When the recruiter asked for a salary target, he gave a number. He had been through this before and expected the usual outcome: the number becomes the ceiling, and the negotiation becomes a defence of it.
Instead the recruiter told him they could aim higher — about $15,000 above what he had asked. The conversation moved from there.
The offer came in $16,000 above his original number.
He wrote that he was still shook. He had been prepared for the pressure, the lowball, the request for a number that would only ever be read downwards. He had not been prepared for a recruiter who thought his number was too low and said so.