Like most job seekers, I’ve had to answer the dreaded salary expectation question over email.

No matter how many times I’ve done it, it’s still nerve-wracking to put a number out there. What if I undercut myself because my number was too low? Or worse, what if I miss out on the job opportunity because my salary expectation was too high?

Aside from the anxiety I feel thinking about the outcome, the other challenging part of the process is writing the actual salary expectation email (or preparing the script I’d use if this discussion were happening face to face).