By Sarah Greesonbach,

There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction that comes with working hard on your resume andgetting the interview. But once you’re pencilled in on the hiring manager’s calendar, it’s time to start preparing for the ultimate interview question: “What are your salary requirements.”

There are a number of difficulties that come with discussing salary. First, many groups of people find it hard to talk about money. Women have a long-documented history of not negotiating starting salaries, and then there’s the difficulty of deciding exactly how much to ask for, as well as when in the interview process you should ask or make your expectations clear.

While it’s impossible to offer universal salary negotiation advice that will apply to every situation, here are three things you should think about when building your interview strategy for answering questions about salary requirements:

Do your research

What you think your skills are worth often isn’t in line with what the market will pay for those skills. If you’re just starting out with your career, understand how traditional salary caps work. Every career field has an accepted salary range based on experience, qualifications and location. With some notable exceptions, most companies simply won’t pay $70,000 for an administrative assistant. It’s not realistic to find a traditional job with a salary range way outside your current income.

Before you step into the interview, use the Simply Hired Salary Estimator to find out the appropriate salary ranges for your field and experience level. Then tap into your network for feedback about your anticipated offer. Don’t ask others to disclose their income, but do ask questions such as, “Based on my level of experience, do you think an offer in the range of $35,000 to $38,500 is reasonable?”

Don’t mention numbers first

If you’ve made it to the in-person interview without disclosing any salary numbers, keep that momentum going. So long as there is some assumption that the salary meets the market rate (the company is stable, the position is established, etc), you don’t want to bring up numbers until the hiring manager is convinced you are the absolute best candidate for the position.

Leaving this data out of the posting makes it part of a conversation during a face-to-face interview. It gives the HR team control of that information and how and when it is presented rather than just making it public to be seen by recruits, employees and competitors.

Hiring managers often try to start the salary conversation by asking you your range first. Instead of answering, volley the question back to them by saying, “I understand there’s a competitive range for the skills I have. Could you share the salary range you have available for this position?” If it’s awkward, let it be awkward. Silence is a valuable negotiation tactic.

If you have to mention numbers first, talk about value instead of salary

If you’re somehow pressed into mention a number first, talk about the number associated with the value you bring to the company instead of the salary it will pay you. When you mention that value, set a very high benchmark that you know is out of range based on the true value you bring (called price anchoring). Then indicate that you understand this is outside the range for the position, but you’d like to hear how close they can get you to that range. This will allow you to anchor an outrageously high price in the hiring manager’s mind so that the counter offer is based on that number instead of a lower, more reasonable number you might otherwise offer.

For example, a seasoned digital marketing copywriter might expect a typical salary of $45,000 to $65,000 for a full-time job depending on the industry in which the writer works. However, the actual value of the work this person will do in a given year (if sold piece-by-piece or as a freelancer) could easily top six figures.

The last time I discussed salary with a prospective employer, I price anchored my value in this way by saying, “As an efficient and focused writer, I will be able to work on projects and assignments that bring in at least $120,000 per year when sold at the market rate for each deliverable. However, I understand that as an employer you take on much of the risk of these relationships and doing business in general, which cuts into the salary you can offer. Given the market rate for this position, I am looking for a salary range closer to $65,000 to $75,000.”

While there’s still no guarantee that the company’s budget will be able to accomodate the first number you suggest, it’s much easier to land at the high side of that range if the hiring manager is focused on the $120,000 value the company is getting instead of the $75,000 salary goal that the candidate is really after.