1. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WILL BRING TO THE COMPANY.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people respond to my own job offerings with an endless discussion of why the position will help them: "This job is perfect for me, because I need something that will offer me flexibility." An employee should be concerned, first and foremost, with helping the company, not the other way around.

2. BE HONEST.
Few of us are good liars, and this is a good thing. When an interviewer asks you something to which you don't know the answer, it's much better to admit it than to pretend otherwise. Also, misrepresenting yourself on your résumé in any way is a big mistake, not just because it will come back to haunt you (since it may not), but simply because it's wrong.

3. WHEN IN DOUBT, DON'T.
The most fundamental ethical principle of all, Do No Harm, applies to how you treat yourself as well as others. Resist the impulse to say something that would make you look foolish, incompetent, or naive. If you're not sure about how something will be taken, leave it unsaid.

4. DON'T BADMOUTH YOUR PREVIOUS EMPLOYER.
Your prospective employer may ask you about previous jobs and why you left, or why you want to leave your current one. If a poor relationship with a boss or colleague was a contributing factor, it's better to say something like: "My supervisor and I didn't see eye to eye on a lot of projects," rather than "He was the biggest jerk I've ever worked for." Criticism at its best centers on what a person has done, not on who a person is.
Personal attacks make you look petty, and this could be a reason for you to be passed over for a position. Also bear in mind that professional circles can be small and tightly knit; it's entirely possible your interviewer knows your previous boss or colleagues. You don't want to acquire a reputation for being petty, vindictive, or tactless.

5. LOOK WITHIN.
This last rule is the most important. Before you even apply for a job, do some soul-searching, and find out what it is you're really looking for. To embrace a company's mission successfully you have to know what your own mission in life is, and why you want to devote considerable time and energy to that organization. Honesty applies not just to how you deal with your prospective employer; it also applies to how you deal with yourself.Yes, it's a cutthroat world out there, and finding work is probably more difficult now than at any time in the past few years. But that's no reason to throw ethics out the window. In fact, I hope I've shown just the opposite -- that keeping ethics front and center is the best way to be successful.Weinstein is the corporate consultant, author, and public speaker known as The Ethics Guy. He has appeared on numerous national TV shows and is the author of several books on ethics. His Ask the Ethics Guy! column appears every other week on BusinessWeek.com's Managing channel. <<back