What Are Your Salary Expectations? How to Answer This Tricky Interview Question

"What are your salary expectations?" is one of the few interview questions where the answer is genuinely a negotiation move, not a competency demonstration. Every other question on this site — behavioural, situational, motivational — rewards a well-structured, honest answer. This one rewards strategic ambiguity, and that trips people up because it feels dishonest to be vague when everything else in the interview has rewarded specificity.

The trap works in both directions. Quote a number that's too high relative to the role and band, and you risk being screened out before you've had the chance to demonstrate your value — recruiters rarely come back to negotiate down, they simply move to the next candidate. Quote a number that's too low, and even if you get the offer, you've anchored the entire negotiation at a figure below what the employer was willing to pay, and it is very difficult to claw that back once an offer letter has been issued.

It's worth understanding the recruiter's side of this too. Most graduate and early-careers roles at large employers — investment banks, the Big Four, tech firms — actually have very little room to negotiate, because salaries are set centrally by band and cohort. In those cases, the question is less of a negotiation and more of a screening check: they want to confirm you're not expecting significantly more than the role pays, and that you understand the market. Recognising which situation you're in changes how much weight to put on your answer.

You cannot answer this question credibly without knowing the market rate for the role, seniority level, sector, and location you're applying for. Walking into an interview without this research is the single biggest reason candidates either freeze on this question or blurt out a number that's wildly off.

Where to find reliable salary data

Cross-reference at least three sources before settling on a range. If your sources disagree significantly, that's useful information too — it tells you the role or employer has wide pay variation, and you should lean toward the middle of the combined range rather than anchoring on the highest figure you found.

For UK graduate schemes specifically, published market data broadly places non-London graduate starting salaries in the high-£20,000s to mid-£30,000s, and London-based graduate schemes — particularly in banking, law, and consulting — meaningfully higher, often into the £40,000s once signing bonuses are included. These are broad market ranges, not guarantees for any specific employer, and you should always verify against current, role-specific sources before relying on them.

Use this three-part framework any time you're asked about salary expectations, whether on an application form, in a phone screen, or in a final-round interview.

Example script

"Based on my research into similar graduate roles in [sector] at companies of this size in [location], I'd expect a package somewhere in the region of [£X–£Y], including any performance bonus. That said, I'm genuinely open to discussing this further — the fit with the team and the opportunity to develop in this role matter more to me than hitting an exact figure, so I'd welcome your view on where this role typically sits."

Many candidates are asked about salary expectations in a first screening call, sometimes before they've had a chance to properly understand the role. Answering too specifically at this stage can lock you in prematurely. The goal early on is to demonstrate that you've thought about it, without committing to a figure you might want to revise once you understand the full scope of the role.

Deflecting gracefully without evading the question

If you're asked before a first interview, it's reasonable to redirect briefly toward understanding the role first, provided you don't dodge the question entirely: "I'd like to understand a bit more about the scope of the role and what a typical progression path looks like before settling on a specific figure, but based on my research so far, I'd expect something in the region of [range] for a role at this level."

• Never say "I don't know" or "whatever you think is fair." This is the single most common mistake — it signals you haven't researched the role and hands the recruiter total control of the negotiation with no anchor from your side at all.
• Never refuse to give any number when directly pressed twice. A graceful deflection once is fine; refusing entirely after being asked again reads as evasive rather than strategic.
• Do ask what the budgeted range for the role is, if appropriate. Many recruiters will share this if asked directly and professionally — it removes the guesswork entirely and is a completely normal question to ask in 2026's hiring market.

Online application forms often force a numeric answer where a verbal deflection isn't possible. This requires a slightly different approach, since you can't add nuance or tone the way you can in conversation.

• If the field accepts a range, use one. Enter your researched range directly (e.g. "£32,000–£36,000") rather than a single number, for the same reasons outlined in the R.A.R. framework above.
• If the field forces a single number, use the midpoint of your researched range. Avoid round, low-effort numbers like exactly £30,000 or exactly £35,000 unless that genuinely is your researched figure — recruiters notice when a number looks guessed rather than researched.
• If there's a free-text box, add a qualifying sentence. Something like: "Negotiable based on full package and role scope" gives you flexibility even within a form-based answer.
• If the field is truly mandatory and offers no flexibility (a hard numeric-only field), enter a figure at the higher end of your realistic range. It's far easier to be talked down slightly from a well-researched, slightly ambitious figure than to be talked up from a conservative one — most application systems use this field as a filter, not a binding commitment.

How much room you actually have to negotiate varies enormously by employer type. Understanding this before you answer helps you calibrate how much weight to put on getting the exact figure right.

None of this is a reason to skip your own research or under-prepare for the question — even where negotiation room is minimal, giving a well-informed answer signals commercial awareness, which is itself a competency many of these employers are quietly assessing throughout the process.

• Mistake 1: Naming a number with no research behind it. Guessing signals a lack of commercial awareness and often lands well outside the realistic range in either direction.
• Mistake 2: Saying "I don't have a number in mind." This hands the recruiter total control of the negotiation and can read as unprepared, even if your intention was to seem flexible.
• Mistake 3: Anchoring on a single figure instead of a range. A single number creates a binary outcome; a range keeps the door open in both directions.
• Mistake 4: Making the range too wide. A range like "£28,000 to £45,000" signals you have no real sense of the market and will likely be met with the bottom figure.
• Mistake 5: Ignoring total compensation. Quoting a base salary figure without accounting for bonus, pension and benefits can make you look like you're asking for more than the role actually pays — or accidentally underselling a package that's already generous.
• Mistake 6: Trying to negotiate hard before you have an offer. Negotiation leverage is highest after an offer has been made, when the employer has already decided they want you. Pushing hard on salary during initial screening, before any offer exists, can remove you from consideration entirely.
• Mistake 7: Being inconsistent across different stages of the process. If you quote one range on the application form and a meaningfully different one at final interview, it damages your credibility. Keep your range consistent, updating it only if you've genuinely learned new information about the role's scope.