Keep in mind that price anchoring works both ways. That's the reason why this question is usually phrased as "how much did you make at your last job?", which c

Keep in mind that price anchoring works both ways. That's the reason why this question is usually phrased as "how much did you make at your last job?", which can only be used to anchor you to a low figure (or convince you to tell a lie). Naturally, defer salary negotiation until after they've decided they're going to hire you. But then don't feel like you absolutely can't give a number. If you do, give a nice high one. "I expect my total compensation to be in the neighborhood of $250,000 a year." Now you've framed the discussion in terms of why maybe you're not worth quite that much, why the market rate for the position doesn't warrant paying that much, and why the company doesn't really have that sort of budget for an engineer. That's a much nicer conversation to be having than the one where you're trying to explain why $70,000 isn't really the sort of bump you were expecting from the $65,000 you were making at that entry level job your first few years out of school.