OR
The average of both (e.g XYZ kCHF) then say around XYZ kCHF
It is normally lower then current, cheeky gits.
I then say piss off.
They then come back with a better offer.
You then discuss bonuses and performance add ons.
Repeat process every two years unless really really happy.
Some companies want to hire the person on good terms, and therefore they avoid low balling the potential hire.
When I got a raise 2 year ago of 15,000, they informed me with this beaming smile an eagerness like I would be over the moon.
Their jaws hit the floor when I calmly said, "thanks, but I had expected more". They set about informing me how young I was, and in time, and etc etc, but that is irrelevant. You are valued or you are not, if you are not than you are somewhere else.
But if you are desperate that is a different matter, but don't show it.
I would say probably is better to give a number as soon as they are asking it, because you save time going through the whole process and avoid ending up with a salary which is 10-20% less then your current/min one. I had this experience once with a company which wasn't willing to give a penny more, and in the end I had to reject the offer, after wasting two days in onsite interviews.
I know clever is to convince them to make the first step, but if this does not happen in a face to face negotiation, most likely it will be taught to reach your desired salary (particularly when the negotiation takes place in German).
An other point here is that as soon as you don't want to say a number out, they'll ask the current salary, which I would avoid to mention.
Was offered a position (CEO of a small tech company in Romandie), when they sent me their proposed contract salary was lower than I expected. I asked for a meeting with the board members to go over salary + some other points. They agreed, I had the feeling the meeting went very well - I was tactful (or so I thought), they were open and I came out with +12k/year + moving costs+clearly defined bonus. At the end of the meeting we shook hands, agreed on starting date, etc...nothing to signal to me something had gone wrong.
Couple of days later, I was waiting for the revised contract, I got an email saying they were cutting off discussions with me (i.e. revoking the offer). After speaking with them, the reason given is that they thought my expectations + "ambitions" were too excessive for such a small company, and I was not "entrepreneurial" enough in my attitude - I was pretty shocked, not to mention dissapointed because it was a sweet job...
could be it was a one-off "freak" case, but thought I would put it out there...