Yes, that's true. However, by doing so I have anchored the minimum salary at the top of their range [in their case, a little above the top]. At that point they

Yes, that's true. However, by doing so I have anchored the minimum salary at the top of their range [in their case, a little above the top]. At that point they could terminate the interview or go forward - a clear indication that salary was negotiable. In reality, that isn't how I think. I'm very frank and open. I tell them what I want, because that's what I want. On the topic of frankness: I also tell them anything that could possibly discourage them from hiring me. I'm not trying to talk them out of hiring me, I just want them to have all the data they need to make a good hiring decision. I was once hired for a contract that I was unqualified for and let go a week later. When I asked the guy who hired me why they hired me for a position that required expertise in "X" technology when I told them in the interview that I only had a week of experience with "X" he told me: "We just liked you so much." Getting hired for a position you aren't qualified for is worse than not getting hired.