for their range; if they decline, give yours. Refusing to give a number at all usually ends the call.
Usually, unless you are changing field, location or hours on purpose. A move typically justifies a rise, and employers assume you will ask for one. The tool's current-pay basis phrases this without quoting your current figure.

Stop answering the same
questions on every form

Set your answers once in FastApply and it fills them on every application, with a tailored resume for each job on Pro and Elite.

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