“What are your salary expectations?” feels like a trapdoor with a trapdoor under it — name a number too high and you’re out, too low and you’ve capped your own pay. It isn’t a trap, though. It’s a question you can prepare for like any other, with a range instead of a guess.
Most people freeze here because they treat the salary question as a test of nerve. It isn’t. It’s a logistics question: the employer is checking whether you and the budget are in the same neighbourhood before anyone wastes a week. Your job is to signal “yes, same neighbourhood” without locking yourself to a single number before you understand the role, the workload, or the full package.
The tool that does this is a researched range stated with confidence. Not a number, not a shrug, not “I’m flexible” said three times. A range, a reason, and a sentence that keeps the door open. Let’s build yours.
Why a single number works against you
Whoever says a hard number first hands the other side an anchor. If you blurt “68,000” and the band actually ran to 82,000, you’ve just negotiated yourself down before the negotiation started, and they’ll happily let you. If you aim high to be safe and overshoot the budget by a mile, you can screen yourself out of a job you’d have loved at the real number.
A range solves both problems. It signals you’ve done homework, it gives them room to land inside it, and it keeps you off the hook for a precise figure you can’t yet justify. The catch: a range only works if it’s real: grounded in market data, not in what you wish you made.
Research a fair range before you open your mouth
You can’t answer this question well without knowing what the work pays. Guessing from your last salary or a friend’s offer is how people end up 15% under market and never know it. Spend twenty minutes building a defensible band.
The most reliable free source in Canada is the Government of Canada Job Bank wage tool. Search your job title, filter by province or city, and you’ll see low, median, and high hourly wages for that occupation in that region. A community-services coordinator in Ottawa, for example, might show roughly 25 to 38 dollars an hour — annualize the middle of that (multiply by about 2,080 hours) and you’ve got a market midpoint to build around.
- Triangulate. Cross-check Job Bank against a couple of live postings for the same role and a salary site or two. You’re looking for where three sources overlap, not the single highest number you can find.
- Adjust for you. More years, a hard-to-find skill, or a senior title nudges you toward the top of the band. A career switch or a junior version of the role nudges you down. Be honest — the interviewer can usually tell.
- Set your range inside the market. Make the bottom of your stated range a number you’d genuinely accept, and the top a number the market supports. Never name a floor you’d resent.
If you’re still in the applying phase and drowning in postings, batch this research the same way you batch applications — there’s a system for that in how to apply for jobs without wasting hours.
The range language that keeps you flexible
Here’s the move: give a band of about 10,000 to 15,000 dollars, tie it to research, and end with a sentence that invites the conversation forward instead of slamming it shut.
“Um, I’m not really sure. What’s the budget for the role? I’m flexible, honestly — whatever’s fair.”
“Based on the market for this kind of role in Toronto, I’m targeting somewhere in the 78,000 to 90,000 range. Where I land depends on the full scope and the rest of the package — happy to talk specifics once I understand the role better.”
Notice what the stronger version does. It names a researched band, it credits the market rather than your ego, and it explicitly leaves room for the whole offer — not just base pay. That last point matters more than people think; the parts beyond salary are often where the real value hides, which is the entire argument of salary isn’t the only part of an offer.
When the application form demands a number
Online forms are crueller than humans: some won’t submit without a figure, and a few reject obvious dodges like “0” or “999999.” You still don’t have to commit to a single sticker price.
Expected salary: 65000 — the first number that popped into your head, now permanently on file.
If the field is text: “Open / negotiable based on full role and package — targeting the 75,000 to 88,000 market range.” If it forces a single number, enter the middle of your researched band, not the bottom.
The principle holds across every format: anchor on the market midpoint, never on your floor. A number on a form is a starting point, not a signature.
What to say when they push for one number
Sometimes a recruiter will smile and say, “I hear you on the range — but if you had to give me one number, what would it be?” This is normal and usually friendly; they often need a single figure for an internal system. Don’t panic and don’t cave to your floor.
“If I have to pick one to move us forward, I’d say 86,000 — though I’d want to weigh that against the benefits, vacation, and growth path before anything’s final. Does that sit inside your band for the role?”
Two things are happening there. You give a number near the top third of your range (never the middle, never the bottom — single numbers always get bargained down). And you bounce a question back: “Does that sit inside your band?” Their answer tells you whether you aimed right, whether there’s room above, or whether you’re miles apart — useful intel either way.
If they reveal the budget is well below your floor, you’ve saved everyone weeks. If it’s close, you now know exactly where the negotiation will live. When the formal offer lands and the number underwhelms, you’re not starting cold — you’ll find the language for that moment in what to say when the offer is lower than expected.
Hold your range without sounding rigid
The fear underneath all of this is sounding greedy or difficult. You won’t, as long as you stay warm and curious rather than combative. Naming a researched band isn’t a demand — it’s information, delivered the same way you’d tell them your notice period. The full toolkit for staying likeable while protecting your number lives in how to negotiate without sounding demanding.
And remember the salary question is only round one. The number on the offer letter is rarely the last word, and base pay is only one line of many. Before you say yes to anything, run the whole package through the checklist in the things to check before accepting an offer — vacation, flexibility, manager, and growth can outweigh a few thousand dollars of base.
Want the exact wording on a page you can fill in before the call? Grab The Salary Negotiation Script Pack (PDF) — print it, write your researched low and high in the blanks, and read your range line aloud twice so it sounds easy when it counts.
Open the Government of Canada Job Bank wage tool, search your exact job title filtered to your city, and write down the low, median, and high. Build a range whose bottom you’d genuinely accept and whose top the data supports — then draft your one sentence, like this: “Based on the market for a project coordinator in Calgary, I’m targeting the 72,000 to 85,000 range.” Pair it with a tighter application routine so the research only happens once.
Sources: Government of Canada Job Bank wage and market data — jobbank.gc.ca. This is practical guidance drawn from common hiring practice, not a guarantee of a particular salary, offer, or outcome.
