“What is your desired salary?” — how application forms actually ask it
Not every form wants a number. Some state the pay range and ask whether you accept it; a few ask what you earn now, which is a different question and one some jurisdictions restrict. We read the application forms of 71 employers that ask it — 895 instances in all — from their own public job-board APIs. This is what the question looks like in practice.
What it is checking
Asks what you expect to be paid. Some jurisdictions restrict asking for salary HISTORY while still permitting expectations — the two are different questions.
Three different questions, all filed as “salary”
| What the form actually asks | Employers | Marked required |
|---|---|---|
| Your number — what you want to be paid | 63 | 84% of forms |
| Their range — the form states the pay and asks if you accept it | 15 | 100% of forms |
| Your current pay — what you earn now | 3 | 100% of forms |
8 of those 15 put the actual figures in the question itself, so the number is on the page before you are asked anything:
- The compensation range for this role is $80,000 – $115,000 per year. Does this align with your expectations?
- The approved compensation range for this role is $150-175k; does this align with your expectations?
- Are you aware of the specified on-target cash compensation range of $74,000 to $84,000 associated with this role?
- Are you aware of the specified on-target cash compensation range of $74,000 to $80,000 associated with this role?
Asking what you earn now is a different question from asking what you want, and it is counted separately here rather than blurred into “expectations”:
- What is your current annual salary in TWD?
- Please specify your current annual base compensation (in SGD).
- What is your current CTC in Lakhs per annum?
- Please specify your current annual compensation (in SGD).
The shape of the answer
Only 16% of these forms give you a fixed list — most take free text, so the wording is yours to choose. 87% are marked required.
| Option offered | Times it appears |
|---|---|
| Yes | 82 |
| No | 82 |
| I understand GoCardless' approach to base pay salaries | 28 |
| Less than 3 LPA | 20 |
| 3 - 6 LPA | 20 |
| 6 - 9 LPA | 20 |
| 9 - 12 LPA | 20 |
| 12 - 15 LPA | 20 |
| 15 - 18 LPA | 20 |
| 18 - 21 LPA | 20 |
| 21 - 24 LPA | 20 |
| 24 - 27 LPA | 20 |
72 distinct options appear across the corpus.
181 ways of asking the same thing
The wording matters more than it looks: two forms can ask about the same fact and accept different answers. These are the most common, with the number of employers using each — the form's own words, not a paraphrase.
| Question, as the form words it | Employers |
|---|---|
| What are your salary expectations? | 11 |
| What are your compensation expectations? | 7 |
| What is your desired compensation? | 5 |
| Salary Expectations | 3 |
| What is your salary expectations? | 3 |
| What are your salary expectations for this role? | 2 |
| What is your desired salary for this role? | 2 |
| What is your desired salary? | 2 |
| Annual Salary (USD) | 1 |
| Are you aligned with the salary range of Base Salary: $100k to $120k | 1 |
| Are you aligned with the salary range of Base Salary: $135k-$175k | 1 |
| Are you aligned with the salary range of Base Salary: $150k-$190k | 1 |
Employers whose exact wording we have
Each of these pages lists every question on that employer's form, including this one.
8am · Adyen · Airtable · Alphasense · Amyris · Assemblyai · Avant Arte · Bevi · Boku · Boulder Care · Boulevard · Box · Carbonchain · Carvana · Centrum Health · Charles · Circleci · Cloudflare · Cockroach · Daybreak Health · Degreed · Dollar Shave Club · Doximity · Enova International · Eve · Flexport · Flock Homes · Ghx · Ginkgo Bioworks · Gocardless · Isar Aerospace Se · Kaizo · Kbra · Kiwico · Komodo Health · Lithic · Litify · Makersite · Mighty Networks · Mixpanel · Myfitnesspal · N26 · Natera · Newsela · Nuro · Oshi Health · Podium · Prodigal · Prolific · Quip · Razorpay Software Private · Roofstock · Runwise · Shopmy · Sidecar Health · Signifyd · Sourcegraph · Upslide · Urban Sports Club · Wrike
What this page does not tell you
It does not tell you what to answer. What is true for you is not visible from a job board, and a confident steer on a question about your right to work — or on a contract you have signed — would be worth less than nothing. What is here is what the form will put in front of you, so that nothing on it is a surprise.
Nor does it say whether any employer filters on the answer. Whether a form's answers are used that way is not published by any of these job boards, and the honest position is that we cannot see it.