Attitude Is a Key Factor In Getting Hired for a Job

With my students and graduates, I always tell them that attitude is key! In my personal experience, I have come into contact with a lot of people who are seeking jobs and it is amazing to me, how many people do not realize that the negativity they are harboring is actually being detrimental to them in securing a job.

As a Job Developer and Career Counselor, one of my developmental perspectives is to first, get the student/graduate to understand that each of them are important, special, and unique human beings and that everyone has a special place in the workforce. Every person has their own great skill-sets that they can bring to the table and it is important that they make sure that they do not forget to share their transferrable skills. That coupled with their confidence can aid in landing the job.

Three aspects that can help with having and maintaining a great attitude are to: (1) try to surround yourself with positive people as often as possible. (2) Do Kooky Mirror Techniques to help you build up your confidence. (3) Practice your mini-stories to help in making you a master interviewer, which aids in confidence.

When you surround yourself with positive people, you have a tendency to feel better. Unfortunately, misery enjoys the company of misery and negative people have a tendency to fester in the realms of pessimism.

When I went back into the job market looking for a job, I was so nervous because I was an older adult competing with all of the young folks I had just graduated with upon the completion of my bachelor's degree. I developed an optimistic technique called the Kooky Mirror Technique. This encompasses telling yourself three to five great things that you have to offer the workforce and it needs to be done at least twice a day; once in the morning when you wake up and again at night before you go to sleep, in the mirror. A great icebreaker for me with my clients is that I ask them to close the door to the room they are speaking to themselves in the mirror so the rest of the family does not think they are kooky. Furthermore, I let them know they will feel a little kooky talking to themselves, but after one to two weeks, they will notice their confidence building. Confidence is a key factor in any interview, since people are attracted to confident people.

The three things I personally chose to tell myself everyday, twice a day, was (1) I have a lot of great knowledge, skills and abilities to offer the workforce. (2) The company that hires me will be lucky to have me because I am a really hard worker. (3) You know what, I'm going out there to interview to see what company is even worth my presence. (These are only said to yourself, privately, in front of the mirror.) Give it a try to see how your confidence can grow.

The third aspect, which aids in giving someone a positive attitude for interviewing is to practice his or her mini-stories. An individual should sit down with their resume and their notebook for writing these stories. Next, you need to look at your last job and ask yourself, "What did I do that make me stand out as a superstar in that job? Did I raise revenues in any way? Did I save costs for the company in any way? Did I help to solve a problem or make something work better in the course of that job? Write the responses to these questions for each job you have held in your notebook. Once you have these written, read them over many times to help make the language and stories second nature. (Do not memorize these because you will sound like a robot.) One mini-story might be one sentence long and another might be several sentences long. I personally recorded them into a digital recording device, which I was then able to transfer to my iPad, iPhone and computer in addition to the recording device. Many of my students have told me they have done the same and it has helped in owning the language and stories naturally.

In listening to your mini-stories and reading them multiple times, it helps to make the language second nature. I remember one charismatic young man that sat across my desk from me and stated, "Mrs. Gonzalez, I can memorize those mini-stories and spiel it out from rote memory and you won't even know I'm giving it from memory because I've got charisma." My response to this young chap was that he certainly had a lot of charisma, but the problem would occur with a longer mini-story if the interviewer asked him to go to the middle of that story and repeat that portion to the end. If it were memorized, he would not be able to share the story properly. The key is in practicing it so much that you can have the words automatically role out of your mouth. This shows that you are prepared in answering questions by giving the employer supporting verbal documentation of your experience and is such a breath of fresh air for interviewers. It also allows the person who is the interviewee to keep great eye contact with his or her interviewer because their eyes are not looking up to the corner to pull information from their long-term memory. As a result of practicing, one is able to speak freely and have the stories do the same.

My jobs have led me to meet so many talented and wonderful individuals. One of my first dealings with helping an individual realize his potential for changing his attitude into an optimistic one was with one gentleman who was at retirement age when I originally reached out to him to offer him my developmental coaching, as the New Job Developer at my job. He had graduated from the college in 2010 and I had started working there in June 2012. This gentleman was unemployed for over two years. In an effort to protect his privacy, we will call him Jack. When I originally reached out to him, he told me that no one would hire him because he was too old. My response was, "I value your input, but I highly disagree. There is a special place for each person in the workforce." The phone call actually ended with him hanging up on me. He was harboring a negative attitude. My work was not done and I did not stop there.

I had a copy of his resume, from the school's file; therefore, I started sending Jack job postings based on his experience on a weekly basis. After approximately a month later, he reached out to me and said, "Wow, you really do care about me." My response was, "Of course I care about you. I am part of your support team and I take great pride in helping each of my students reach fruition. Now will you come in to see me for a session where I will cover interviewing tips and tricks, thank you and cover letters, what to do and not to do in interviews, resources, and mock interview questions?" He replied that he would come in after Labor Day, which was about another month away; therefore, I called him the day after Labor Day and asked him to make an appointment to see me for the two-hour session.

Jack agreed. When he arrived for the appointment in my office he was dressed in interview attire and he spoke eloquently. "Wow, you look sharp and you speak very well," was my first reaction and statement to this older gentleman. There was one problem as he sat across the desk from me and I let him know that. Jack asked me, "Yeah, what's the problem?" My response was, "As you are sitting across the desk from me, I can feel your anger, negativity, and/or hostility." Jack's negative emotions got the best of him and he barked at me that he had every right to be angry and negative because he got fired from his last job.

I shared with him the importance of letting that negativity go. "Today is a brand new day and I need you to let all of that negativity go. Do not let that last job and/or negative occurrence hold you as a prisoner in a hole in the ground. Break free, let it go, and you have me to walk along side you and support you in finding your perfect job," is what I said to him and made sure he could feel the strong emotional and motivational emphasis that I had for helping him.

My next step was to ask him to share the negative experience he had with the job he had been fired from. Jack's negative attitude towards his past experience overpowered him and he stated, "I had a male boss for several years that gave me a written letter of recommendation attesting to my excellent work performance and productivity. This new woman boss was brought in and put in in the position above my male boss. She thought she was better than everyone else with her woman's lib and that is why she fired me."

I shook my head from side to side and shared my disappointment with Jack that he was still harboring the negativity and letting the last job hold him as a prisoner in a hole in the ground. My response was, "I need you to try to work on letting the negativity go. Put it in the past and leave it there. Today is a brand new day and we are going to take a new path and walk together." I then asked him to share with me, as he would share with a potential interviewer, how he learned from that negative situation showing it as a past weakness. I also asked him to ensure that he held himself accountable for the firing and to end with how he learned from that experience.

Jack looked up at me and stated that did not know what to say. After he explained the whole situation to me, I gave him an example that might help him out. "Why not say something like this to the prospective employer: I would have to say one of my greatest weaknesses in the past was the fact that I did not always think before I spoke and did not take into consideration, the fact that men and women perceive things very differently. As a result, this cost me my last job. I had a male boss who worked right above me, who has written me this letter of recommendation attesting to my performance and productivity (hand that letter to the employer), but I had a new woman boss who earned the position above my male boss and I treated her exactly like I did my male boss. In looking at the situation in hindsight, I came across as being sarcastic and condescending and that was wrong. (This is where he could hold himself accountable.) Since I realized that I had a weakness, (choose which one you utilized) (1) I took a class or (2) I read some self help books or (3) I researched on line and you know, I learned a lot of great tips. In my research I found that not only are there differences in perceptions between men and women, but between different cultures, too. I decided to make a change, which incorporates always thinking before I speak and ensuring that I take the different perspectives of all individuals into account. I've applied this in .... (give an example) and my goodness it feels great to be able to communicate positively and appreciate the views of others at the same time. I always continuously seek to improve."

He liked that idea. Additionally, I noticed how his attitude started to shift in a positive manner as we finished up his two-hour session. Furthermore, I was so pleased when I got a call, two weeks after our appointment, with the great news from Jack that he obtained a consulting job offer and was starting the following week. He thanked me verbally over the phone and said, "I practiced my mini-stories regularly and it became my lifeline. Furthermore, I did the Kooky Mirror Techniques you shared, not only two times a day, but four to five times a day. Those Kooky Mirror Techniques and my mini-stories in addition to letting go of the negativity and surrounding myself with positive people, after meeting with you, was what made me successful in obtaining employment. Thank you for not giving up on me and for all the great information you taught me, as well as helping me to realize the importance of a positive attitude."

In addition, Jack sent me a beautifully written thank you note for being inspirational and motivational in helping him to take a positive approach. In following up with Jack a couple of months later, he shared with me that he loved his job and it felt great to maintain a positive attitude.

Since then, I have had the pleasure of counseling and working with hundreds of people individually over the last 2 1/2 years and over 8,500 unemployed people received the same tips in a class that my team and I taught through the college who was contracted out through the Department of Labor. It's amazing how attitude truly is a key factor in gaining employment!