Your attitude could be the reason you get a better job.

This article by Pat Wiesner, retired CEO of WiesnerMedia,  has some great comments about how your attitude can make or break an interview.  He says: “We won’t have nearly the success just sitting there properly and answering questions. We have to grab on and live up to our responsibility as half of the interview. There are a couple of things you can try hard to communicate about yourself in a job interview: the effort you are capable of and your sense of team.”

Re-read what Mr. Wiesner wrote. You are half of the interview.

He also wrote: “We need to put into true words just who we are and what our values are so that our prospective new employer can judge just how we will fit into his/her needs.”  

These are wise words for sure but can you, right at this very moment, tell a stranger who you are and the value you would bring to the workplace? This is crucial especially for those without a lot of work experience or for those who want to change career direction. As important as a great attitude is, I would add to that, the ability to clearly articulate how you best work and communicate with others, how you take in information, solve problems and make decisions and how these abilities match the role, as well as the work and communication style of the hiring manager you are interviewing for.

OK. I couldn’t let this one slip by. Obviously Mr. Siebers needs some assistance figuring out how to get his life moving in a positive direction. The first thing he needs to do is understand what his natural abilities are and then how to align those to a career that makes the most of his abilities. Abilities, just so you understand are not skills. Abilities are are instilled in each of us at birth. They are those essential elements which combine in each of us to define what we do easily, well and with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Skills are those things you learn by doing and will either improve through practice or deteriorate if not practiced. Apparently Mr. Sieber’s career choice in Blockbuster was not providing an adaquate outlet for his natural abilities.

By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post

Posted: 11/03/2009 10:00:12 AM MST

Updated: 11/03/2009 10:41:59 AM MST

A 29-year-old man who claimed he was attacked and stabbed by three people - skinheads or Hispanic males - confessed Monday night that he stabbed himself because he didn’t want to go to work, Edgewater Police said today.

The man, Aaron Siebers, walked into his employer, the Blockbuster Video store at 1921 Sheridan about 6:30 p.m. Monday, and reported the attack. He said the trio was dressed in black.

Siebers, of Denver, had a deep stab wound to the lower leg plus several superficial knife wounds, according to Steve Davis, spokesman for the Edgewater Police Department.