Writing · 2026-09-01 · 11 min read

Salary expectations on a CV: when to include them and when not to

Should you put salary or pay expectations on your résumé? When it helps, when it gets you filtered out, and where to write it if the portal requires it.

Salary expectations on a CV cause two opposite mistakes: a random number “to be safe”, or hiding it when the form requires it and leaving the field blank. In Spain and most of Western Europe, salary on the résumé document is not mandatory and often hurts: it anchors you low if you asked little, filters you out if high, and you negotiate without market context. This guide covers when it belongs on the PDF, when only on the portal, and when nowhere.

Complements what not to put on a CV. When tailoring applications, salary rarely changes match — keywords do.

ClarCV does not fill salary fields. It fixes the file so ATS can read it. Free: 3 analyses / 30 days, no card.

General rule: off the PDF

On the résumé document (PDF or Word) you usually do not put bare “€30,000 gross”. It ages badly and does not separate fixed from variable pay. If the portal has a salary field, answer there with a researched range — not in the CV header.

When the portal or staffing firm requires it

Randstad, Adecco, InfoJobs, and some corporate ATS ask for a range in the form. Do not copy that number into the PDF. Use a range from public sources, rounded. “Negotiable depending on package” works when the field allows free text.

When it MAY go on the CV (rare)

Unsolicited application to a small company without a structured portal and they explicitly asked for “CV with salary expectation”. One line under contact: “Expectation: €28–32k gross/year, negotiable”.

Mistakes that get you filtered

• Current salary on the CV when you want more — it boxes you in.
• “Per collective agreement” in sectors with no clear agreement.
• Double market rate without seniority to support it.
• Mixing net and gross without saying which.
• Salary in the professional summary — first thing read, first filter applied.

Where to negotiate instead

Phone screen or first recruiter round: range with context (remote, bonus, hours). In writing before a human conversation, the number works against you. If the ad publishes a band (increasingly common in the EU), align expectations without copying it into the PDF.