Believe it or not, some people come to a job interview as victims.

Victims of previous bosses, of the last crisis, of luck, of ‘unfair’ promotion practices that left them behind, of colleagues that had no ‘team spirit’, etc. etc.

They come to the interview basically asking for the sympathy or someone they never met before, and whose sympathy they are not particularly entitled to.

Of course, after a new failed interview – since they won’t get this job either – they have yet another reason to be a victim: the insensitive or a shortsighted Interviewer.

Watch out of this dangerous and self-destructive attitude.

Interviewers look for winners, for people who, faced with adversity, can overcome it. Nobody can guarantee a worker that they won’t find obstacles in the new job, including the perceived or real situation when other people oppose their ideas or are unfair to him/her. What the Company needs is somebody who can get ‘over it’, continue to work and contribute with ideas despite opposition.

Companies face obstacles all the time. Only those equipped with enough conviction, stamina and integrity can conquer and win. The Company is nothing but the sum of their external resources (mainly clients), a business opportunity, reputation and the sum of the talent, courage, energy and allegiance of their own people.

“Professional Victims” do not have what it takes to help in those battles, since they lost it before setting foot in the battleground.