everything you need to know about “salaries” from someone who’s negotiated money from $60k → $600k

If I'm being honest, if you find it hard to push back on salary in the interview conversation, it's because you haven't been taught how to negotiate properly. And that's okay. It's not like they teach us this in school. So I'm here to teach you it today to make sure you get paid as much as possible in your next salary negotiation. When they ask you, what's your salary expectations? You say, what's your budget for the role? When they ask you, what are you looking for money-wise? You say, I'm interviewing for roles that are paying between X and Y. Does that fit within your budget? Before you go into that meeting, you've obviously done your market research. You've got a solid number and budget range in mind for what you and that's what you're going to present to them in that meeting. So you're not going to undersell yourself at any point. They ask you, what kind of salary package are you looking for? You say, more than happy to discuss salary. I'd like to understand first a little bit more around the scope of the role and the requirements and how that matches my skill set, and then I'd feel comfortable talking about numbers. Does that suit you? What you'll find here is by refusing to give your number first or being strategic with how you present the number you're looking for, you're going to avoid underselling yourself every single time. And you are handling this like a master negotiator. And if they don't have room to move for some reason, there's other things that they can negotiate outside of your salary. So stop leaving money on the table and always walk away with what you know you deserve.