The first call, and the salary question

Twenty-five minutes with somebody who is not technical

The first human contact is usually a recruiter. They are not assessing your SQL and it is unfair to judge them for not being able to. They are checking five things:

1. Are you real, and roughly what your CV says?
2. Can you explain your work to a non-specialist?
3. Are you actually interested in this role, or in any role?
4. Are you available: notice period, location, right to work?
5. Are you inside the band?

Most rejections at this stage come from three, four and five, not from anything technical. Prepare accordingly.

The opening ninety seconds

“Tell me about yourself” is answered in the order present, past, why here. Sixty to ninety seconds.

“I am a data analyst at a logistics firm, mostly SQL and reporting for the operations team. Before that I was in operations myself, which is how I ended up doing this. The thing I have been moving towards is pipeline work rather than reporting, and your advert is the first one I have seen that pairs that with a domain I already understand.”

Three sentences, no life story, and it ends by handing them a reason to keep talking. Do not start with where you were born.

The salary question

It arrives early and it is the part people handle worst. Three facts change how you should answer it.

First, in a growing number of places the band is disclosable and sometimes must be published. Several US states and cities require a salary range in the posting or on request. The EU Pay Transparency Directive obliges employers to give applicants pay information before the interview, with member states implementing by June 2026. Ask. In many jurisdictions you are entitled to the answer, and where you are not, asking is still normal.

Second, asking your current salary is prohibited in a number of places: California, New York City, Massachusetts and several other US jurisdictions ban it outright. Elsewhere it is legal and common. You are never obliged to answer, and answering anchors your next job to your last market, which is precisely the trap when you are moving from a services firm to a product company or from one country to another.

Third, whoever names a number first sets the frame. That is not a reason to refuse forever; it is a reason to try once to get theirs.

A sequence that works:

Them: “What are your salary expectations?”

You: “I would rather understand the level first: what is the band for this role?”

Most internal recruiters answer, because they have the band on their screen and a mismatch wastes their time too. If they press:

“Based on what I have seen for this level in this market, I am looking at somewhere between X and Y, and I would want to understand the whole package before being firm. Does that sit inside your band?”

Rules for X and Y. Research first, from real postings and people rather than from a model, which is confidently wrong about local pay. Make X a number you would accept, because you may be offered it. Set the range about 15% wide. And never quote your current salary as the basis.

If they will not give a band and will not confirm you are in it, that is information about the company, not a puzzle to solve.

What to ask, and the one question that pays

Save two minutes at the end.

• ”What level is this role internally, and what would distinguish it from the level above?”
• “What are the stages and the timeline?”
• “Who would I report to, and how large is the team?”
• ”Why is the role open?”

That last one is the highest-yield question in the whole call, and recruiters usually answer it honestly. A new role from growth, a backfill after somebody left, a replacement for somebody who left after four months, or a role being rebuilt after a reorganisation are four very different jobs. The answer sometimes arrives with a pause, and the pause is also an answer.

Internal recruiter or agency

Worth establishing in the first minute, because the incentives differ. An internal recruiter works for the company and is measured on hires that stay. An agency recruiter is typically paid a percentage of your first-year salary on placement, which makes them useful (they want you placed and paid well) and also means they may push you towards roles that suit their pipeline rather than your plan.

Neither is a villain. But never let an agency submit you to a company without naming it first, because duplicate submissions from two agencies can get a candidate discarded to avoid a fee dispute.

The limitation

A recruiter screen is a low-information stage in both directions. They cannot tell whether you can do the job, and you cannot tell whether the job is good. Its only real function is to avoid wasting the next four hours, so answer clearly, get the band and the level, and do not read too much into warmth. Recruiters are warm professionally, and it means nothing about your chances.