Monthly Archives: September 2014

As college freshmen, we all have heard at least once in our life about how hard it is to get a job after graduating. After all, “college diploma is not the only thing.” Companies look for experience, and it is hard to gain experience when no companies would hire someone fresh out of college. However, there is a recent trend where some major companies look for people fresh out of college with little to no actual experience to work for these companies. Why? That is because these people’s ideas are not yet limited by the realistic values businessmen gain over time in their fields. These students are looking for opportunities to work and gain experiences, while companies are looking for ideas above and beyond the normal and expected.

I personally think that this strategy is beneficial to both employers and employees. While there are risks associated with hiring a recent college graduate, his proposals and suggestions may be different from what companies are used to hearing. He may try to prove it to his employers that his ideas are not unrealistic or impossible, and his motivation to prove it can be a driving force within his employer’s company. I believe that while accumulated work experience is key to surviving in any area, new and fresh ideas are also keys for companies to survive in the market.

Photo from head4success.com.

Article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-24/amateurs-can-solve-certain-business-problems-better-than-pros#r=nav-f-story

As part of a recent trend among business school graduates in several top-tier universities, an oath is spoken and signed at graduation concerning the pledger’s actions as soon-to-be businessmen. In the Harvard MBA’s case, approximately 20% of the class of 2009 sworn that “[they] will manage [their] enterprise with loyalty and care, and will not advance [their] personal interests at the expense of [their] enterprise or society.” [1] This  is a very clear example of the so-called “social responsibilities of business in a free-enterprise system,” [2] the ones that Friedman says should not be called thus. This is because the only social responsibility of business is “to use [its] resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” [2]

The next generation in the business world is going to be made up of the recent business school graduates. As these people enter the business world, they may feel obligated to decrease the percentage of poor people and create a peaceful community. In Friedman’s ideology, their sole obligation as part of the business world is “to increase their business’ profits.” [2] A business’ responsibility may be only to increase its own worth and expand in order to gain more money, not the common obligations we can think of. When Harvard graduates make their oath, they are proclaiming their own individual responsibility as part of a society and not the responsibility of the business they would join.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/business/30oath.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22%7D

[2] http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/reader.action?docID=10187339&page=171

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