Patricia Nwosu

Redirect to expectations rather than refusing. Something like: "I'd rather not share my current number since it reflects a role with different scope, but I'm targeting 95-105k for this kind of position and I'd expect that to be in range — is it?"

That does three things. It answers the underlying question, which is whether you're affordable. It puts your number in the conversation instead of theirs. And it hands the ball back so they have to say yes or no, which saves you both a wasted screen.

I have used almost exactly that wording maybe a dozen times and never once lost an interview over it. Recruiters mostly want to avoid wasting a hiring manager's time, not to trap you.

The failure mode isn't that they fire you. It's that the reason you were leaving is usually still there in March, and now you've spent your leverage.

The question I'd actually ask yourself: was money the reason you interviewed? If yes, take it, it's a good outcome and the doom stories are overstated. If money was the excuse and the real reason was your manager, the roadmap, or being three years from any promotion, then 12k buys you about four months of feeling better and then you're back where you started, except you've now told everyone you were shopping.

The practical risk that is real: budget for your raise came from somewhere, and in some places it comes from next year's pool. Ask directly whether this affects your next cycle. The answer, and how quickly they give it, tells you a lot.

Sent something close to this. Got two of the three, with the third explicitly staying with the other person "for now". At least I know where I stand.

Turns out he genuinely thought I was there to help him, not replace him. Nobody had told him anything specific. Awkward conversation, useful conversation.

Also worth separating the job from everything else. New job, plus whatever else changed in your life this year, plus the season. I've blamed jobs for flatness that turned out to be four months of not seeing daylight and not exercising.

Only really bites if you leave early. Stay three years and deliver something, and nobody is auditing your title against headcount.