What Do You Write in the Salary Expectations Field?
You're three steps into an online application, the role looks good, and then it stops you cold: "Salary Expectations" — a required field, no way to leave it blank. Type a number too low and you've potentially given away money before anyone's even called you. Type one too high and the same system might screen you out before a human sees your CV at all. There's no universal right answer here, but there is a genuinely useful one, and it doesn't involve guessing a figure and hoping for the best. This guide is deliberately not going to hand you a number — no salary-expectations guide honestly can, and one that pretends to is guessing, not helping. What it can tell you is exactly how to handle the question itself, and how the rules around it change depending on where you're applying.
What do I write in the salary expectations field?
The honest goal of this field, from the employer's side, is to check that you're roughly in the right range before either of you spends more time on the process. Your goal is to answer honestly without anchoring yourself to a number you'll regret once you know more about the role. The safest, most defensible answer in almost every case is some version of: "My expectations are flexible and based on the full scope of the role — I'd welcome the chance to discuss compensation once we've both confirmed it's a strong fit." That's not evasive; recruiters read it constantly and it doesn't cost you credibility.
If a specific number is genuinely required and that soft answer isn't accepted, the fallback is to research the real market rate for the specific role, seniority level, and location — not a vague industry reputation, and not a number pulled from a friend's unrelated job — and answer with a range built from that research, framed as preliminary and open to discussion once you know more about the position.
Should I give a number or a range?
A range, almost always — a single number reads as a hard floor to some recruiters and a ceiling to others, and either reading works against you. A range signals you've thought about it seriously without locking yourself into one figure before you've seen the full offer (benefits, equity, remote flexibility, and the like all factor into what a number is actually worth).
Keep the range realistic and reasonably narrow — a wide range can read as not having done the research, which undercuts the exact credibility a thoughtful answer is supposed to build.
What if the form won't let me skip it?
Some application systems make the field mandatory with no free-text option — just a number input, no way to submit without one. In that specific case, entering a well-researched range's midpoint, or the lower edge of that range, is a reasonable default: it keeps the application moving without either underselling yourself or naming a number so high it filters you out automatically before a human ever weighs in.
This exact tension — a system-driven question with no room to explain your reasoning — comes up again once you're actually in a live interview, not just a form. Practicing how you'd answer it out loud, not just how you'd type it, is worth doing before that conversation happens; our free Interview Question Generator includes exactly this kind of question in its practice sets.
Can they ask what I earn now?
This is where the honest answer genuinely depends on where you are, and it's the part most generic advice skips entirely. In much of the United States, employers are legally barred from asking about your salary history at all — a wave of state and local laws (California, Colorado, and New York City among the most cited examples, though the exact list keeps growing) exists specifically because pay history was found to carry old pay gaps forward from job to job. If you're applying somewhere covered by one of these laws and you're asked anyway, you're generally within your rights to decline and redirect to your expectations for the new role instead.
The UK and most of the EU don't have the same blanket restriction — asking about current or previous pay is still common and generally lawful, though a growing pay-transparency movement (job postings increasingly required to list a range) is starting to shift the norm even without an outright ban on the history question.
Once your salary answer is settled, the rest of the application still has to hold up — Full Studio Access generates a CV and cover letter tailored to the specific role, in the language the employer actually expects.
Questions
What do I write in the salary expectations field?
A flexible, research-backed answer, ideally a range rather than a single number, framed as open to discussion once you know the full scope of the role — never a specific figure typed in without having researched the real market rate first.
Is it ever okay to just say "negotiable"?
Yes, if the form allows free text — many recruiters read this as a normal, professional answer, not an evasive one. It stops being useful advice only when the form requires a specific number and won't accept text at all.
Will naming a number hurt my chances?
A number that's well below market can cost you money for the life of that job; a number well above it can get your application filtered out automatically before a person reads it. A researched range, not a single guessed figure, is what avoids both failure modes.
Can a US employer ask what I currently earn?
Increasingly, no — a growing list of US states and cities have made this question illegal to ask at all, specifically to stop old pay gaps from following candidates between jobs. Check whether the specific state or city you're applying in has such a law before assuming either way.
Is salary negotiation handled differently in France or Morocco?
Meaningfully, yes. Much of the French private sector ties pay to formal salary grids set by industry-wide collective bargaining agreements, which narrows the negotiation entirely differently than the open-ended US conversation. Morocco's market is less formally codified — initial offers are often employer-set, and the back-and-forth negotiation culture common in the US and UK is less standard.
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