Most people give their range based on what they are CURRENTLY making.  Don’t do that.  Instead, do your research.

Example job posting: Looking for a Widget maker with 10 years of experience with the Standard Widget Lifecycle. Yadda yadda yadda.  Must be right handed, with walnut colored eyes, carry a separate piece of luggage for hair and makeup, must have no interest in discussing pets at the water cooler, and consistently wear costumes as opposed to boring corporate clothes.

I ask Google to find me the most detailed sentence in the job description.  Google tells me that sentence exists six times on the internet. I click each of those listings to see if any of them have included the salary. When I click on one of the listings, I notice a number (K18-PO50-25ME) conspicuously places at the bottom of the posting.  I Google that number. I find that number is related to a contract awarded recently.  I check out the Statement of Work.  If I am lucky, I can find a list of all the positions related to the PO and the rate the government agency will pay the contract agency.  In this example, let’s say the government is giving the contract company $91 per hour.  The contracting company has only offered me $31 an hour for the position. They are on that bullshyt! I will tell them such and note that they are untrustworthy as hell.

Sometimes things just don’t work out that clear cut.  Sometimes you gotta go the ‘someone at the company or with the position snitched’ route.  I user Payscale.com and Glassdoor.com.  I put in the informations they ask and voila.

Lastly, the other thing I do is take whatever they offer me and up it based on the fact that, on average,