Choose integrity in your job search and career

Choose integrity in your job search and career

 

 

 

Every day you will be faced with endless opportunities to choose integrity. Only you can decide what is the right choice in each situation.

You will second guess yourself and think that you know better than anyone what is the right choice. Perhaps you don’t really think about or study the consequences of your decisions. Or you think no one will notice or no one is watching.

Choose integrity as your reward

In case you may not realize how many times integrity is essential in your work or job search, here are some examples:

You are interviewing but you lost the last job and you are very uncomfortable with talking about it.

You don’t go into depth on this question but you do need to be honest. There are many reasons for job loss.

Some potential reasons for job loss are company downsizing or restructuring, elimination of your position (or department), company closed, or the products stopped selling due to a downturn in the economy. None of those are your fault but you may still feel uncomfortable talking about it. Just state the facts.

Your job ended because you didn’t get along with a manager. Don’t blame the company or the manager because that will reflect on how you may treat future employers. Perhaps you can show your manager wanted to go in a different direction and though you complied with executing the project, it was time for you to be replaced with someone who could readily embrace the manager’s mindset.

Trash talking the company or employees will never win points so don’t give in even when an interviewer encourages you to tell more. Make it short and sweet.

You want to embellish your resume or LinkedIn profile

In today’s world, exaggerating your success stories will get you in trouble. It is too easy to check facts. Be more creative in finding your value for the things you really did. Many people downplay their best contributions but if they think hard, they can recall what they did to truly help the company.

Tempted to use company resources for your own purposes

Recognizing company property is everything, even the paper clips you stuck in your pocket. This makes you more likely to respect company resources. When you are on company time, even taking personal calls or checking Facebook is abusing company resources.

You burn the candle on both ends

If you try to keep a busy social life going when a job needs your full attention, something will suffer. Make sure you get a good night’s sleep and don’t overbook your down time so that you get burned out. Your company hired you because they need all of your brain, not just part of it.

Integrity always matters. If you stay true to your convictions, you will end up better of in the long run.

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Julie Walraven, Design Resumes

Julie Walraven

Professional Resume Writer

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