Your employment opportunity and your job candidacy will fail if youre perceived as a job mercenary. Often the mercenary attitude is so subtle that were not even aware were giving off bad vibes.

So, what exactly is a job mercenary? Here are five hints. Could this be you?

1. Believing the employers cause is good only as long as the money is good.

2. Harboring a resentment that youre dependent upon an employer.

3. Lacking an inner job motivation.

4. Holding back or being ambivalent about loyalty to the organization.

5. More concerned about what I get out of it that what I bring to the table?

Obviously these are not traits you would deliberately communicate in an interview or in a face-to-face meeting with the person who could be your next boss. But if you havent taken the time to identify them in yourself, they will surely creep into your attitude. And employers antennae are fine-tuned to pick up on these subtleties.

There are three important attitudinal adjustments you should make and demonstrate as part of your employment opportunity. They can counter any of these mercenary tendencies and dispel any hidden concerns an employer could be harboring:

* Loyalty. This does not mean that you have to agree with everything an employer or organizational policy represents. Loyalty means you share a common ideal with the employer. You communicate that regardless of minor differences, youre prepared to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with confidence in the companys good faith.

* Values. Understanding what your personal underlying business values are. And then showing how they are in harmony with those of the company.

* Compatibility. Individuals can create a team. But compatible individuals produce the best team. If youre touchy and thin-skinned in an interview, the employer instinctively knows you will be abrupt and abrasive on the job. On the other hand, a go-along person attracts people like themselves.

Remember, what you communicate to an employer below the radar is often more telling that what you say out loud. Putting a check on your mercenary tendencies will go a long way to ensure your employment opportunity success.