BA Salary Interview: When Should You Share Salary Expectations?

4 days ago

7 min read

"What are your salary expectations?"

If you don't know the answer to that question - you're literally leaving money on the table, and worse - allowing yourself to be manipulated.

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I've been a hiring manager for many years, and I know that we, BAs, focus too much on modeling notations, user stories, communication skills, discoveries, and just never seem to pause and think for a minute - what's my worth?

That's why a BA Salary Interview question like this catches so many of us off guard.

Over the years, I've learned a few tricks for navigating salary questions that I'm going to share with you so that you can negotiate your compensation with confidence.

Regardless of where you are in your career - you're just starting as a junior BA, or you've been doing BA forever, like me - or maybe you're currently looking for a job. There are 2 very important aspects that you must understand when it comes to money.

First is the timing. When is it that you speak about salary expectations?
And second is how you actually run your research to know your number or the range... so that you feel self-respect, and the hiring company can clearly understand why you need to be paid a certain amount.

Now let me unpack.

Three factors that shape your number before a BA Salary Interview

There are many things that will influence your salary. Obviously, compensation will vary between companies, industries, cities, and states. But overall, there are three main factors that affect your salary and total compensation package.

The first is your desired job level. For individual contributors in business analysis, there are four main levels - Junior, Middle, Senior, and Lead. And of course, the higher you go on the ladder, the more responsibilities you bear, and the higher the compensation you get to expect.

The second is your location. Cost of living is still very different in various parts of the country - even with remote work - so you have to consider it.

And the third is whether you are looking for full-time employment - in the United States, that is your W-2 - or you want to work as a contractor. Contractor rates are usually higher, but you also pay for your own health insurance, you are your own sales and marketing, and you take care of your accounting. Higher rates, higher expenses.

So you first need to answer these 3 basic questions.

The desired level (junior, middle, senior, or lead), the location, and whether it's a full-time employment or contractor role.

This will put you in a certain category, say it's a Mid-level Banking BA in Greater Chicago, as a full-time employee, or say a Lead BA generalist working as a remote contractor in Dallas-Fort Worth. This will make your research much more grounded in real roles and responsibilities and make your numbers much more relevant and specific.

Takeaway: Before anyone asks you the number, lock in three things: level, location, and W-2 vs contractor. That category is what makes your research real.

How to find the numbers

Now, as you define your ideal role, you get to the next step in your research, which is actually looking for the numbers.

Many times, the actual salary is already listed in the job posting that you apply for. And in certain states like Colorado, companies are actually obliged to put the salary in the job description - use that to your advantage! Or you can look up the company website - the number you see is the baseline that the employer puts forward. But it's almost never the final say - it's more like a starting point, and many job listings actually say salary starting at, or the range from such and such.

If you don't see this number, you can always use third-party sources - like levels.fyi - to find information about the particular company or very similar roles, which again will give you very good reference numbers.

Another important factor to consider, especially in the United States, is whether or not you're applying to a public company. If it's a public company, you may be eligible to receive some kind of stock units or other incentives. What's the health insurance going to look like? And what other non-monetary benefits may the company offer? If this is not listed in the job posting, you still should clarify it with the recruiter during the screening call.

Why? Because all this - salary, bonuses, incentives, insurance, paid time off - all this comprises the compensation package.

I cover more of the research side in MONEY Talk - Business Analyst Salary if you want a deeper walkthrough of how BAs actually look up the numbers.

Takeaway: Use the posting, the company site, and levels.fyi to get a baseline - then ask about bonuses, equity, insurance, and PTO so you are comparing total compensation, not just base.

When you communicate it in a BA Salary Interview

Now, when you have the number or a range in mind, let's find out when you actually communicate it.

Well, first of all - when you send your resume, when you actually hit the send button, you already should have your number in mind.

And by the way, never put the expected salary on your resume or cover letter unless the employer explicitly asks for it. If you do, you basically lock in your own proposal, and it gives the employer too much room to lowball you.

So let's say you got the call back and it's a screening call with the recruiter.

The recruiter will usually ask you, "What are your salary expectations?" In this case, you can either put this range forward, or the best approach is to ask back: "What is it that the company has to offer?" That way, you can use their first offer as the anchor.

And usually the recruiter will say - this position pays a certain number of dollars per hour for the contractor role, or a certain amount per year for the full-time job.

When you hear that number, if you think that's too low - you should never ever say it right away. Yes, it may sound low, but instead, take a mental note of their baseline offer and put forward your range or number.

The phrasing can be very simple. Something like:

"According to my research and what the market has to offer, a Middle BA role in Greater Chicago typically pays in the range of $100k to $140k a year. Given my experience in this domain, I'm looking at a base salary starting from $120k."

And stop there. Don't criticize their offer, don't refer to it at all. Let the recruiter respond - see if they talk about bonuses, health insurance, or other benefits - and take notes.

The screening call is not an offer yet, so there's nothing for you to reject. Instead, just collect the data and put forward your range, even if it doesn't match what the employer is looking for, and let them decide.

If you impress the recruiter and you have a standout resume, and they decide to move on to the next interview, let it be so. You may check with the recruiter how flexible the company is in meeting your salary expectations, and then you will negotiate at the later stages.

It's easier to do this after the technical interview because by then you have already impressed the recruiter, the hiring manager, and your future colleagues. And if they absolutely want you, this gives you much stronger arguments to double down on your proposed salary range. Does that make sense?

Takeaway: Know your number before you hit send. Don't put it on the resume unless they ask. On the screening call, ask what the company has to offer first, then state your researched range and stop talking.

You can still change the number later

Now, almost nobody knows that you may change your salary expectations at later stages. When you already have a job offer in your hand. Or - prior to this - when you are told that the company is going to send you an offer.

And you absolutely negotiate your salary when the expectations of the job itself have changed from what was listed in the original description.

For example: you expected to work fully remote, but now the job requires you to travel or work in office several times a week. Or there are many more responsibilities not listed originally - like more project management duties, or you have to be a part-time Scrum Master on your team, which was not expected originally. All these things add up to your responsibilities.

And then you bring it back to the recruiter: "I would like to see if this position may pay such and such," based on certain things that you've discovered. You bring all these things that changed, list them out - be very specific, and use proof and data to justify the numbers.

I hope that makes sense.

Takeaway: Your first number is not locked forever. If the role changes - travel, office days, extra PM or Scrum Master work - go back with specifics and ask for the pay to match.

If you want even more resources related to the job search and building your career as a BA, I have a free Job Search Navigator for BAs. It's a cheat sheet for landing and navigating the interview process as a Business Analyst.

This cheat sheet has been designed specifically for BAs and is based on my 20 years of professional experience in screening, interviewing, and hiring Business Analysts. Grab your copy and use it before your next screening call.

If you want to learn how to grow and advance your BA career - move to the next career step, or get a promotion - I invite you to my free Career Development webinar for BAs.