"What do you earn now?" — how to answer without capping yourself

It arrives early, usually before anyone has described the role in detail: “What are you making now?” It sounds like small talk. It is the most consequential question in the process, because whatever number you say becomes the floor of every conversation that follows.

Why the question is asked

Not usually out of malice. A recruiter has a band, and the fastest way to find out whether you fit inside it is to ask what you are paid. The number is a shortcut around the slower, more honest question: what is this role worth?

That is exactly why answering it is expensive. Your current salary reflects your last negotiation, your last employer’s budget, and whatever you accepted when you knew less than you know now. None of those is what this role is worth.

What the law says, in many places

Several jurisdictions have decided that the question causes enough harm to ban it:

• In the United States, a majority of states and a growing number of cities and counties prohibit employers from asking about salary history, and some require them to give a pay range when asked. The rules vary by state and by size of employer.
• In the European Union, the 2023 pay-transparency directive requires employers to give applicants the pay range before an interview and bars questions about current or past pay; member states are transposing it into national law on a rolling basis.
• In the United Kingdom, pay-transparency provisions have been moving through Parliament, and many large employers now publish ranges voluntarily.

This is a moving target and it is local. The useful takeaway is not the specific rule where you live — it is that the question is widely understood to be a bad one, and that a polite refusal is normal rather than hostile.

Four answers that work

Pick by how the conversation is going, not by personality.

1. Deflect to the role.

“I’d rather talk about what the role is worth. Do you have a range for it?”

This works because it is a question, not a refusal. A recruiter who has a band usually gives it — and once you have their range, you have far more than they have.

2. Name your expectation instead of your history.

“My expectation for this role is [range]. Is that in line with where you’re thinking?”

You are answering a different question, truthfully, without refusing anything.

3. Answer with the whole package.

“My current package is [base] plus [bonus/equity], and I’m looking for a step up from that — I’m targeting [number] for this role.”

Useful when the total is genuinely competitive and the base alone understates it. Be careful: you have now anchored yourself, so only do this if the anchor helps.

4. Say why you would rather not.

“I’d prefer not to anchor this on my current salary — it was set for a different role at a different company. I’m happy to tell you my range.”

Direct, and hard to argue with. It works best once they have raised the subject themselves.

The trap after the answer

If you do give a number, the next sentence is where people lose the negotiation:

• Recruiter: “Great, so we’re in the same ballpark.”
• You: “Yes.”

That “yes” is you agreeing that your current salary is the relevant benchmark. The repair is simple and it has to come immediately:

“Same ballpark on base, yes — though I’m expecting a move up in this role, given [scope, market, the range you mentioned].”

What not to do

Do not inflate the number. Offers are frequently verified during referencing or a background check, and a discovered exaggeration ends the process. The asymmetry is brutal: lying risks the job, and the honest answer risks only money.

Do not give a single number when you can give a range — and if you give a range, know that you have just named its bottom.

Do not answer “I’m flexible.” It does not avoid the question; it invites them to make the first offer as low as they dare.

Do not accept “we need it to make you an offer.” They do not. They need it to make you a cheap offer. “I’m confident we can land on a number once I understand the role — do you have the range for it?” is a complete answer.

The order of information

The single most useful rule in the whole process:

Whoever names a number second is negotiating; whoever names one first is anchoring.

So ask for the range early, before the conversation reaches money. “Before we go further — what’s the band for this role?” is a normal question in most hiring processes now, and in a growing number of places it is one they are required to answer.