I feel like if you were to say 60-70k, why would they pay you 70k? Why would somebody choose to pay you more if they can pay you less?
That is an obvious concern. I would suggest a few possible reasons.
- In medium to large companies, pay scales are often defined by formulas and tables.
- Because if they have a long term vision, they don’t want to short change you now and risk building resentment later. They are investing in you and it is in their best interest to keep you over the long run. Switching employees every year can be very costly. Yes, they want to save money, but they also want happy employees. They know that you may be ecstatic to have a job right now, but in 6 months when you are nailing the job and realize that you are getting paid half as much as your peers and the corporate policy limits pay raises to a max of 10% a year (or whatever) then you are going to quit and find something that pays better.
I agree that you shouldn’t short change yourself. You’re right that if you ask for too little, it shows a lack of confidence. But if you also ask for more than your experience and education justifies, you may cause them to think that you have unrealistic expectations and they may see that as problematic.