Because you lose a tremendous amount of leverage in negotiating that way. 99% of the time, no matter how much you emphasize &quot;at least&quot;, we salary talks start the HR person&#x27;s first line is that they&#x27;re offering you what your minimum was. You will counter with something higher and I promise you the response will be &quot;Oh but we understood you would be okay with this amount I offered.&quot; You are starting out at the bare minimum. It&#x27;s a terrible idea.