Too many choices?
As far as jobs go, I've never found myself in a tough position of choosing....until now. I've got the temporary part-time job that's going well. Now I'm applying for a full-time position at the same nonprofit, but I'm also interviewing for a part-time job as Admin. Asst. with a friend (acquaintance, really) who has his own small business that's bursting at the seams.
The huge downer about the nonprofit full-time job is that I don't jive w/ my would-be boss. That's a pretty important element in my job satisfaction. The Admin. Asst. job totally has that going for it. My potential boss has a ton of positive energy and passion for his business, and wants me to be a team member with him. The job has MAJOR growth potential. My qualm with it is the idea of actually working for a business, especially a globalization enterprise. I asked him about labor practices of his suppliers network in Asia, and I was comfortable with his response. But still, my knee-jerk reaction is to resist globalization. Anyone have insight on this? I've tried googling "downsides of globalization," but I don't get much from the results.
I know the issues with inhumane labor practies and wages, and Mr. Man sees his company as a flagship in the business to prove that globalization can be done with ethics and social-consciousness. Then there's the issue of taking jobs away from the USA, but that's kind of a non-issue to me b/c his clients already do business with manufacturers in South America, so whatever. And I'm not even sure I care about keeping jobs in USA when a market's a market. Competition seems to be the loudest voice in business.
It's so weird. Part of me is so morally opposed to business and capitalism? Am I? I'm not sure. But part of me is really excited about the opportunity to get in with someone who is sooooo passionate about his work and building a team. He seems uber-liberal in most of the same ways as me. I mean, he's a businessman with a fuckin' MSW! How bizarre is that? LOL At least, I've never heard of any entrepreneurs with a background in Social Work.
Or, I could just get a part-time job at a coffee shop where I'm not contributing to globalization, but I'm enabling people's addictions to caffeine:).
posted by TheBigFriendlyGiant @ 9/02/2006
2 comments
2 Comments:
The coffee business is all about globalization. Most things are these days, really. I think globalization is largely about how you handle it and whether you are forcing your culture onto others. I don't, by any means, always consider globalization a bad thing. That's after taking a semester's worth of notes on globalization. Yes, I took an anthropology class called Globalization. I may still have some of the articles if you want me to check.
I had wondered if this was your blog. (When someone links to my blog, I get a notice.) :)
while i'm an advocate of globalization, there are plenty of downsides.
however, it reminds of a favorite quote (from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill): "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried."
i think the benefits far outweigh the costs. in fact, i think that globalization is more in line with liberal values--a meritocracy that enables the lower and middle classes to participate in wealth creation and improve their lives. opening borders means the person that competes the best wins. in the near term, businesses will flock for cheap wages. eventually, as the labor supply rises, people will have to compete on more than who is cheapest. in the long term, wages will rise and the real winners will be those countries, companies, and individuals who do the best job.
ok, enough diatribe!
btw, business persons with liberal values are not as rare as you think. i know quite a few business people who have backgrounds or spend their time on social work backgrounds.
i say go for the job, if for no other reason, you seem more passionate about working there and it sounds like you would wake up excited to go to work.
Post a Comment
<< Home