Practical guide

“What are your salary expectations?”: how to answer

The question always comes up, often too early. A gross annual range grounded in the market, stated without hesitating: what to say aloud and by email, and your current salary.

“What are your salary expectations?” is a screening question: the recruiter checks that you fit the budget, that you know your worth, and how you talk about money. The right answer fits in one sentence: a range, in gross annual terms, grounded in the market, stated without hesitating. This guide is about that sentence and the situations in which the question comes up; how to set your figures and then negotiate the offer is covered in negotiating your starting salary.

When the question comes up

In the job ad: “please state your salary expectations”. One sentence at the end of your letter or email is enough.
In an online form, often a compulsory single-number field: enter your target, not your minimum, and give the range in the comments field if there is one.
On the first recruitment call, before the interview itself: the recruiter checks that you are not too far apart.
At interview, often towards the end, with your future manager or human resources.

The three mistakes to avoid

Dodging: “whatever you offer”, “I have no idea”. You look unprepared and you let the company set the first figure, often a low one. At most, you can turn the question round once (“what range have you budgeted for this role?”) before giving yours.
Answering in net monthly terms, or with no unit at all. Job ads and contracts talk in gross pay; an unqualified “I want so much a month” creates misunderstandings that cost you for a long time.
Giving a figure off the top of your head: too low and you sell yourself short; too high with no justification and you are screened out; your current salary plus a bit and you copy your situation instead of aiming for what the role is worth.

A range grounded in the market

Your range is built before the interview, from what employers actually offer for this job, this level of experience and this city. The salary expectations generator does it for you: it works out three targets (cautious, balanced, ambitious) from real job offers for your occupation, taking your experience and location into account, then writes for each one an answer to say at interview and a line for your email. To place your profile based on your background, the CV-based estimate works out your market value from INSEE salary data.

The bottom of the range you state should already suit you: that is often where the discussion starts. The top should remain defensible with your results. Keep a reasonable gap between them: a range that is too wide no longer says anything.

Always in gross annual terms

In France, job ads and negotiations mostly talk in gross annual terms. Saying “gross per year” avoids two traps: confusing gross with net, and twelve months with thirteen. Also say what you are stating: “base salary”, “excluding variable pay”. If you think in net monthly terms, convert before the interview with the gross ↔ net converter, and read the guide to annual, monthly and hourly gross pay to switch between periods without mistakes.

What to say, aloud and in writing

At interview: “Based on the job ads published for this role in [city], and given my experience, I am aiming for between [low] and [high] gross a year, base salary. Variable pay and benefits will also count in my decision.”
On the first call, when the role is still vague: “I am looking at between [low] and [high] gross a year; I will refine that once I understand the scope of the role better.”
If you are pushed for a single figure: “If it has to be one figure, it would be [target] gross a year.”
By email or in the letter: “My salary expectations are between [low] and [high] euros gross a year, depending on the scope of the role and the variable share.”

Then stop talking and let the other person reply. The silence after you give a range is not a no: it is the time it takes to write it down.

If you are asked your current salary

The French Labour Code only allows questions with a direct and necessary link to the job or to assessing your abilities, and it requires you to answer them in good faith. No law currently in force expressly prohibits asking your current salary; an EU directive on pay transparency requires member states to ban it, and the bill transposing it, filed with the French Senate, would add to that article of the Labour Code that questions may not cover your current or past pay, but it has not been passed yet (see the sources).

You can steer back to the role: “My current salary reflects a different job; for this one, based on the market, I am aiming for between [low] and [high] gross a year.”
If you give it, give it accurately and in full (base, variable, bonuses), without rounding it up: according to service-public.fr, an employee hired on the basis of false information can be dismissed.

After the answer: the negotiation

Your range opens the discussion; it doesn't close it. The real negotiation happens when the company has chosen you and is preparing its offer: that is when the base salary, variable pay, review date and everything else are settled, as shown in the five-step method. When the offer arrives, check what it really contains (gross or net, twelve or thirteen months, base and variable) with the guide to reading the pay in a job offer before replying. To practise saying your sentence out loud, Nego can play the recruiter and ask you the question as it would come at interview.

Frequently asked questions

Should I state my expectations if the job ad doesn't ask for them?

No: put them neither on your CV nor in your letter. Wait for the question, which will almost always come in the first call or at interview, and arrive with your range ready.

What if the job ad already shows a range?

Position yourself within it rather than contradicting it: in its upper half if your experience and results justify it, saying why. Never go below the bottom of the published range: that is the budget the company announced itself.

Should my expectations include variable pay?

State the base salary and discuss variable pay separately: “base salary, excluding variable pay”. Variable pay depends on targets and isn't guaranteed; if you mix the two, the company can offer a lower base offset by an uncertain bonus.

What if the recruiter says it's too much?

Ask for the range budgeted for the role, then look at what could make up the gap: variable pay, a signing bonus, remote work, a written review date. If the gap is still too wide, say so plainly; better to know now than after three interviews.

Can I change my expectations during the recruitment process?

Yes, if the role turns out to be bigger than advertised (a team to manage, a budget, travel): explain that your range was based on the scope advertised. Changing it for no reason, on the other hand, costs you credibility.

Sources

This guide gives you a method, not legal advice: the official rules and amounts are those of the sources above, as at their date.

Put it into practice

The site's tools and features that go with this guide: the figures there are calculated by the code, never by the AI.

Salary expectations What am I worth?

When this comes in handy

Also worth reading

All the guides

When the question comes up

In the job ad: “please state your salary expectations”. One sentence at the end of your letter or email is enough.

In an online form, often a compulsory single-number field: enter your target, not your minimum, and give the range in the comments field if there is one.

On the first recruitment call, before the interview itself: the recruiter checks that you are not too far apart.

At interview, often towards the end, with your future manager or human resources.

The three mistakes to avoid

Dodging: “whatever you offer”, “I have no idea”. You look unprepared and you let the company set the first figure, often a low one. At most, you can turn the question round once (“what range have you budgeted for this role?”) before giving yours.

Answering in net monthly terms, or with no unit at all. Job ads and contracts talk in gross pay; an unqualified “I want so much a month” creates misunderstandings that cost you for a long time.

Giving a figure off the top of your head: too low and you sell yourself short; too high with no justification and you are screened out; your current salary plus a bit and you copy your situation instead of aiming for what the role is worth.

A range grounded in the market

Always in gross annual terms

What to say, aloud and in writing

At interview: “Based on the job ads published for this role in [city], and given my experience, I am aiming for between [low] and [high] gross a year, base salary. Variable pay and benefits will also count in my decision.”

On the first call, when the role is still vague: “I am looking at between [low] and [high] gross a year; I will refine that once I understand the scope of the role better.”

If you are pushed for a single figure: “If it has to be one figure, it would be [target] gross a year.”

By email or in the letter: “My salary expectations are between [low] and [high] euros gross a year, depending on the scope of the role and the variable share.”