Thirty seconds into almost every recruiter call, it comes: What's your current rate? It sounds like small talk. It isn't. It's the single most important sentence in the entire conversation, and how you answer it can swing your next contract by ten or twenty dollars an hour.
Most consultants answer honestly out of habit, or out of fear that dodging the question looks evasive. Both instincts are understandable. Neither serves you. The recruiter isn't asking because they're curious about your career. They're asking because your answer becomes the ceiling for what they'll offer you.
Here's the reframe: your current rate is a data point about your last negotiation, not a fact about your market value today. Anchoring on a researched range beats disclosing history almost every time. Below are three scripts that do it, plus the reasoning behind each one.
Why Recruiters Ask This Question (and What They Do With Your Answer)
Recruiters and account managers work inside a margin. The client has a bill rate ceiling; the vendor takes a spread; you get what's left. Every dollar they save by anchoring you low is a dollar of margin they keep — or a dollar they can use to win the deal against a competing vendor.
Your current rate does two things for them:
- It sets a low anchor they can build an offer around, usually a modest bump over what you're already making, not what the role is actually worth.
- It tells them how much negotiating room exists between your number and the client's budget, information you don't have and they do.
None of this makes recruiters villains. It makes them negotiators doing their job. Your job is to negotiate back with equally good information — market data, not personal history.
The Salary History Law Isn't What You Think
You may have heard that salary history questions are illegal. That's not quite right, and believing it can leave you unprepared.
Restrictions on asking about pay history exist in a growing number of states and cities, but they are not nationwide, and their scope varies widely. Some laws only stop employers from asking; others only stop them from relying on the answer if a candidate volunteers it; some cover public employers but not private ones; some apply to employees but say nothing about independent contractors or corp-to-corp arrangements, which describes a large share of the consulting market. Check the specific statute in your state or city before assuming you're protected — do not assume the question is off-limits everywhere.
Practically speaking, this means the current rate question will keep getting asked almost everywhere in this industry, law or no law. Your leverage comes from how you answer it, not from hoping it won't come up.
Anchor on the Market, Not Your History
Negotiation research has shown for decades that whoever states a number first sets the anchor, and every subsequent number gets pulled toward it. If you disclose your current rate first, you've anchored the entire negotiation to your past, often a past rate you accepted when you had less experience, fewer certifications, or a weaker market.
The fix is simple to say and takes real work to do well: know your market range before the call, and lead with that range instead of your history.
Build the range from a few sources:
- Recent postings and rate cards for comparable roles, stack, and location or remote status.
- Conversations with peers doing similar work at similar seniority — not what they wish they made, what they actually bill.
- Your own delta: certifications earned, scope expanded, or a skill in short supply since your last contract.
Once you have that range, you're negotiating from evidence, not memory.
Three Scripts for Answering the Rate Question
Pick the script that matches your actual leverage in that moment. Overplaying your hand when you have none is as costly as underplaying it when you do.
1. Deflect and Redirect
Use this when you genuinely don't want to anchor on your past rate and the role details are still vague.
"I'd rather focus on what this role is budgeted at and what the scope requires — that tells me more than what I was billing on a different engagement with a different scope. What's the client's target range?"
This puts the burden back on the recruiter to disclose first, which is usually where you want it.
2. Range With Condition
Use this when you're asked directly and a flat deflection would feel evasive or damage rapport.
"Based on current market rates for this stack and experience level, I'm targeting $X to $Y an hour, corp-to-corp, depending on the final scope and duration."
Notice what's missing: your current or most recent rate. You've given a number, satisfied the question, and anchored on the market instead of your history — while leaving room to move based on scope, not pressure.
3. Disclose With Context
Use this rarely, and only when disclosure genuinely works in your favor — for example, your current rate is already at or above the top of the market range, and stating it signals strength rather than inviting a lowball.
"My current rate is $X, and given the demand for this skill set right now, I'm not looking to go below that for a comparable engagement."
This is a leverage play, not a confession. Use it only when the number itself does work for you.
| Script | Best used when | Risk if misused |
|---|---|---|
| Deflect and redirect | Scope or budget still unclear | Can feel evasive if repeated too often |
| Range with condition | Direct question, need to answer without anchoring low | Range set too wide loses credibility |
| Disclose with context | Your current rate is already strong and market-supported | Backfires if your rate is actually below market |
What to Do the Night Before the Call
None of these scripts work if you're improvising them live. Ten minutes of prep changes the whole conversation:
- Write your range down before the call — two numbers, not a vague feeling.
- Decide which script fits before the recruiter asks, not after.
- Have one sentence ready explaining your delta since your last rate — new certification, larger scope, harder-to-find stack.
The consultants who negotiate well aren't smoother talkers. They're better prepared.
If you want a second opinion on where your rate actually sits in today's market before your next call, the team at Josh Pros LLC talks to consultants and clients across the country every week and can give you a straight read. Reach out at contact@joshpros.com or visit https://joshpros.com.
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