Recently, I wrote about how to discuss your salary requirements in a cover letter. A reader emailed me because he was regularly encountering the “desired salary” question even when he applied for positions online. He said, “All the consulting jobs I’m applying for now have a required box in the application page in which only accepts a numeric response to the ’Salary Desired’ question. I don’t want to be hemmed in by a number for which I’m by definition going to low ball—but I also want the job. Any advice?”
So just exactly how do you negotiate with a computer?