You're sitting in a job interview and everything has been going great．You're feeling really good about how you've responded to all the questions so far．Then，the hiring manager asks，"How much money do you currently make？"or"How much salary do you expect？"Yourheartracesandyoubegintosweat．How should you answer？

As a recent researcher discovered，the salary question can be a difficult topic to discuss if you haven't already thought through potential responses．"James"felt he had been close to being hired during several job interviews．Then the inevitable salary question came up and the hiring managers asked what James was making in his current position．He told the truth and，in both cases，the hiring managers responded that James'current salary was more than what the position would pay．

"What's the best way to respond to the question of how much are you making in your current position？"James asked me．"I let both hiring managers know I'm flexible with salary，but it seemed like once they heard what I'm currently making，they switchedmeoff and didn't consider me as a viable（能成功的，可获胜的） candidate anymore．"

For job seekers，I tend to think of the salary question in terms of a poker game with the goal being to get the hiring manager（or HR） to lay down their poker cards on the table first．That's because，as James found out，once you share a specific salary number，you might just have priced yourself too high（or too low） for the position．

Here are tips to prepare for the salary question/discussion during job interviews：

Tip 1：Arm yourself with salary information．

Before you go to the job interview，spend adequate time conducting research to find out average salaries and salary ranges for similar jobs in your area，industry and geography．Websites for salary research include：salary．com，payscale．com，indeed．com，careeronestop．org，glassdoor．com，and jobsearchintelligence．com．

Tip