Many negotiation guides rely on hard-and-fast rules like:
“Always tell the recruiter your salary.”
“Never reveal your salary expectations first.”
“Negotiate only over email.”
“Only negotiate by phone.”
But if you look closer, they’re missing a critical element: leverage. In other words, who has the upper hand in the negotiation? That leverage dictates which of these “rules” actually makes sense.
Example 1: The Top-Tier Designer
Take my friend, a highly accomplished designer already earning at the top of the market range. When another company approaches him, he doesn’t need to “play it coy” about his current salary. For him, transparency is leverage: he tells them up front, “If you can’t match or beat my current package, there’s no reason to move forward.”
His strong position means he can be direct and let them make the first offer. For someone in his shoes, revealing his salary isn’t a risk; it’s a way to save time and focus only on serious offers.
Example 2: The Job-Seeker Without Leverage
On the other hand, if you’re currently job-seeking and without a stable income, leverage is out of your hands. In this situation, you want the recruiter to make the first offer. When they ask, “What are your salary expectations?” it’s in your interest to deflect and get their salary range first, giving you room to negotiate without anchoring too low.
Remember, you're now playing a game of chicken and the first one to say a number loses. Treat the conversation as such.
Oh no!
I'm on a call, and the recruiter just asked my salary expectations!
Here’s a simple, effective way to press a recruiter on salary bands when you need leverage. When they try to qualify you with a number, just ask them what the salary bands are.
For instance, recruiter says,
"What do you expect to make in this role?"
Just say:
"What ranges did they give you for the role?"
Sometimes the recruiter will just tell you, right here.
Other times they'll try a dance and say something like:
Well we didn't have an exact number in mind… Did you have a range in mind?
You respond:
“I guess it depends on what level you place me at. Does this role have the ability for me to be placed at different levels? Because I imagine you have different bands for different levels. I imagine that that would be conditional on interview performance and references and those kind of things. Could you tell me the bands that you have available in the Req right now?”
And then their classic response:
"Oh, well, we don't really have an exact number. Blah, blah, blah. We were wondering if you had a number.
Yeah, most of the time this is just a boldfaced lie.
If you throw out a number or range, you will look uneducated in deals. You will look junior most of the time if you are coming from a position of not having leverage. You hardly know anything about the role If you throw out a whole number without knowing all of those details, you put yourself at a disadvantage.
From here you can just call them out
"If I throw the first number out, it puts me at a disadvantage down the line for negotiation.
Recruiter says some more BS:
”bla bla bla, I just want to know we’re in the right range”
You:
Do you have a range then that you’d be comfortable sharing? Or you want to get back to me when you do? I’d be happy to take a look.
Recruiter finally gives up:
”For a junior software engineer our range is 100k base + 20k stock options vested over 4 years. How does that sound? ”
PRESS THEM
You:
Thanks. What’s the stock vesting schedule and standard vacation days that you offer?
Recruiter:
Bla bla bla - vacation standard. How does that sound?
You:
Sounds like a good start
let it hang in the air and don’t say anything else until they respond
Recruiter:
Okay great, that’s all I needed
You:
Perfect, when can I except to hear back from you?
Recruiter:
X days bla bla blah,
From here you can ask them some other questions if you really need, but, usually this is where recruiters are looking to end the call.
Congrats you just negotiated with a recruiter and didn't shoehorn yourself into a lowball offer!
Negotiation advice often seems rigid, but understanding your leverage changes everything. Understanding when to use transparency or hold back—based on who has the upper hand—can make all the difference in getting the best offer possible.
Here's a few great resources on negotiation that I've personally found helpful:
Ten Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer
How Not to Bomb Your Offer Negotiation
Salary negotiation strategies everyone in tech already knows — but you don’t
Now go crush your interviews!
P.S. I'm working on an app to track job applications in for people tech. Would love feedback, if y'all have a chance to take a peek.
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