To most people, especially those who are fresh on the labour market, it’s an awkward, and sometimes uncomfortable question, yet it often comes up during job interviews.

An interviewer will ask, ‘what’s your desired salary?’ or something similar.

What then does an applicant do when this happens? Obviously they will have to answer the question. But many wonder, what should I say? Will I be asking for too much or too little?

To help you with this tricky question, here are a few tips:

Provide a range

Reports indicate that giving a range offers flexibility to both you and the employer, and you may feel more comfortable than giving a solid number.

However, it is important to note that when you give a range, you should keep in mind that the employer may offer the low end of the range.

This means that you’ll want to ensure that your target is close to the lower end of the range you offer.

Don’t include cash negotiation with the interviewer

While you are preparing for a job interview, forget about the cash negotiations.

Experts advise that other non-cash benefits including work from home options, flexible hours, benefits, bonuses, may be options to help you and the potential employer come to an agreement that works for everyone.

 Use previous records

Another tactic used by most job candidates is to share their most recent salary.

They consider this to be a good option, especially if you were highly paid or fairly paid in their most recent role.

By doing this, you’re giving an interviewer information about your compensation so they can tell you if the company can at least afford to pay you an increase over your last role, without necessarily putting yourself into a corner by telling them the exact number you’re targeting.

Alternatively, if you were not well-paid in your previous job and don’t want to be held back by that salary, you can answer otherwise.

"At this point in my job search, I’m focused on finding the position that’s the best fit for my skills and career. Once I’ve done that, I’m willing to consider an offer that you feel is fair for the role,” is an example of an answer that can be used, as suggested by Job Hunt.

This is a great answer because it’s polite, professional, and makes it unlikely they’ll try to ‘push’ you further simply because you’ve said that you don’t have a number in mind.

Deflect the question

If you’re still early in the hiring process and still learning the specifics about a role’s responsibilities and expectations, you may want to deflect the compensation question for later in the conversation.