Funny (true) story: In one memorable case, I went the opposite route and stated my salary expectations up front, knowing full well that they were likely above the HR-approved salary scales the company was likely to offer. The point was I was not prepared to work for that particular company (life insurance) unless the money was eye-wateringly good.

Despite their (supposedly) knowing that, they put me through all their HR hoops anyway, all the way to a final interview, when the manager I'd have worked for looked across the table at me and said, "So what sort of salary would you have in mind?"

I looked him in the eye, didn't blink, didn't blush. Repeated the figure I'd given up front. The interview was over.

Why the fuck did they bother with all the palaver when they knew they were never going to pay that much. Did they think I'd blink?

Last laugh: I ended up doing a short consulting stint there several years later and took more off them in a couple of weeks than the annual salary they'd failed to meet.