How do I talk about pay for a new job?

Four pages in this library are about pay around a new job, and three of them are mostly about the United States. Ask for the pay range before you name a number is the question you are asked before there is an offer. Ask whether your salary is exempt from overtime is the offer when it is a salary. You are allowed to ask what others earn is once you are in the job and wondering whether the number was fair. Keep a running list of what you did at work is the notes you can show at a resume, a review or a raise.

When you are asked what pay you want, ask what range the job has been given first, and keep a researched number ready for the moment they will not say. A recruiter rings, or an application form has a box, and the question comes. You do not have a number you trust. Too low, and you could be paid less for years; too high, and you could be out of the running before you start. Many people suggest the same first move: turn the question around and ask the employer for their budget. Some people say a plain, researched number is simpler and no trap at all. The first page gives both and says where each fits. If you need this job right now, or the pay is a fixed rate that has already been set, read the last section first.

Know a number before anyone asks

Some people say the same first step: find out what the job pays, for your kind of role and your area, before the conversation. In the United States the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the median pay for each occupation it covers, and its occupation pages point to wage figures for individual states and metro areas. The median is the wage at which half the workers in the job earned more and half earned less. Elsewhere, try your country’s statistics office.

Treat that as a range to start from. Some people warn that self-reported pay websites can mislead, because job titles vary and a company may have few entries, and one suggests reading their figures as a wide band and setting the extremes aside. One person warns that national figures can mix job levels and may not match your region. Then settle two numbers for yourself: the lowest pay you would say yes to, and the figure you would name. One person suggests adding a margin of about 10 percent to your target, so there is room to come down.

When they ask what you want

Many people suggest answering the question with a question. A plain version of that: “I have looked at what this kind of job pays, and I want us to be in the same range. What range has been set for it?” Some people say internal recruiters often prefer this, because it saves time and lines up expectations. One person warns that turning the question back can look like dodging.

If the question is about what you earn now, some people suggest answering what you want instead, because your current pay anchors the talk low. One person says you can decline to share your pay history, say it is confidential, and repeat that if pressed. The risk on the other side: one person says hiding your current pay is dated advice and that dodging can make you seem difficult, and one person warns that refusing to give anything can lead some companies to withdraw the offer.

Some people say that in many US states employers are barred from asking about pay history. The page could not check that state by state, so look at your state labor department’s website before you rely on it. It did check Washington: that state bars employers from seeking an applicant’s pay history unless the applicant volunteers it or an offer has been made, and requires employers with 15 or more employees to put the pay range in each job posting (RCW 49.58.100 and 49.58.110, read October 2026).

Some people suggest stating a higher figure than your real pay. The page does not give that advice. Some people warn that employers can check pay through background checks and data services, and one says a company may pull an offer if the gap is serious.

If they will not give a range

Some people read a refusal as a signal that the company is starting low. One person pointed out the other side: positions are often signed off by level with a soft cap rather than an exact range, so “we don’t have a range” can be true. One person says a small-business owner may truly not know what a role pays on the market. So a refusal is something to weigh, and it does not prove anything. Some people say the next move is to name your own figure; one suggests a high figure, one you would genuinely accept, and another says to stop talking once you have said it and let them answer. One person adds that a high number accepted straight away leaves no room to negotiate upward.

On a pay box in an application, some people pointed out that many application systems need a number in that box and filter out an entry such as “negotiable”, so it can cost you the application. If you do have to type a figure, one person says employers compare it with what you tell them later, so keep the two consistent.

If the offer is a salary

If you are on a salary and regularly work more than 40 hours a week, find out whether your job is legally exempt from overtime, because in the United States a salary alone does not make it so. Ask whether your salary is exempt from overtime is about US federal law. The Department of Labor says that unless a worker is exempt, hours past 40 in a week must be paid at no less than one and a half times their regular rate. For the usual exemptions in office and management jobs, the Department of Labor says three things must all be true. You are paid a set salary of at least $684 a week, which is $35,568 a year. That salary is a predetermined amount that is not cut because you did less work or did it worse. And your actual duties match what the exemption describes. The Department states that a job title does not decide it, and that being paid a salary is not enough on its own.

Some people suggest being wary of an offer to move from hourly to salaried, or of a bigger job title for the same work, because the change can remove overtime pay without a matching rise in base pay, so the hourly rate you actually earn falls. The arithmetic is yearly pay divided by 52, then divided by the hours you really work. If you think you are owed, the Department’s Wage and Hour Division takes wage complaints on 1-866-487-9243 and says complaints are confidential and that an employer may not retaliate against a worker for filing one or for cooperating with an investigation. A few kinds of work, such as outside sales, teaching and licensed doctors and lawyers, can be exempt without meeting the salary test, and the Department says federal law does not override state or local laws that protect workers more. The page says it cannot tell you whether your job passes the tests, and it is not legal advice: the Wage and Hour Division, a legal aid office or an employment lawyer can look at your actual pay and duties. The Resource Bank lists Legal Services Corporation’s finder for legal aid.

After the number: the offer

Some people say employers expect you to negotiate, that a first offer is often below what they could pay, and that you are the only person looking out for your pay. Some people say there is often more room in what is not cash, such as benefits, holiday and a retirement-plan match. One person says that starting near the bottom of a range means smaller and fewer raises later, so the starting number matters. One person warns that if your number is accepted, you should be happy with that pay for at least two years, because many places do not give raises in the first twelve months. The first page does not cover what to say if an interviewer still insists on your figure after you have asked for theirs, how to bargain when the range they give is below the going rate, or how to negotiate benefits when the base pay is fixed.

Once you are in the job

You are allowed to ask what others earn says that in the United States, for most private-sector employees, talking to your coworkers about what you are paid is federally protected activity, and a company policy forbidding it is unenforceable. The protection is Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, and the labour board lists “openly talking about your pay and benefits” among protected activity. The page says the point is that you cannot tell from the inside whether you are underpaid: job adverts are aspirational, salary websites average across cities and job titles that are not yours, and the only reliable source is the people doing the work beside you. The version people say worked was asking recent hires, because somebody who joined in the last year was hired at the current market rate.

Being legally protected is not the same as being safe, the page says. Most employment in the US is at-will, so it is unlawful to fire you for this and entirely lawful to fire you for something else, next quarter. People put it plainly: the squeaky wheel does not always get greased; sometimes it gets replaced. And if you have no savings, no second income and rent due, the downside is far larger than the upside. A pay gap is also not automatically unfairness: length of service, a different scope or what the market was doing the month somebody was hired all produce real gaps between people doing similar work. It gives you a question worth asking, not a verdict you can present.

Keep a list of what you did

Keep a short running list of what you actually do at work, and write what came of each thing beside it, so a resume, a review and an interview are built from notes made at the time and not from memory. Keep a running list of what you did at work starts from a plain problem: you open your resume to add the last job and cannot say what you did there. Some people also say managers forget what you did by the time a review comes round. Many people say a resume should show what you achieved and what it led to, not copy the tasks in a job description, because hiring managers want results more than duties. So each line is a thing you did and its effect: what you changed, finished, fixed or sold, and a number if you have one.

A number needs care. One person points out that a large revenue figure says little by itself, because revenue is not income and the size of the department matters; the figure worth keeping is how much of the growth was yours. Some people raise a related objection, that results depend on the team and the company as well, and suggest wording that frames your part in the larger success instead of claiming all of it. One person cautions that tailoring a resume should never involve lying, and another says that people who exaggerate skills get caught.

Some people say employers often take a job ad down once candidates reach the interview stage, so a copy saved when you applied lets you re-read the requirements and prepare answers.

Some people say that comparing the description you were hired against with what you do now gives you evidence for a raise or promotion when the job has grown beyond it. They do not agree on how well it works. One person says they have never seen citing the job description lead to more than a minimal raise. Some people point out that descriptions often end with “other duties as necessary”, which weakens the list as a bargaining point, and one person suggests using the list to ask when an extra duty was formally given to you. The page cannot tell you which will be true at your employer.

If your employer forbids keeping personal records of your work, or your work is confidential, the page does not cover what to do. One person warns against breaking a non-disclosure agreement or a security policy when you keep notes or copies away from work, and another says to get this cleared with your employer first. One person warns that work you make for your employer may belong to the employer, not to you, so check before you keep copies. The page rests on people’s advice, not on an official source, and it is not legal advice: what your employer owns and what you may keep depend on your contract and where you live.

Who this is not for

The pay-range page says that if you cannot afford to lose this offer, much of it may not fit you. One person warns that the advice to wait or push assumes you can live without the job or the better offer while you do. One person says that if you badly need the job you have little to bargain with, and another that taking lower pay for experience or steady income can be a fair trade when you are desperate or entering a hard field. If rent or food depends on this job, the tactics carry a risk you may not be able to afford, and a plain figure you can live on may be the better answer. That is your call to make. If the pay is a fixed rate, there may be nothing to ask: one person says negotiating is nearly pointless on minimum-wage or entry-level jobs, where many people apply.

The pay-range page is about the United States, and it checked only Washington’s rules; your state labor department’s website is the place to look, and nothing here is legal advice. Outside the US, the rules and customs may differ. In the UK, the government says employers do not have to pay workers for overtime, that the contract will usually say what overtime pay there is, and that your average pay across all the hours you work must not fall below the National Minimum Wage. Acas, the UK’s workplace advice service, takes questions on pay and the minimum wage on 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and Citizens Advice, in the Resource Bank, can help too. Elsewhere, your country’s labour office or union is the place to start.

For the labour-board protection above: you are outside it if you are a supervisor; an independent contractor rather than an employee; an agricultural worker; or someone whose employer falls under the Railway Labor Act, which covers railways and airlines. Some religious employers sit outside it too, on ground that is more complicated than a sentence. If you are in one of those groups, the page says none of the above is your shield, and to assume the handbook clause means what it says until somebody who knows your situation tells you otherwise. If you are not in the United States, the legal half of that page does not apply to you at all.