[brucehart]

I agree with this approach more than the common wisdom on this site that you should not name a number first. Pick a salary that you would be happy making given the desirability of the job, your current employment situation and the market. Quote that number and see if they accept. If they do--great! You have the job at the salary you want. If not, then consider their counter-offer and decide if that's something you want to accept.

The hiring managers for most jobs are not business owners. They are middle managers with multiple bosses. Most see the hiring process as an opportunity to show they are management material. If you give them a number that they know you will accept, they can pull whatever levels need to be pulled in the organization to get approval. What they don't want to happen is that they overbid for a candidate who then still rejects the offer. That makes them look incompetent in front of HR and upper management. Most managers would rather just give you a safe offer that you are more likely to reject than a politically risky one that might still get rejected.