Do market research

In order to find out what is a reasonable salary, make sure to find out what the market is paying for someone with your education and your level of experience in your geographical area. It’s important to include all three variables when doing your research.

Be sure to use a number of different resources—both on and offline—to make sure you get the most accurate information.

It can be quite helpful to talk to headhunters and recruiters since they will have up-to-date salary information. If that is not appropriate, you can also talk to acquaintances who have similar job titles and level of experience as you do. If you know anyone who works at the company where you’ve applied, you might want to ask them what typical compensation packages in their organisation look like.