Should You Lower Your Salary Expectations?

How to tell if you're being realistic about what you should be earning

Everyone is pinching pennies these days, including employers. Hiring freezes, lower salary offers to new hires and smaller raises for existing employees have become commonplace. The unfortunate effect of all of this, is that many workers will have to accept -- or at least consider accepting -- lower salaries than in the past. Still, taking a pay cut is a big deal. So how do you decide whether lowering you salary expectations will be beneficial to your job search or just a hindrance to achieving what you're really worth?