It's graduation season, and this means it's time for job hunting. Joining the pool of applicants will be a lot of people who have been downsized, fired, or who found their previous employment to be less than satisfying. Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned veteran of the job search, it's helpful to get advice about the all-important but nerve-wracking experience known as the job interview.

Most of the articles on this topic are written from either the psychological or legal perspective. But ethics also is -- or should be -- a component of job interviews, and taking ethics seriously is beneficial not just for the employer but also for the applicant. Here's a look at the specific ways ethical behavior before and during an interview can lead to getting the job you want.

The art of the job interview seems to be mainly about strategy: how to get from point A (unemployment, underemployment, or otherwise unsatisfying employment) to point B (a good job). But there are lots of ways to get from A to B, and some are more ethical than others. You can lie on your résumé, exaggerate your accomplishments, or mislead a prospective employer about what you can do well. Taking the low road may lead to a job offer -- but at what cost?

If you have to become someone other than yourself, what does this say about your integrity? And what will happen to you, professionally as well as personally, if it comes to light that you lied to get the job?

Even if you are committed to being truthful, however, it is still possible to miss the main point of a job interview (and run the risk of being passed over). A job interview isn't about you. Or rather, it's not merely about you. It is about whether or not the company will benefit from hiring you. Ethics is about thinking beyond our own needs and desires, and applying the ethical principle of 'Make Things Better' in the context of a job interview means concentrating on how you will help the company. This can't be at the expense of other ethical principles, such as 'Respect Others,' which requires us to be truthful, and 'Do No Harm,' which asks us not to say or do things that will make things worse for others or ourselves.
Ethics thus lies at the core of any job interview. With this in mind, here are five guidelines that you can use to ace your next interview -- by taking the high road.