Where do I put salary requirements when requested by a potential employer?

Make it a bullet point on the resume, not the cover letter.

I was always advised by previous life coach / career counselors to never disclose salary requirements when applying for a position.
I never include such things – nor will I provide current salary information when I interview – I always ask the HR / hiring manager to tell me what the pay scale for the position is and ask to be compensated according to my years of experience and their pay scale.
Salary is something that is NEGOTIATED during the hiring process—so disclosing this upfront or telling a potential employer what you’re making now is like tipping your hand in a high-stakes poker game. I wouldn’t do it.

@geeky_mama has a point. The last time I wrote a resume was probably 20 years ago.

What @geeky_mama said. The request is made to either filter you out of consideration if your demands are too high or to put you in a box that’s hard to climb out of if you’re later considered for the position. No one these days really expects you to put “a number” there.

As someone who worked in US and for a company who set salaries based upon the job requirements and general salary range in the industry outside of the company, the desired salary range meant little. It wasn’t a required field to fill out, and should an applicant opt to do so, the only heads up it gave us was if we might potentially be interviewing someone who was looking for more than the job paid.

If this happened to be the case, I would let the applicant know upfront. Why waste their time and mine if they wouldn’t be interested in the position purely based on the salary? If the requested salary range was well below what we would pay, and this happened once, it was an absolute pleasure to not only offer her the job but let her know what the salary would be.

Unfortunately, not all companies have the integrity that this one does. Personally, if the information is not required, I would leave it blank on an application. Get that first interview and then ask what the salary range is during it. It is not an offensive question…remember that interviews mean that they are not only learning about you, but you need to be learning about the job.

I don’t mind putting a range for a salary requirement and I generally mention the range at the bottom of a custom-written cover letter, as follows:

I am highly motivated and would bring a solid work ethic and enthusiasm to this job. Per your request, my salary range is $65,000—$75,000. Thank You for your consideration. I look forward to receiving your reply.

It has worked for me in the past. During the negotiation process for my present salary, I was able to have the add 5K to their offer by mentioning that I was very clear about my range and simply can not go below my minimum.

Thanks guys,

I agree that giving an actual salary range, puts me at a severe disadvantage with negotiations pending I do get an interview/offered the position. I would prefer not to submit the information.

However, as a detail person, I don’t like to omit information when it was asked for in the online posting. I wouldn’t want to be disqualified because I didn’t provide requested information.

If it is not required, then it will not disqualify you from being considered. The online application process is designed to prevent managers from investing time in interviewing people that do not meet specific qualifications in order to successfully do the job. For example, one of the positions I posted stated that the candidate must be fluent in both English and Spanish. Anyone who answered ‘no’, did not get an interview.

A salary range request is not a requirement for a job. We have interviewed people who met the required qualifications whether their salary range request was above or below what we were willing to pay, as well as those that didn’t post one at all.