Ethics is extremely important to me in my work and
in my personal life. As I pondered what I would
write about for the newsletter, I suddenly thought
about my "Successful Job Search Strategy" students
at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA.
Notre Dame is a Catholic liberal arts university,
and I thought it would be interesting to ask my
traditional-age students what role they thought
ethics would play in their work life. I was not
surprised that they all thought ethics were highly
important.
Dontae Smith is a business major and hopes to own his own record label
in the future. Dontae told me: "Ethics is like having your dream
car but with no license. It will motivate you to go the DMV and pass
the test to get your license." Paul Paez is another business major,
who shared the following insight: "If you are ethical, you are
respectful, and others will respect you as well." Mary Latu is
a business major and hopes to work in the fashion industry. Mary told
me: "I’m an honest person, and working for a place with no
ethics would make me feel uncomfortable."
Stella Sheinfeld is a biology major and hopes to be a dentist or work
in the biotechnology industry. She told me, "I truly believe that
ethics is vital in any career, simply because it is the basis of morals.
Anjna Mehta is a business major and believes ethics plays a "huge" role
in any career. She emphasized her own personal work ethic and how that
will help her grow as an employee and also help her to enjoy her work
more. Motaz M. Bawayeh is a student from Jordan, and he feels that
ethics plays an important role in honesty, motivation, and respecting
others.
None of these statements was a surprise to me, and at the same time
I had a feeling of hopefulness that these young, traditional-age students
have such strong feelings toward the importance of ethics in their
work life. When we look at companies like Enron and the total lack
of ethics, it is encouraging to see our young people today holding
ethics in high regard.
