Opportunism
An example of somebody I know didn’t
act opportunistically when they had a chance is actually an example of
something that happened this week. It involves the business career fair that
came to campus this Wednesday and Thursday. Many people look at this career
fair as a great opportunity to meet with companies that would one day hopefully
be your employer, and is a great opportunity to gain good networking and
interview experience. Most students on campus go to the career fair in hopes of
gaining an internship, job shadow or full time employment.
I believe
that the quote, “good things come out to those who wait” is a very good and
true quote, but only in certain circumstances. This circumstance was not one of
them. This is because a good friend of mine decided that he was not going to go
to the career fair and wait for another opportunity for him to gain an
internship. I disagreed with him on this because I, like many others,
understand how competitive the current job market is and want to take hold of
the current opportunities we have and try to make the best of them. Me and my
friend are both juniors, and though the career fair is catered to seniors
hoping to find full time employment, there are also a lot of opportunities to
gain an internship and help build our résumés so that we can get a better job
one day.
I
understand as of why my friend did not go, but I disagree with him. The career
fair is a lot of work, and some look at it as a waste of time. A lot of people I
talked to view the career fair as a lot of waiting in line, not really meeting
the people you need to meet, and not very impressionable, and I fully
understand that. I went and half of the time I was there I was waiting in line
at different companies whom I wanted to speak with. Also once you get to the
company’s desk there have been 300 people who have already talked to who you
are speaking with and it is very hard to stand out amongst the crowd of those
before and after you. Though I did not have the best time at the career fair I still
believed that the experience that I had there will help me a lot more in the
long run than if I didn’t go.
Another
reason why my friend didn’t want to go is because he did not believe that the
work he would put in for it would pay for what he got out of it. The work as in
revising his résumé, actually showing up, and then waiting in lines. I understand
this because after all that work, speaking with companies doesn’t seem to have
much of a payoff. This is because even though you speak to companies you are
not guaranteed a job anywhere. I on the contrary believe that the input work is
worth it because of the experience you gain. Going to the career fair, even if
it does not get you a job, helps you prepare better for the next time you have
to make a first impression on a company and hopefully makes getting a job much
easier for you.
Some people
may look at people’s explanations about not going to the career fair as the
same thing, excuses, but I believe that they are different. I believe that everybody
has different opportunities in life, and the career fair is one of them. Though
they may not take advantage of that current opportunity they may have other
forms of gaining an internship or already have a job that they are content
with. Overall everything is dependent on personal preferences and situations
and I understand that.
Some students go to the career fair. Others do not. If that is true where is the opportunism in making a choice, one way or the other?
ReplyDeleteOpportunism is ethically suspect behavior. There must be harm to someone from the act and that harm must be done to other than oneself. If that happened in the case you describe you need to elaborate more about it, because I didn't see it in what you wrote.
So let me ask a hypothetical. Is it possible to see a friend at the career fair who has been in line for a while, strike up a conversation with that person, and then after a while just wait in line with that person, in effect cutting in? That sort of behavior would be opportunism? Does it happen? Or does anything else like it happen at the career fair?
On a different front, why do they use lines rather than have people sign up for a time slot? Is there something efficient about forcing students to wait in line? Or is it pure waste?
i believe that the toughest thing about opportunism is deciding what is ethical and what is not ethical. i believe that there is a thin gray line where it is hard to tell if your actions are harming others. when it comes to your example of cutting the line, which i believe is a very common occurrence, i would say that this could be opportunism. what matters in this situation is if the person whom is cutting the line has the intentions of cutting the line from the start. if you are trying to benefit yourself by putting others at a loss, in this situation the loss being the people in line waiting longer, i believe that this is opportunism. to answer the second part of your question i would say that though forcing students to wait in line may not be the most efficient way to handle the career fair, it may give more students a chance to talk to the company. if there was a time slot process, i would assume that there are only x amount of slots and it would be harder for students who did not sign up early to get time to speak to the company. also i believe that it would be hard to regulate the time slots because some sessions might run short, and others might run long, which could end up being a waste of time.
DeleteGoing off the comments already posted, couldn't opportunism actually effect a given company in this regard? For example, if Christopher is the best possible candidate for the job, but chooses not to pursue the career fair and decides to study for his economics midterm the following Monday. In turn, somebody less qualified gets the job. This is a negative effect on the company.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, people do actions like cutting lines all the time in society, little "short cuts" is what I like to think of them as. They take sly routes to get to things in a sly matter and thus, people will not say anything because they made it seem as if they are suppose to be in line because they have a third party to validate it almost.
I am not certain that the company is necessarily worse off, nor do I think that Christopher would be acting without planning or principle by not attending the career fair. Christopher would not be causing a great deal to the company as they still would have hired someone for the position regardless. Perhaps it could just be considered a missed opportunity?
ReplyDelete