The example in the lesson is made up. Grace Liu is the HR manager at Fernhill Architecture, a made-up firm in the made-up city of Lakemont. The partners want to post a Project Coordinator job at $50,000 to $56,000, in office 5 days, with 12 days of PTO plus holidays and 8 weeks of paid parental leave. The four employers, their websites and every number are made up too. This is our own lesson, not an official Anthropic course, and the practice copy of Claude searches nothing and needs no account.
How does the pay range scan work, step by step?
The lesson has 18 steps in four short chapters:
- Turn on Research. Click the + at the bottom left of the message box and choose Research. A blue magnifier lights up next to the + while it is on. Research searches the web by itself, so there is no separate web search switch.
- Ask for the scan. Click the message box, then Paste request, and click the send arrow.
- Watch it work. Click the progress card to see Claude plan, search and read job pages. When it finishes, click Research complete to see the sources it used.
- Read the cited report. Click the report to open it beside the chat, read the table and the gaps, and click a citation to open the source page.
- Ask a follow-up. Turn Research off, click the reply box, tell Claude what you found and ask for talking points. Then click the copy button under the reply.
Research is Anthropic's version of deep research: many searches, many pages read, and one report with citations.
What should the research request say?
A good request says where, what to find, how to lay it out, and what to compare. The lesson's request asks for Project Coordinator postings at architecture and engineering firms within 25 miles of Lakemont. For each employer it asks for the posted pay range, whether the job is in office, hybrid or remote, the paid time off, and any benefit they lead with. It wants a table with a source link for every fact.
The most useful part is the last line of instructions: say when something is missing, old, from a recruiting agency, or self-reported by employees instead of posted by the employer. Then it gives Fernhill's own draft to compare against. Asking for those flags up front makes the report much easier to check.
What did the report find?
Four employers. Two post ranges on their own careers pages: Brandt Wells Engineering ($58,000 to $66,000, hybrid 3 days) and Calder Studio Architects ($55,000 to $62,000, in office 5 days). Northpoint Design Group's $60,000 to $70,000 comes from a recruiting agency's post on a job board. For Ridgeway Partners the only number is about $52,000, reported by two employees on a pay-review site.
The short version: Fernhill's draft range starts below every posted range, and its paid parental leave is something no one else mentions. The report's gaps section already warned about the agency post and the employee-reported pay.
Try it free, step by step
Set a Job Post Pay Range You Can Defend: a Cited Pay Scan with Claude Research. Before you post a job, turn on Research and have Claude check the pay ranges, work setup and benefits that nearby employers publish for the same role, read the cited report, catch a closed posting… You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Claude, it checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Start the free lessonWhat did the report miss?
When you open the Calder Studio citation, the range matches the report. But the small print under the job details says the job was posted March 3, 2025 and has been filled. The report treated it as a current opening. Claude read the range correctly and missed the date. That is the whole reason the lesson has you open a source before anything goes into a pay decision. A hallucination check on research is mostly this: open the page and read it.
Key takeaways
- Turn on Research for a big question; a plain web search is for a quick fact.
- Ask for a source for every range, and a flag on old, agency-posted and employee-reported numbers.
- Open the sources. The lesson's report missed a posting that closed in 2025.
- Turn Research off for a quick follow-up.
- Tell Claude not to pick the range. People decide the pay range.
Frequently asked questions
- Which Claude plans include Research?
Per the lesson, Research is on paid plans: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. It uses your usage limits faster than a normal chat. Check Claude's pricing page for what each plan includes today.
- Do I need to turn on web search as well?
Research searches the web by itself. On Team and Enterprise plans, though, an Owner has to turn web search on in Organization settings > Capabilities first.
- How long does Research take?
A few minutes, sometimes longer. In the lesson's example it reads 46 sources in 5 minutes 12 seconds. In the new Claude experience it keeps running even if you leave the page, and the result waits in the chat.
- Is there a shortcut to start Research?
The lesson says that in the new Claude experience you can also start Research by typing /deep-research.
- Why turn Research off for the follow-up?
Because a follow-up like "give me three talking points" doesn't need a whole new research run. Research usually switches itself off when the report is done. If the blue magnifier is still lit, click it.
- Should Claude pick the new pay range?
No. The lesson's follow-up says "Don't pick a new range for us." The range depends on your budget, internal pay equity and local rules that a web scan can't see. Claude's job is to prepare the decision.
- What talking points did Claude write?
Three: the draft range starts low compared with the current employer-posted ranges, hybrid work is common, and Fernhill has an edge on leave. It also said to check each source again before the meeting and to check the pay-transparency rules where the job is posted.
- Can I paste our employees' salaries into the request?
No. Research reads public pages, so don't paste salaries of your own employees or anything confidential into the request.
- Are published ranges enough to set a range?
They are one input. Agency posts, self-reported pay and old postings can mislead, titles differ between firms, and several states and cities have pay-transparency rules for job posts. Check every source and your local rules before the range goes in a posting.
- Where can I read about the common slip-ups?
See Claude Research pay range mistakes, the general Claude Research mistakes and Claude Research prompts. The base Claude Research lesson uses the same steps for a competitor price scan.
