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Workday just asked for desired salary and you're staring at a blank box that doesn't say whether it wants yearly base, hourly wages, or everything including commission. You're not alone. Most candidates treat every compensation field like the same question.
The form isn't trying to trick you. It's trying to match you to an approved band before anyone schedules a panel. If you paste hourly math into an annual field, the system reads you as wildly over or under budget. That's a parsing problem dressed up as a pay problem.
Before you submit tonight, check your resume for free against the same posting. A strong salary answer won't matter if the resume never clears keyword filters first.
Below: how base, hourly, and OTE differ on ATS forms, a side-by-side table, copy-paste answers, and the decision rule for which box gets which number.
Base salary, hourly rate, and OTE are not the same field
Annual base is fixed yearly cash for exempt roles. Workday and Greenhouse usually store it as a single number divided across biweekly or semi-monthly paychecks. Bonus, equity, and benefits sit elsewhere unless the label says otherwise.
Hourly rate multiplies hours worked by a dollar amount. Non-exempt roles in retail, logistics, and hourly support often post ranges like $18 to $22 per hour. The ATS band is built in hourly units. Pasting $75,000 into that field reads as $75,000 per hour.
OTE means on-target earnings for commission-heavy sales roles: base plus expected commission at plan. Some postings list OTE in the job text while the application still asks for base only. Those are two different answers.
Total compensation fields want base plus target bonus and sometimes equity value. Don't stuff a signing bonus into base unless the help text tells you to include it.
| Field label | Unit | Typical roles |
|---|---|---|
| Desired salary / base pay | Annual USD | Corporate, tech, professional exempt |
| Hourly rate / wage | Per hour USD | Hourly, non-exempt, shift work |
| OTE / expected earnings | Annual USD at plan | Sales, account executive, BDR |
Pay frequency is not the same as salary type. Biweekly versus semi-monthly changes paycheck size, not the annual number the band uses.
Contract W-2 and 1099 rate fields are a fourth fork. Contractor hourly rates often run higher than employee equivalents because you cover taxes and benefits. Do not enter employee salary expectations on a contractor rate field without adjusting upward.
Remote roles sometimes list geo pay tiers. When the careers page names tier one through tier three cities, identify your tier before you answer so you don't price against the wrong market.
Read what is your desired compensation when the portal uses softer wording than salary pay.
How does salary pay work when you fill the form?
Read the label before you calculate anything
Click help text in Workday or Greenhouse when it exists. Note annual versus hourly. Note base versus total compensation. If the posting lists a pay range in the req text, your answer should land inside or slightly above the top only when your scope exceeds the minimum.
Before: Entered $28 thinking hourly on a manager req that wanted annual base.
After: Entered $92,000 to $98,000 annual base after confirming the label and city band.
Answer annual base fields with a range
Give a floor you'd accept and a ceiling aligned to market for role, city, and scope. Your floor matters. Some employers anchor offers toward the bottom of what you type.
Copy-paste block: compensation answers
Base salary field:
Desired base: $85,000 to $95,000 annually. Open to discussing bonus and equity with total package.
Hourly field:
Expected rate: $21 to $24 per hour based on shift and local market.
OTE field (sales):
Target OTE: $140,000 to $160,000 at plan; base component $70,000 to $80,000.
Optional early-stage field:
Prefer to discuss after scope review; market range for this role in [city]: $[low] to $[high].
Keep hourly and OTE in their own lanes
On a base-only sales form, list base range. Add one sentence in free text that OTE expectations align with the posting plan when the box allows. Do not sum expected commission into the base field.
Before: Listed $130,000 including expected commission on a base-only field.
After: Listed $85,000 to $92,000 base with note: target 15% variable discussed at offer stage.
Treat application answers as band matching, not final negotiation
Most US corporate hiring saves hard negotiation for after a written offer. Application fields keep you inside conversation range. You can still negotiate base, bonus, equity, and start date once you have an offer letter.
I've screened compensation fields in Greenhouse for years, and the stalls I see are almost always wrong units, not greedy numbers.
For offer-stage tactics, read how to negotiate a salary offer after you clear the application screen.
Compensation fields that quietly reject strong candidates
Hourly math in an annual box. Dividing desired annual pay by 2,080 and entering $36 when the field expects $75,000 annual base flags you as under band or confused about units.
Bonus baked into base. Recruiters read this as not understanding how comp is structured, especially on finance and sales reqs.
Monthly numbers on annual fields. Some older forms lack clear labels. If the number looks too small for the role title, double-check the unit hint.
$0 or negotiable only when a number is required. Some systems reject empty values. Use a researched range when forced.
Ignoring posted ranges. When the req lists $90,000 to $110,000 and you enter $160,000 base without senior scope on the resume, the file may pause before a human review.
Putting salary history on the resume. Keep comp in application fields. Salary on the PDF is outdated US practice and doesn't help parsing.
Answering current pay when the field is optional. Many US states restrict salary history questions. Skip when you can and focus on desired range for the target role and city.
Demanding top of band in free-text essays. Application fields are band matching. Save hard asks for offer review when you have base, bonus, and equity on one page.
Salary answers only matter after the resume passes
Run HireFlow's free ATS resume checker with the posting pasted in before you lock compensation numbers. Higher bands need proof on page one that supports the range you're typing.
Use job match score to prioritize reqs where your scope aligns with the band you're targeting, then draft motivation without pay talk in the cover letter generator .
Match the field, then move on
How does salary pay work in practice? Employers ask in specific units so ATS can compare you to an approved band. Read the label, separate base from hourly from OTE, answer with a researched range, and save full package talk for the offer.
- Confirm annual versus hourly before you type.
- Use the copy-paste templates for base, hourly, and OTE fields.
- Fix resume match so compensation talk happens at all.
Open the application, read the compensation label twice, paste the right template, then run a free ATS check on the same req before you hit submit.
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Frequently asked questions
On most US corporate forms, salary pay means annual base pay for exempt roles: a fixed yearly amount divided across pay periods. It usually excludes bonus, commission, and equity unless the label says total compensation or OTE. Read the help text next to the field before you type.
Use hourly when the posting, field label, or pay band is expressed per hour. Non-exempt retail, warehouse, and support roles often post hourly ranges. Do not divide annual salary by 2,080 and paste that number when the form asks for annual base.
OTE means on-target earnings: base plus expected commission at plan for sales roles. Enter OTE only when the field label asks for it. On a base-only field, list base range and note that variable pay is open for discussion in free text if the box allows.
Requisitions carry approved pay bands. ATS and recruiters compare your answer to that band before scheduling panels. Answers in the wrong unit or far outside band can pause the file in high-volume pipelines even when the resume is strong.