Career decisions…
I found an article on BusinessWeek which talks about how college graduates are turning away from jobs on Wall Street. As I am currently studying in a top-tier business school myself, I am able to appreciate many of the ideas brought up in the article.
Call me cynical, but I believe that the media has sensationalized students who have chosen alternative careers to either financial services or consulting. I applaud those who had the option of choosing a profitable career path but chose a more humanitarian cause, especially if there was a huge difference in the salaries and stability. That is an extremely hard decision to make, and one which few would attempt to do. For others who say that they are looking at alternate career fields because they became ‘philanthropic’, I’m a lot more skeptical of their actions. I believe that the primary reason why they would switch out of the traditional career paths is when these fields are no longer as optimal, such as in these currently depressed markets. Should you offer these recent college graduates a top job, I am positive that many, if not most, would drop their philanthropic interests in a hurry.
This brings me to my next point. If given the choice, should recent grads be choosing the more charitable job? Don’t pelt me with stones, but I’m going to have to answer: not necessarily. I’m a firm believer that every person has their own niche, and that their goal should be to maximize their marginal utility to society. For example, if you are a much better banker/consultant than a NGO worker, don’t drop everything you have to try and save the world. Both you and society would be a lot better off if you did what you were best at. Should you continue to have humanitarian inklings after working in your career for years, you should then take the leap and do what you desire. You’d have a much larger say in the world by then, and therefore, you could make that much more of a difference.
Something else that would make me reconsider working in philanthropy upon graduation is the fact that many of the organizations (such as the World Bank or the United Nations) are very bureaucratic. Starting off your career by working there could mean that you would have to spend years trying to rise up the ladder before you can make a significant impact in your projects.
Tags: Business, Philanthropy
