How do I discuss salary expectations without losing the candidate?

In the first conversation, ideally in the first few minutes after you have described the role. Waiting until the final round protects nobody. It wastes weeks of candidate time and burns your own interview capacity on people who were never going to accept. State the band, say what determines where an offer lands inside it, and ask whether that works. Most candidates relax noticeably once the number is on the table, because the ambiguity was the uncomfortable part. If your range is genuinely wide, explain what separates the bottom from the top. A band nobody can interpret is only marginally better than no band at all. If the range is not approved yet, say when it will be rather than improvising a number you may have to retract.

Prefer asking what they are looking for and what would make a move worthwhile. Salary history tells you what a previous employer paid, which reflects that company's structure rather than the value of the work here, and anchoring on it perpetuates whatever underpayment already existed. Several countries, states and provinces now restrict or prohibit asking about pay history, and the rules differ between them, so confirm what applies in each place you hire rather than running one script globally. Expectations questions are cleaner in every jurisdiction. Record the answer in your applicant tracking system so the number does not get re-litigated from memory at offer stage. Ask what they are looking for and why that figure, since the reasoning matters more than the number this early.

Say so immediately and specifically. Tell the candidate the ceiling and ask whether there is any version of the role that works for them at that level. Sometimes there is, because seniority, scope or working arrangements change the calculation. Often there is not, and both of you have saved a month. What you must not do is proceed while hoping the gap closes at the end. That produces a declined offer, a soured relationship and a search restart. If the gap keeps recurring across several candidates, the band is the problem, not the market, and that is a conversation to have with the budget holder using the evidence you have collected.

Write the script and the band into the requisition rather than leaving each recruiter to improvise. Agree what gets disclosed, when, and what determines a position within the range. Then apply it to everyone in the same role. Inconsistency here is where pay gaps and fairness complaints originate, since the people who negotiate hardest end up ahead of the people who do the same work. Keep offer decisions documented alongside the reasoning. Doing this well takes very little effort compared with correcting a compensation structure a year later, and it makes your talent acquisition process defensible when someone eventually asks how two similar hires ended up in different places. Review offer decisions across a role family once a quarter to catch drift before it compounds.