Back to articles
CategoryTips

Did You Ask About the Job Budget Today?

August 12, 2026
Tags
Careersalary-negotiationjob-searchProductivity
Did You Ask About the Job Budget Today?

A lot of professionals freeze when a recruiter hits them with the classic "salary to be agreed" or asks, "What do you earn now?" But pay attention: you don't need to be afraid. In that first interaction, the ball is in your court!

That "salary to be agreed" is, most of the time, not flexibility, it's information asymmetry. Science has already shown that when laws force companies to come clean and show the salary range, market wages automatically rise by 1.3% to 3.6%. When a job hides the number, the company usually just wants to find out how low you'll set your own financial anchor so they can pay you less.

But how do you handle this in practice? Here's a straightforward, no-nonsense script for navigating that conversation without fear:

👉 Scenario 1: The recruiter says the salary is "to be agreed." Don't be afraid to politely flip the question: "To make sure we're aligned and not wasting each other's time, what's the approved budget for this position?" Mature, organized hiring processes know exactly how much they can pay.

👉 Scenario 2: They demand your "salary expectations." Never give them your floor (the minimum you'll accept). Tell them the ceiling of your expectations! A study of over 110,000 candidates analyzed the "Ask Gap" and found that candidates who ask for less (women, on average, ask for 3% less than men with the exact same resume) receive proportionally lower offers. The company takes your number in the dark and turns it into the cap for the final offer. Always anchor high.

👉 Scenario 3: They ask, "What do you earn now?" You're not obligated to disclose your current salary, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping that to yourself. Redirect the conversation to the future and the value of your work. Answer with something like: "For this next step in my career and with the responsibilities of this new role, my expectation is at the ceiling of X, aligned with market practices."

You're not alone in demanding clarity. Today, 31% of good candidates simply walk away from a hiring process if the salary isn't posted. And here in Brazil, the Ministry of Labor has already started slapping severe fines (up to 3% of payroll) on companies that try to hide their salary transparency data.

Negotiation starts with your positioning. Don't play their game in the dark!

👇 Sources and Studies: