Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Good, the Bad, and the Profitable

Over the past couple months of my search for a career, I have encountered many different companies across a variety of sectors. I have learned that there are such things as good and bad companies and the definition does not necessarily lie within quarterly profits.

I came across a company called AFA Press. AFA Press is hiring a new International Media Sales Consultant. Upon initial inspection of the job description and summaries, this seemed like an amazing job and I was excited to apply. The position required 100% travel with a small team to countries all over the world. The team would go to a country, gather editorial content for several months, and then head off to the next project. Awesome for a few years right?

I went from thinking, "This is perfect, I don't have a wife or kids or any ties to anything to keep me from so much travel and it would be a great experience to work with different nations and cultures while improving my writing skills, how cool would it be to get this job?" To "I am glad I didn't waste my time and apply, how awful would that have been if I got myself stuck in that?" In only a few hour timeframe.

What compelled me to shift tempos so quickly? I did what I normally do when I start getting really amped up about applying for a job that I am excited about, I started finding out as much about the what the company does as I can in a reasonable amount of time. Luckily, there is not a shortage of information in the internet galaxy about what it is like to work AFA Press.

I was surprised to read about so many discouraging encounters, most testifying of the companies dishonest practices with both their customers and employees. Yes, it is true that there are two sides to every story, and yes we can't believe everything that we read, but it is also true that often where there is smoke, there is a fire. Unless you have a smoke machine, but the smell isn't the same so I think that we can smell the difference between a fire smoke versus other types.

I spent about 3 or 4 hours reading up on this company still debating on whether I should at least give it a chance. What would it hurt if I applied and got interviewed and then decided against it? While there may not have been much damage from furthering my investigation into the company, the thought came into my head, "What are your instincts telling you? Whenever you reason your way out of your instincts what are you the results?" That was the end of that conversation, I closed the search windows and went on with my day.

On the flip side of that, I heard about a company today that offers their employees "paid, paid vacations". The CEO of the company offers his employees $7,500 to go on vacation under the following conditions:
1. You have to actually go on a real vacation.
2. Absolutely no work allowed on the vacation including checking emails, making phone calls, or anything work related at all.

The difference between these two companies has got me thinking about business in a capitalist economy. My next post will examine what I believe makes for a good business and how good businesses strengthen our long-term economic growth.

1 comment:

  1. Good for you for holding out for what you really want! And for even knowing what that is! Knowing is half the battle, right?! I wish I was in your position! I'm jealous :p

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