Common mistakes in salary negotiation
&gt; My general policy with third-party recruiters is to not tell them ANYTHING and to always deal directly with the companies they introduce you, once you establish a point of contact there. You should assume that anything you tell your recruiter is going to get back to every company you’re working with. Why? Because their primary objective is to place your butt in the seat of one of the companies they’re working with, and they will do whatever they need to do to make the deal happen. Often, those things will run counter to your interests.<p>While the OP has a ton of experience, I disagree with this advice unless you&#x27;re just starting out and don&#x27;t know what you&#x27;re worth yet.<p>I think it is much faster and easier to ask what you&#x27;re looking for up front.<p>If you want $200,000, $400,000, whatever, just say so. BEFORE you start any interviews.<p>If GOOD recruiters are talking to you, they want to place you at the highest comp package they can. If the number isn&#x27;t realistic, they&#x27;ll tell you. Last thing they want is to waste your time interviewing for a position you&#x27;ll reject because of the package.<p>(There are plenty of recruiters that only care about placement volume and nothing else. Inbound emails from recruiters that clearly look like a copy and paste job are probably one of these. Good recruiters don&#x27;t leave money on the table like that.)<p>I DO agree with OP that you _shouldn&#x27;t_ state what your current salary&#x2F;comp is (unless you don&#x27;t care about negotiating on comp but want to ensure you maintain what you&#x27;re making).