A million dollars. It's always good form to just say I MUST HAVE A MILLION DOLLARS in the center of your cover letter; bonus if you add curlicues all around it and exclamation points and stuff.

Actually, I have no idea - nobody's ever asked me this before either. Possibly because I always work for nonprofits and they know going in how little they can offer. Maybe use your last salary or ask around and go for a reasonable middle ground?

I've only had to do it once or twice, and I didn't get the jobs so take my view with many grains of salt, but I think I stuck it in near the end, after all my qualifications. And I felt more comfortable putting in a range, and dissociating it a bit from the job I was currently applying for by making it more of a "I'm looking for a position that pays $xx,xxx-$xx,xxx" thing.

I've never put it on a cover letter, but when I had to give a salary estimate, I used some online service or another to figure out what entry-level engineers in San Antonio make, then added 5% on top.

Now that I have the job and have to review applications from new entry-level engineers, I sort of laugh at the random numbers they put in that field - sometimes blank, sometimes ridiculously low, and sometimes laughably high.

The key is subtlety. May I suggest a water mark? And translate it into pounds, so it looks like a lower amount.

(forgot to say that I got pretty much what I asked for - I think 1-2% less)

I sort of laugh at the random numbers they put in that field - sometimes blank, sometimes ridiculously low, and sometimes laughably high

Yeah, that's mostly what I'm concerned about, and my skill set isn't so easily googled. There's no real way to research what the going rate is. And, having worked from home for a couple years and having set my own rate makes it even harder. (I almost included that bit of info, but decided against it.)

Anyway, it's in the tubes now.

If I don't get a call-back, I'm blaming you people!

Putting in a range leaves you room to negotiate once you have been offered the job.

I attended a salary negotiation workshop last week. We were told to do a couple key things:

1. Try to avoid being the first one to name a number (which I guess is out in this case).
2. If #1 isn't possible, name a range ("I was thinking mid to high fifties.") to force them to be specific first.
3. Before anything, use salary.com to find out what people in your area and profession are making so you have a sense of what's reasonable.
4. Research the company as best you can to see what your superiors are making. This is really only for non-profits, I guess, since those figures are public. The point is--make sure you know what the executive director and other higher ups makes so you have a sense of where the maximum is for everyone and you don't say "I was thinking high eighties" when the e.d. makes in the low eighties.
5. Remember that vacation, benefits, all those "extras" really add up and can be as meaningful as cash. If they can't negotiate on salary, will they negotiate on, say, vacation days?
Hope that's helpful. Good luck.

the last time I was asked for that I put a really wide range (like 25-45K) and added "salary range negotiable depending on benefit package as a whole."

That was a great help, sneakin. And great tip, kellydammit.

I absolutely hate this little dance. I respect institutions when they do publish the compensation range for established institutions, and hate wasting time sending inquiries to jobs only to find they're hiring for a fancy-dancy title but a really low salary range, after you've done the work. I'd really like to see this coming from employers, more often. Good Lord, there is a top of the range and a low end even for execs.

Yeah, damn, I wish I'd made it a 30k range. That woulda showed 'em!!!

And this IS a nonprofit, but it's a big, national, well-known one. The job's local. I actually reviewed their annual report before sending in the cover letter, but I could only find vague info on operating expenses, and nothing specific to individual jobs. I suspect they pay well and that I might have underbid. And that's what I HATE -- that the whole request for a salary suggestion puts applicants in a bidding war. That's just sucky.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice.