If you have ever had the privilege of being an employer then you will understand a lot of these comments and none of it will be news to you. However to those of you who have not been an employer before, let me fill you in on a few trade secrets.

Why am I so bold to make the statement ‘all employers are looking for the same thing?’ Because with over 20 years of recruitment experience, which has involved speaking to hundreds of clients (or we will simply call them employers) I hear the same things over and over….and over…and over.

Let me fill you in so you have the edge over your competition.

Attitude is everything! Absolutely everything. Remember back to the time where you came into contact with a sad sack person, they were down on life, things were tough and everything was a drama. They offloaded their issues to you and then you walked away feeling bogged down with their drama’s (as well as your own). Imagine if that person worked for you, and you had to manage them? It would be tough going because they would be negative about everything, pessimistic and see the worst in every situation instead of the best.

Would you want to hire that person??? – NO!

Ask yourself ‘Why on earth would an employer want to hire someone with that attitude’? Well they wouldn’t. So in your interviews you want to be giving very clear and demonstrated answers about how  you’ve overcome negative influences in the past and how you are able to remain positive during difficult times (because let’s face it, no job is perfect and things do go wrong from time to time).

Employers want employees who they believe will stay long term. A sketchy CV, lots of jobs in a short space of time and unexplained absences all add up to employers saying “well if they’ve moved around a lot in the past, what would make them stay with us long term?”.  It’s a very fair point. You need to have valid reasons for leaving each role and you also need to be able to articulate your reasons for why you would want to stay with that employer.  If they are going to invest time and money into you, they want a return on investment.

Employers want people who arrive at work with a smile on their face and a spring in their step, ready to work and ready to take on a big day. Excessive or unexplained leave can cause headaches not just for your manager but the rest of the team you work with.

I have not gone into any work related tasks or daily responsibilities as they are all job specific. This blog is simply to get everybody thinking about ATTITUDE and BEHAVIOUR. Skills can be trained on the job, but if you have a bad or negative attitude you will be a very hard employee to train….and they may ask ‘why should we retain this person?’