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Essays About Work: 7 Examples and 8 Prompts

If you want to write well-researched essays about work, check out our guide of helpful essay examples and writing prompts for this topic.

Whether employed or self-employed, we all need to work to earn a living. Work could provide a source of purpose for some but also stress for many. The causes of stress could be an unmanageable workload, low pay, slow career development, an incompetent boss, and companies that do not care about your well-being.  Essays about work  can help us understand how to achieve a work/life balance for long-term happiness.

Work can still be a happy place to develop essential skills such as leadership and teamwork. If we adopt the right mindset, we can focus on situations we can improve and avoid stressing ourselves over situations we have no control over. We should also be free to speak up against workplace issues and abuses to defend our labor rights. Check out our  essay writing topics  for more.

5 Examples of Essays About Work

1.  when the future of work means always looking for your next job by bruce horovitz, 2. ‘quiet quitting’ isn’t the solution for burnout by rebecca vidra, 3. the science of why we burn out and don’t have to by joe robinson , 4. how to manage your career in a vuca world by murali murthy, 5. the challenges of regulating the labor market in developing countries by gordon betcherman, 6. creating the best workplace on earth by rob goffee and gareth jones, 7. employees seek personal value and purpose at work. be prepared to deliver by jordan turner, 8 writing prompts on essays about work, 1. a dream work environment, 2. how is school preparing you for work, 3. the importance of teamwork at work, 4. a guide to find work for new graduates, 5. finding happiness at work, 6. motivating people at work, 7. advantages and disadvantages of working from home, 8. critical qualities you need to thrive at work.

“For a host of reasons—some for a higher salary, others for improved benefits, and many in search of better company culture—America’s workforce is constantly looking for its next gig.”

A perennial search for a job that fulfills your sense of purpose has been an emerging trend in the work landscape in recent years. Yet, as human resource managers scramble to minimize employee turnover, some still believe there will still be workers who can exit a company through a happy retirement. You might also be interested in these  essays about unemployment .

“…[L]et’s creatively collaborate on ways to re-establish our own sense of value in our institutions while saying yes only to invitations that nourish us instead of sucking up more of our energy.”

Quiet quitting signals more profound issues underlying work, such as burnout or the bosses themselves. It is undesirable in any workplace, but to have it in school, among faculty members, spells doom as the future of the next generation is put at stake. In this essay, a teacher learns how to keep from burnout and rebuild a sense of community that drew her into the job in the first place.

“We don’t think about managing the demands that are pushing our buttons, we just keep reacting to them on autopilot on a route I call the burnout treadmill. Just keep going until the paramedics arrive.”

Studies have shown the detrimental health effects of stress on our mind, emotions and body. Yet we still willingly take on the treadmill to stress, forgetting our boundaries and wellness. It is time to normalize seeking help from our superiors to resolve burnout and refuse overtime and heavy workloads.

“As we start to emerge from the pandemic, today’s workplace demands a different kind of VUCA career growth. One that’s Versatile, Uplifting, Choice-filled and Active.”

The only thing constant in work is change. However, recent decades have witnessed greater work volatility where tech-oriented people and creative minds flourish the most. The essay provides tips for applying at work daily to survive and even thrive in the VUCA world. You might also be interested in these  essays about motivation .

“Ultimately, the biggest challenge in regulating labor markets in developing countries is what to do about the hundreds of millions of workers (or even more) who are beyond the reach of formal labor market rules and social protections.”

The challenge in regulating work is balancing the interest of employees to have dignified work conditions and for employers to operate at the most reasonable cost. But in developing countries, the difficulties loom larger, with issues going beyond equal pay to universal social protection coverage and monitoring employers’ compliance.

“Suppose you want to design the best company on earth to work for. What would it be like? For three years, we’ve been investigating this question by asking hundreds of executives in surveys and in seminars all over the world to describe their ideal organization.”

If you’ve ever wondered what would make the best workplace, you’re not alone. In this essay, Jones looks at how employers can create a better workplace for employees by using surveys and interviews. The writer found that individuality and a sense of support are key to creating positive workplace environments where employees are comfortable.

“Bottom line: People seek purpose in their lives — and that includes work. The more an employer limits those things that create this sense of purpose, the less likely employees will stay at their positions.”

In this essay, Turner looks at how employees seek value in the workplace. This essay dives into how, as humans, we all need a purpose. If we can find purpose in our work, our overall happiness increases. So, a value and purpose-driven job role can create a positive and fruitful work environment for both workers and employers.

In this essay, talk about how you envision yourself as a professional in the future. You can be as creative as to describe your workplace, your position, and your colleagues’ perception of you. Next, explain why this is the line of work you dream of and what you can contribute to society through this work. Finally, add what learning programs you’ve signed up for to prepare your skills for your dream job. For more, check out our list of simple essays topics for intermediate writers .

For your essay, look deeply into how your school prepares the young generation to be competitive in the future workforce. If you want to go the extra mile, you can interview students who have graduated from your school and are now professionals. Ask them about the programs or practices in your school that they believe have helped mold them better at their current jobs.

Essays about work: The importance of teamwork at work

In a workplace where colleagues compete against each other, leaders could find it challenging to cultivate a sense of cooperation and teamwork. So, find out what creative activities companies can undertake to encourage teamwork across teams and divisions. For example, regular team-building activities help strengthen professional bonds while assisting workers to recharge their minds.

Finding a job after receiving your undergraduate diploma can be full of stress, pressure, and hard work. Write an essay that handholds graduate students in drafting their resumes and preparing for an interview. You may also recommend the top job market platforms that match them with their dream work. You may also ask recruitment experts for tips on how graduates can make a positive impression in job interviews.

Creating a fun and happy workplace may seem impossible. But there has been a flurry of efforts in the corporate world to keep workers happy. Why? To make them more productive. So, for your essay, gather research on what practices companies and policy-makers should adopt to help workers find meaning in their jobs. For example, how often should salary increases occur? You may also focus on what drives people to quit jobs that raise money. If it’s not the financial package that makes them satisfied, what does? Discuss these questions with your readers for a compelling essay.

Motivation could scale up workers’ productivity, efficiency, and ambition for higher positions and a longer tenure in your company. Knowing which method of motivation best suits your employees requires direct managers to know their people and find their potential source of intrinsic motivation. For example, managers should be able to tell whether employees are having difficulties with their tasks to the point of discouragement or find the task too easy to boredom.

A handful of managers have been worried about working from home for fears of lowering productivity and discouraging collaborative work. Meanwhile, those who embrace work-from-home arrangements are beginning to see the greater value and benefits of giving employees greater flexibility on when and where to work. So first, draw up the pros and cons of working from home. You can also interview professionals working or currently working at home. Finally, provide a conclusion on whether working from home can harm work output or boost it.

Identifying critical skills at work could depend on the work applied. However, there are inherent values and behavioral competencies that recruiters demand highly from employees. List the top five qualities a professional should possess to contribute significantly to the workplace. For example, being proactive is a valuable skill because workers have the initiative to produce without waiting for the boss to prod them.

If you need help with grammar, our guide to  grammar and syntax  is a good start to learning more. We also recommend taking the time to  improve the readability score  of your essays before publishing or submitting them.

essay about business and job

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essay about business and job

How to Write a Business Essay for Impactful Communication and Analysis

essay about business and job

So, you've got a business essay coming up, and you're feeling a mix of excitement and a tad bit overwhelmed, right? Totally get it. Writing a business essay might sound boring, but trust me, it's a skill that's gonna come in handy when you're out there in the real world.

In this article, we're dishing out some awesome tips just for you if you have question on how to start a business essay. Think of it as your secret weapon to tackle those business essays like a pro. We'll keep it real, easy, and super practical – no fancy jargon or complicated theories. Let's dive into the world of business essay writing, where your words can make a big impact. In case you lack time or motivation to finish your assignment, use our business essay writing service to streamline the process.

What Is a Business Essay

Business essays are written pieces that explore and analyze various aspects of business-related topics, often focusing on management, marketing, finance, or entrepreneurship. They provide a platform for students and professionals to articulate their understanding of business concepts, theories, and real-world applications. Typically written in a formal and structured manner, a business essay requires critical thinking, research skills, and the ability to communicate ideas effectively. Whether delving into case studies, discussing industry trends, or evaluating business strategies, the essay aims to provide insights, draw conclusions, and contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamic world of business.

What Is a Business Essay

How to Write an Introduction for a Business Essay

A business essay introduction sets the tone for the entire paper and captures the reader's attention. Here are some steps and tips to help you write an effective introduction for a business essay:

  • Understand the Purpose of the Introduction

Clearly understand the purpose of your essay. Are you providing an overview of a business concept, analyzing a case study, or arguing a specific point? Tailor your introduction accordingly.

  • Start with a Hook

Grab the reader's attention with a compelling hook. This could be a relevant quote, a surprising fact, a rhetorical question, or a thought-provoking statement. The goal is to make the reader want to continue reading.

  • Provide Context

After the hook, provide some background or context related to the topic of your essay. Help the reader understand the significance and relevance of the subject matter in the business world.

  • Thesis Statement

Clearly state your thesis or the main argument of your essay. This should be a concise and focused statement that outlines what the reader can expect from the rest of the essay. Make sure it is specific and reflects the purpose of your writing.

  • Outline the Scope

Briefly outline the main points or areas that your essay will cover. This gives the reader a roadmap of what to expect and helps them understand the structure of your essay.

  • Use Clear and Concise Language

Keep your introduction clear and concise. Avoid unnecessary jargon or complex language that might confuse the reader. Aim for clarity and precision.

  • Be Relevant

Ensure that every sentence in your introduction is directly related to the topic of your essay. Avoid going off on tangents or providing excessive information that doesn't contribute to the main points.

  • Consider the Tone

Choose a tone that is appropriate for your audience and the nature of your essay. Business essays can vary in tone, from formal and academic to more conversational, depending on the context.

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Business Essay Introduction Example

Here’s an example of an introduction for an essay titled “The Rise of E-commerce: Shaping the Future of Retail”:

The retail landscape is undergoing a seismic shift as e-commerce continues to redefine the way consumers shop. In this essay, we explore the profound implications of this digital transformation on traditional retail models and analyze the key strategies businesses are employing to thrive in this dynamic environment. From changing consumer behaviors to the strategic use of technology, the impact of e-commerce on the retail sector is undeniable, prompting businesses to adapt or face the risk of obsolescence.

How to Write a Business Essay

Working on a business essay might seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. In this guide, we'll break down the process into simple steps to help you navigate through it smoothly. In this next section. We’ll be breaking down the essentials of drawing up a business essay from start to finish. From defining your main argument to structuring your points effectively, let's explore the key strategies that will set you on the path to success. 

How to Write a Business Essay

Analyze the Prompt

Start by carefully reading and understanding the essay prompt. This involves breaking down the question to grasp what it's asking for, identifying the main topics, and recognizing any specific tasks or points to cover. This step helps you set the stage for a focused and relevant essay by ensuring you address all aspects mentioned in the prompt. You can hire a business essay writer to expedite the process if you want.

Think of a Thesis Statement

When writing a business essay, think of the thesis statement as the essay's compass. It should be a concise, strong sentence that lays out your main argument or viewpoint on the topic. Your thesis guides the entire essay, so make sure it's specific, debatable, and gives readers a clear idea of what to expect in your writing.

Create an Outline

We’ve already shared tips on how to write an introduction for a business essay, so let’s move on to the next stages. Organize your thoughts by outlining the main points and structure of your essay. This doesn't have to be too detailed; just a roadmap that helps you see how different ideas connect. An outline ensures a logical flow in your writing and prevents you from going off track. By the way, have you already picked business essay topics ? If not, here’s a list of great ideas you can use!

Provide Topic Background

Before diving into your main points, the business essay writing format implies giving your reader some context about the topic. Briefly introduce the key concepts, relevant facts, or historical background that will help readers understand the importance and relevance of your essay.

Write the Main Body

Start developing your essay by expanding on the main points outlined in your thesis. Each paragraph should focus on a specific idea or argument supported by evidence or examples. Be clear and concise, ensuring a smooth transition between paragraphs. It’s the most difficult part of the assignment, meaning you can use our college essay service to simplify it.

Write a Conclusion

Summarize your key points and conclusively restate your thesis. The conclusion should tie up the loose ends and leave a lasting impression on the reader. Avoid introducing new information but rather reinforce your main argument. For more details about how to write a conclusion for an essay , please refer to our guide.

Add a Bibliography

List all the sources you used in your research. Be meticulous about citing your references properly, following the chosen format (APA, MLA, etc.). This adds credibility to your essay and avoids plagiarism issues.

Edit and Proofread

As you’ve learned how to write a business essay, it’s time to master the art of self-revising. Review your essay for clarity, coherence, and grammatical errors. Editing ensures that your ideas flow smoothly, and proofreading catches any overlooked mistakes. It's a crucial step to polish your essay and present a professional piece of writing. Do you have another assignment on business management ? This guide will help you!

Choose the Writing Format

Reiterate the importance of selecting and adhering to the chosen writing format throughout the essay. Consistency in formatting, citations, and other style elements contributes to the overall professionalism of your work.

Business Essay Example

Business essay examples offer practical assistance to students tackling assignments by showcasing the application of essential writing principles in a real-world context. As a tangible reference, it demonstrates an effective essay structure and how to formulate a clear thesis statement and provide coherent arguments. By examining examples, students can glean insights into research techniques, proper citation practices, and overall essay organization, empowering them to approach their business assignments with increased confidence and proficiency.

Example 1: “The Impact of Technological Advancements on Modern Business Operations”

This essay explores the multifaceted impact of technology on operational efficiency, innovation, customer relations, and global connectivity. From integrating automation and artificial intelligence for streamlined processes to facilitating global expansion through digital platforms, technology emerges as a driving force shaping the success and sustainability of contemporary enterprises. While acknowledging the numerous benefits, the essay also highlights the challenges and ethical considerations inherent in adopting these technologies, emphasizing the need for businesses to navigate these complexities responsibly for long-term growth and competitiveness.

Example 2: “Sustainable Business Practices: A Strategic Imperative for Corporate Success”

This essay explores the pivotal role of sustainable business practices as a strategic imperative for corporate success in the contemporary entrepreneurship scene. Addressing environmental concerns, social consciousness, and economic viability, the essay delves into the multifaceted benefits of adopting sustainable approaches. It discusses how businesses can align profitability with responsible practices, emphasizing environmental stewardship, social impact, and community engagement. The essay underscores the importance of regulatory compliance and risk mitigation in business by examining the economic advantages and innovation opportunities arising from sustainable initiatives.

Final Considerations

Students engage in writing business essays to develop essential skills and knowledge crucial for success in the professional world. These essays serve as a platform for honing critical thinking, analytical, and communication skills, allowing students to articulate and analyze complex business concepts. Through the process of researching, organizing thoughts, and constructing coherent arguments, students gain a deeper understanding of business principles and practices. Business essays also cultivate the ability to synthesize information, evaluate various perspectives, and present well-reasoned conclusions. If you find with task troublesome, you can always tell us, ‘ write my research paper ,’ and one of our wordsmiths will fulfill the assignment quickly.

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How Many Paragraphs Does a Business Essay Have?

What is the most important part of a business essay, how do you start off a business essay.

Annie Lambert

Annie Lambert

specializes in creating authoritative content on marketing, business, and finance, with a versatile ability to handle any essay type and dissertations. With a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a passion for social issues, her writing not only educates but also inspires action. On EssayPro blog, Annie delivers detailed guides and thought-provoking discussions on pressing economic and social topics. When not writing, she’s a guest speaker at various business seminars.

essay about business and job

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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Sample Business School Essays

Studying business is a great way to gain valuable working experience across many industries. As such, many students decide to further their education with a degree in business. To help set your business school application apart from the others, having a stellar application essay can help tremendously. Before writing your own essay make sure you explore our sample essays to gather a few ideas and thoughts on how you can make your essay unique and engaging.

This section contains five business essay samples:

Business School Essay Sample One

Business school essay sample two, business school essay sample three, business school essay sample four.

  • Business School Essay Sample Five

Watching my brother transform from a man who had lost his ability to walk to a man who can play basketball with my father kindled my fascination of the physical therapy world. The Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates the field of physical therapy to grow faster than average in the upcoming years. I hope to join this field during an exciting time of growth, furthering the rehabilitation of those who have been injured.

Following graduation from ABC Business School, I intend to serve a marketing team in a local physical therapy company, such as Ridgeview Physical Therapy. My short-term goal is to lead a team, furthering success in the Ridgeview area. Due to the popular physical therapy company thirty miles from Ridgeview, much of the local population is unaware of the quality services Ridgeview Physical Therapy has to offer. I hope to increase visits by 40 percent in the first 5 years of my employment. My long-term goal includes extending the company’s reach into surrounding cities, and eventually beyond national barriers, becoming a global marketing manager.

I expect to gain skills and experiences from ABC Business School that will propel my short and long-term goals. I hope to develop an experiential and diverse learning experience and have the opportunity to interact with different groups of people to learn from their business insights and endeavours. From ABC Business School, I seek the tools and resources needed to further engage in my marketing knowledge, perform professional strategic analyses, and re-evaluate my past work experiences. I look forward to taking courses from Professor Jim. W. Reid, who has published the research of the success of Matthews and Marketing in his book, “Matthews Commerce,” which has helped me continue my career this far. I also look forward to taking the unique classes taught by Professor Rachel E. Davis, introducing me to the physical therapy world and enriching my business skills in that area.

When my brother’s car accident in 2011 caused immobility in his left leg, he never thought he would be able to play his favorite sport again. David Andrews, a 1994 graduate from ABC Business School, ensured that that would not come to pass. I spoke with Andrews about his journey, and he told me that it was through the opportunities and education he received from the professors and students at ABC Business School that helped him open his own practice. I hope to follow in Andrews’s footsteps. With the passion I have for the success of Ridgeview Physical Therapy, and the determination I learned from watching my brother, all I need to complete my goals is the knowledge available to me through an MBA at ABC Business School. I look forward to completing my career aspirations using the tools received from ABC Business School to contribute to my professional career.

The world of physical therapy is growing, and with my skills in marketing, I hope to grow the local Ridgeview services across the globe.

In this essay, the applicant is assigned to answer the prompt in approximately 500 words. The admissions officer expects a clear and concise essay that does not veer off the question and exemplifies quality writing, grammar, and punctuation. In questions similar to these, the admissions officers are looking for: Student’s understanding and knowledge in answering questions: The writer explains his short and long-term career goals, referencing the future of the career (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and quantifying his goals (Increase by 40 percent within the first 5 years). A deeper look into who the applicant is: Writer shares personal information that also relates to answering the question (brother in physical therapy). Make sure that any personal information you share does not veer off of the question that needs to be answered. Proper research on the school to adequately answer the second question: Student mentions names of professors who have demonstrated help in the past (professor’s business research book) giving credibility to the student that he believes they will be able to help him in the future. Avoid flattery and only speak of the school in a way that shows proper research and answers the question presented.

Nancy, the CEO of Jasmine Publishing House, bought me a coffee and told me I should invest in warm gloves as we sat down at a corner diner for what would be a game-changing business meeting. As the leading publishing house in Europe, Nancy informed me that JPH was interested in closing a multi-million dollar deal with our fashion magazine, Zoelle, provided we changed the magazine's appearance to attract a broader European audience.

As production manager, my job was to lead and supervise a staff of 30 to match Nancy's vision, working closely with the design team, photographers, production staff and marketing team. After three weeks of heavy brainstorming, we developed a fresh appearance for the magazine.

I invited Nancy to a meeting with me and three of our executive producers. I shared with her the strategy we had created in order to solve our appearance problem, as well as estimated costs and complications. Nancy agreed that the direction our magazine was going fit well with her vision and audience, and that JPH would be happy to work with us within the next week.

Although the team was excited to accept the offer, I was concerned that we were not prepared to complete the project so quickly. Though the executive producers did not understand, as our production team was to begin work on the next issue the following day, I explained that there may include deep financial consequences if we rush into the process. I wanted to ensure that JPH received a consistent layout from Zoelle magazine. Nancy agreed to wait until the upcoming issue was complete before beginning work on the new look.

We began work the following Tuesday, after the latest issue was produced. I collaborated with an eight member marketing team to develop new branding for our magazine and mediated this branding with the design team, ensuring that it was able to blend well with their ideas and insights based on the first meeting with Nancy. I led the operation of the first issue to be published via JPH, supervising 30 employees.

After the issue was published, our sales increased by 42 percent in the first week. After leading the Zoelle team to a business deal close and a fresh start, I learned that with the proper leadership, a staff of varied talents, insights and opinions can work closely together to produce a magazine that continues to increase its sells each issue. My initiative helped provide Zoelle with its largest new contract that year, a $2 million deal. Customers from Europe and the United States commented with positive remarks on the new look, showing interest in the replacement of the former look, which had been being published for seven years.

After this leadership experience, I was able to see my potential as a leader. I can communicate effectively with all members of a group and help connect them with one another to make a larger picture. I protect my business discernment even against an upset crowd, and am able to properly persuade others to understand other perspectives. Through learning more about leadership every day with my work in Zoelle, I hope to continue to strengthen these abilities and witness the success they can bring to media production.

In this essay, the applicant was asked to detail her leadership abilities through the application of a relevant example. She was asked to do this in approximately 550 words, using concise language and proper grammar and punctuation. In questions similar to these, the admissions officers are looking for: Applicant's ability to share leadership qualities with a relevant example: This writer shared leadership qualities of communication (brainstorming with different staffs and helping them connect their ideas together), listening (brainstorming and understanding staff concerns), delegating (ensuring each team did what was supposed to be done), and managing (managed and supervised a staff of 30) through the use of an example from her work with Zoelle Magazine. Proof of a potential growth in these leadership skills: The writer hopes to “continue to strengthen” her leadership skills. She provides examples of how she learned from previous leadership roles. How these skills will help further your career: The writer used an example from her current career and concluded her essay with a look into the potential of leadership in her field.

I looked across my celebratory cheesecake and beamed up at my new coworkers. I couldn't believe I had finally landed my dream job. All of the senior editors were having lunch in the cafe across the street from the bakery where the finance team and marketing team shared dessert. I had been hired as a budget analyst at my favorite magazine. My job was to work alongside the business manager to help create a more healthy marriage between the finance and marketing departments, thus improving our sales and workplace environment. On my way home, I reflected on my relief in finally having an exciting and secure career.

Just three months later, we met at the same bakery where I had celebrated my new job. Every department from our small, close-knit staff was present. As the publication manager began to tell us the news, I remember how our faces fell. Our publication company was going out of business, and every publication was to be shut down. She explained that they had tried to find another publishing company without success.

Not only did I feel as though I failed the company, I also knew that I, as well as the other 17 employees, was out of a job. We went back to our offices and packed up our things. Writers and designers were frantically calling around, asking for open positions. An employee from the finance department began tweaking his resume, and the marketing department apologized to the publication manager and editor-in-chief, who responded graciously.

I had to leave my apartment not long after losing my job. I stayed with a friend on the north side of town as I tried to find a job in a shrinking economic suburb. It took six months to find a position, and though I had to move and leave behind my dream, I found a new way to work toward my new dream.

From this experience, I learned the importance of adaptability. Only through my ability to embrace the change happening around me was I able to find a new job and start a new life with new visions and goals. Applying for my MBA would have sounded bizarre to the disheartened, homeless idealist who lost her dream. But now, after finding in me the strength to persevere, I am able to take what I learned from my previous job and pair it with what I learn from the university. This knowledge will help me ensure that the future companies I work with will not have to endure a similar fallout.

However, if there comes a time when I am again involved in a lost company, I know how to repair. I know how to restore.

In this essay, the applicant was asked to recall a challenging situation to which the writer overcame the boundaries. The writer was asked to do this in approximately 450 words, using concise language and proper grammar and punctuation. In questions similar to these, the admissions officers are looking for: Applicant's ability to identify a challenging moment in her life: This writer uses a relevant example of a challenging situation, describing the challenge of losing a job, losing housing, and having to move to a different city. Examples of how the applicant overcame these challenges: The writer cites her “adaptability” as the reason why she was able to overcome this challenge. Instead of giving up, the applicant tells of applying for other jobs, even ones that were out of her comfort zone and in another city. Brief insights to what the applicant learned from the challenge: This writer learned how to maintain strength, perseverance and adaptability in challenging situations. The applicant tells of continuing the learning process in her MBA program and allowing it to help future companies.

“Gallery Furniture saves you money today!” As a child, these words rang out to me, sandwiched in between the episodes of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh that I gleefully watched every Saturday morning. During commercial breaks, an older gentleman known as Mattress Mack would dominate all 24 inches of my cartoon box with his signature hundred-mile-per-hour pitch, reserved for sputtering off the praises of American-made furniture sold at affordable prices. Mattress Mack reigned as a household favorite in the Greater Houston area; in fact, my cousin and I made games out of memorizing his lines and spitting them out as fast as we could whenever his ads came on TV.

Mack’s distinctive elevator-pitch talking style stemmed from the financial difficulties he faced at the start of his career. At that time, Mack invested his entire life savings in a single ad that aired on two stations. While watching the ad himself, he grew unhappy with the producers’ work and ad-libbed a rapid pitch which would be later recognized as one of his greatest sparks of unconventional genius. Mack's unique re-branding has taught me to recognize the value of bootstrapping and developing creative solutions to solve problems.

Beyond his unorthodox sales strategies, Mack also had a heart that was truly the size of Texas. In August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall and caused $125 billion in damages, and several people that I personally know lost everything. While most of us worried solely about our own survival, Mack opened his two biggest showrooms and provided food to those who needed it most. His heroic actions eventually earned him his own day, August 26th, appropriately named Mattress Mack Day. He has inspired Houstonians just like me to pursue entrepreneurship opportunities that put social focus on the forefront.

As Harvey pummelled through the Gulf Coast, I noted the amount of devastation the hurricane has caused for our local automotive industry. This sparked an idea. As a passionate watchmaker and a car enthusiast, I partnered with my co-founder to create one-of-a-kind wristwatches from wrecked supercars with stories to match. A portion of each sale would then be donated to Habitat for Humanity to rebuild communities affected by natural disasters. My dream came to fruition, and over the last two years, the work I did has gained the attention of Mayor Turner, Capital One Bank, and various other notable individuals and organizations across Texas, Florida, Switzerland, and the UK. Born from a company bootstrapped with a $10,000 award from Capital One Bank, we are now projected to take in a revenue of $500k in the coming year.

Mattress Mack’s unconventional business approaches have taught me that tackling problems with limited capital yields the most innovative solutions and that the numbers, albeit essential, are not the end-all-be-all of a company. His ability to see equal importance in their lesser-noticed counterparts -the people his business serves and the community he resides in- are what sets him apart from traditional bosses as a truly effective leader. His actions have taught me that marrying unconventional problem-solving skills to a strong moral code is the key to greater personal success.

Business Sample Essay Five

Fuqua was the first business school I visited at the beginning of my application journey. No one in my family has ever attended college, let alone business school, so my visit opened a new world of opportunity for me. I sat in the auditorium with 300 other Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) fellows soaking up facts about Fuqua’s collaborative culture, global perspective, and distinguished faculty. My most vivid memory of the experience was at the end of the first day when the Black and Latino MBA Organization (BLMBAO) came on stage and helped me understand what it truly means to be on “Team Fuqua.” Dancing, cheering, and wearing their Blue Devil gear, the students made it easy to see a cohesive community for students of color – one that I have not felt so palpably at any other business school since. As I sat in that auditorium, I began to imagine myself as a part of “Team Fuqua,” and after the visit I became more confident that there was a place for me at Duke. For these reasons, I am seeking a spot in the entering class of 2022.

Post MBA, I plan to work as a Product Manager in an innovative digital healthcare company focused on using technology to transform patient care. Specifically, I would like to work in wireless tech and data analytics focused on chronic disease management similar to Twine Health, a platform integrated into patients' Fitbits to monitor diabetes-related vitals. In preparation for a career in healthcare, I plan on being a part of Fuqua’s Health Care Club (HCC). I look forward to contributing to this community through my perspective in healthcare consulting as well as my experience in the health insurance marketplace. By participating in the HCC, I will leverage the insight from 2nd year students as I navigate the healthcare recruiting process during HCC life line sessions. In time, I hope to return the favor by helping new students navigate recruitment, coursework, and life in Durham. Particularly, I am excited to gain valuable insight into the healthcare industry through programming coordinated by HCC such as the Duke MBA Health Care Conference and panel discussions throughout the year. HCC will not only provide me the knowledge and professional aptitude for a meaningful career in the healthcare sector, but will also grant me a life-long network of Fuqua healthcare leaders. To further promote health, I want to take part in the Fuqua Running & Triathlon Club. As a cross country athlete in high school and college, I look forward to exploring the Raleigh-Durham area and sharing my love of running.

Beyond my involvement in the Fuqua healthcare community, I also plan to join BLMBAO. It is very important for me to be part of a collective of leaders of color that empower each other to reach their full potential in business. For this reason, I am interested in joining the leadership cabinet of BLMBAO and shaping events such as the MBA Minority Business Conference. I want to continue BLMBAO’s work of increasing the visibility of underrepresented minorities, engaging Fuqua on issues of race and inequality, and being an advocate for women of color in business. For example, as a Fellow and alumna of MLT, I will commit myself to building a pipeline for Latina prospective Fuqua MBA students. This will include holding workshops that focus on the application process and challenges specific to Latinas in management.

In the end, Duke is the ideal place for me to become the business leader I know I can be. The opportunities in healthcare at Fuqua with HCC in conjunction with the school’s close proximity to the research triangle are second to none. A Fuqua MBA will give me the opportunity to learn, grow, and lead among lifelong friends. As a part of the incoming class, I will continue to learn more about Fuqua and expect that the “Team Fuqua” spirit will stand out in all of my interactions within the larger community. Just as BLMBAO students inspired me on my first day at Fuqua, I hope to one day inspire a young Latina professional setting her sights on business school.

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Business Essay and the Best Way of Its Writing

  • Academic Writing Tips

Zoe Barker

  • Social Science
  • Political Science

essay about business and job

Business is an essential aspect of today’s evolving world. It is a lucrative industry that impacts many sectors, including education. Business-related courses are popular as many students are pursuing the programs. There are many branches in the business field, from business management to finance. College tutors often give students different business papers to test their knowledge as part of the assessment.

A business essay is an academic assignment that involves writing a paper that responds with a strategic and analytical approach to specific situations occurring in the market. Each business essay has a different topic that students tackle. However, the primary purpose of such essays is to collect relevant facts that align with the research question and analyze the data to get solutions.

Writing a business essay might seem simple, but it requires impressive writing skills and extensive research. You must be familiar with the topic to know the paper’s direction. Topic selection is a tricky section that affects the entire writing process. It is essential to identify a relevant topic to assist you in crafting a remarkable paper. You have to write a well-structured and compelling paper to get good grades. Presenting accurate arguments with supporting examples from reliable sources is an essential research aspect. Thus, a business essay must follow the required academic standards and theoretical frameworks.

However, writing is not everyone’s cup of tea, and incorporating logical arguments can be challenging. If you are stuck, you can check any business essay example online to understand the format. You will know how to structure the paper and relate it to the relevant themes.

That is why our writing service is here to help needy students craft exceptional essays. We will connect with a proficient business essay writer to help with the research and writing process. Get flawless documents from us and earn the best score in your class.

Business Essay Format

Most learners often overlook the importance of having a business essay format. It is imperative to use a format to help you outline your work. Proper thought organization and articulation are essential aspects that translate into a well-written business essay.

Below is an example of the format:

  • Introduction
  • Background information
  • Introduce main topics
  • Thesis statement
  • Topic sentence
  • Research explanation
  • Restate points
  • Significance of the study

The above outline is a map that will guide you to know what to include in each section. In addition, you will understand what the assignment requires you to do from the introduction to the conclusion.

If you still find it challenging to get the proper format, you can study a relevant business essay example from our site and jumpstart your paper. Whether you need a business school essay or a business plan essay, we have you covered.

Write Business Essay In 5 Steps

While writing might seem challenging, with the proper format and topic familiarity, you are on the right track. It is imperative to understand the writing process before composing your business essay. You need to read the prompt carefully to know what you are supposed to research and write about.

Here is an overview of the writing process in 5 simple steps:

  • Topic Selection

Choosing a good topic is mandatory in crafting an excellent paper. You must select a theme that aligns with the research question. Additionally, ensure you select a familiar topic you are passionate about to avoid writing mistakes and illogical paragraphs.

  • Extensive Research

Conduct extensive research to get facts and supporting evidence. Narrow down your theme and include only good points. Avoid broad topics because you will waste time during research.

  • Essay Outline

Make sure you use a proper outline to organize your thoughts and line of arguments. Follow the format essay

Start writing your paper while using the required academic format. Organize your work and include the introduction, main body paragraphs, or conclusion.

  • Editing and Proofreading

Finally, edit and proofread your essay to eliminate grammatical and spelling mistakes.

The above steps will help you during business essay writing to craft remarkable papers. It would be best to plan your time adequately to avoid rushing through the process. However, you must select an appropriate topic for your paper. It could be a business management essay or a marketing paper. No matter the subject discipline, ensure you follow the correct procedure.

Business Essay Topics

popular business topics

Our experts have compiled a list of different business essay topics to inspire your writing:

  • Discuss the importance of bookkeeping in a business.
  • Evaluate the impact of value addition in products.
  • An analysis of income and expenditure transactions.
  • Analyze the supply-chain industry.
  • The effects of product promotion in business growth.
  • How to develop an effective marketing strategy.
  • Impact of policymaking in enhancing company productivity.
  • What is multilevel marketing?
  • Impact of technology in the business world.
  • Discuss the challenges affecting entrepreneurship.
  • Significance of human resource management.
  • Explore the importance of budget analysis.
  • How does technology impact advertising?
  • The importance of a financial strategy.
  • How to start an online business.
  • How can organizations profit from sustainable practices?
  • How to develop a positive organizational culture.
  • The importance of employee diversity in an organization.
  • Effective ways of fraud prevention in a company.
  • Explore the communication channels in an organization.

Let us look at interesting argumentative business essay topics

  • Discuss the influence of cultural differences on international companies.
  • A comprehensive analysis of cryptocurrencies.
  • Discuss the ethical dilemmas in international organizations.
  • The influence of globalization on the business community.
  • Should large organizations have a social media presence?
  • Causes and effects of economic recession.
  • Impact of politics on business growth.
  • Discuss the effective strategies of negotiating cross-cultural business deals.
  • Explore the integrity of online entrepreneurship.
  • The impact of corporate social responsibility in an organization.

The field is quite diverse with various course programs. You can derive different topics from these programs to get logical arguments. So, get inspiration from the compelling business school essay examples and craft exceptional papers.

business management essay topics

How To Start A Business Essay

Knowing how to start a business essay is essential for academic writing. The first step entails topic selection because it will determine the essay’s direction. Identifying a relevant topic is vital, and you need to ensure you get the suitable theme. It will also help save you time during research and simplify the writing process.

When it comes to essay writing service , business papers are among the assignments that require extensive research and analysis. Read the essay prompt carefully to understand the tutor’s expectations. Then, make sure you conduct a comprehensive brainstorming session to get the major points for your paper. Having the right points will help you compose logical arguments in a flawless manner.

Moreover, it would help to read previous essays and publications from reliable essays widely. You will get essential data to support your arguments. Besides, the sources will help you cite your essay correctly.

Start your essay with an insightful introduction and include your perspective regarding the topic. Incorporate a powerful thesis statement that informs your readers of the paper’s direction and the major points you will discuss.

Proceed to write the body paragraphs with a topic sentence that captures all significant arguments. Each paragraph should have well-explained arguments that flow logically.

Finally, conclude your business essay by restating your main points and the significance of the study.

Still, need help with your paper? Worry no more. Our competent business essay writers are on standby, ready to assist you with any academic paper. Stop wasting time and reach out to us. We will help you score top-of-the-class grades within no time.

The paper “Enterprises Resource Planning Success and Failure” is an outstanding example of a business essay. An Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system according to Aslan et al. (2012, p.693) is a management system within an organization that has sets of connected inclusive software, which may be used when espoused and put into practice effectively, to oversee and connect every organizational function. Basically, ERP systems may be employed as a tool for helping to improve the supply chain network as well as the level of performance by helping in decreasing cycle times.

Besides that, ERP systems have been utilized routinely in capital-intensive industries like building, construction, manufacturing, as well as defence. Latterly, ERP systems have advanced further and nowadays they are prevalent in industries such as education, health care, finance, hospitality, and telecommunications. Fundamentally, the benefits of ERP systems are hard to realise not unless a strong disposition, as well as participation, is established within the organisation; so, the article seeks to critically analyse ERP success and failure experienced by organisations.

BodyAs mentioned by Hellens et al. (2005, p.283), ERP systems are built upon a single database and application, as well as a coordinate that is unified in the whole organization. For that reason, every application serving different departments such as HR, accounting, and supply chain are integrated firmly under a single ERP system. Al-as observed by Al-Masha et al. (2003, p.354), ERP systems are useful when successfully implemented because they accelerate the process of decision-making. So, the success of ERP systems depends on the ability of an organisation’s managers to efficiently oversee the operation of a business, given that ERP systems can help them reduces operation costs.

Success drivers of ERP systems can be categorised into two: operational and technological drivers. In this case, operational drivers are associated with ways of improving organisational performance, supporting business strategies, as well as cutting production costs. On the other hand, technological drivers are predominantly associated with compliance with existing rules and regulations. The notion of success varies as the process of implementation continues, in that for planning and implementation (the first two stages of the cycle) success is mainly rooted in completing the ERP project to the standards that are acceptable within the budget as well as a time limit.

As pointed out by Hanafizadeh et al. (2010), stabilization as well as Improvement (the last two stages of the cycle) success is founded on the seeming impact of the ERP system on the performance of the organization. As indicated in Hanafizadeh et al. (2010) study, there are scores of factors vital for the success of ERP systems; support is top management one of the factors, and it involves encouraging commitment, positivity, and support of top management in the ERP project. Another factor is the utilization of knowledge as well as experience of system and technology consultants.

Additionally, the balanced project team is crucial for the success of ERP systems because it includes the integration of employees and information technology with the broad knowledge of the processes in the organization. As evidenced in Hellens et al. (2005) study, the accuracy of the information is crucial to the success of ERP project, so, data loaded from accessible legacy systems must at all times be of high quality. ERP project cannot succeed if the project management teams do not have a well-defined, detailed project plan related to the goals of the project.

Change management is also a success factor in the implementation of ERP project; so, careful attention has to be offered to this, considering that several changes in business processes are experienced during ERP systems implementation. Training and education are also important given that technical expertise regarding the ERP system, its reference model, and facts regarding its working are useful in the process of implementation. Other factors crucial for success consists of, availability of experts who aside from being in top management will frequently help the organization realize ERP system benefits.

Failure of ERP projects has been prevalent, and this has continued to bite worldwide across all business platforms. As pointed out in Xue et al. (2005, p.279) study, ERP poise substantial benefits like improving customer service, reducing manufacturing costs and boosts productivity, but these benefits are only realised after successfully implementing the ERP systems. Nevertheless, statistics show that implementation of ERP systems is still a failure amongst scores of companies. Statistically, 90 per cent of ERP systems implementations in Asia countries, especially China are either completed late or use more money and resources than those stipulated in budget.

In Xue et al. (2005) study, where they differentiated implementation success of ERP system in China as well as western countries, they noted that China had a higher percentage of failure which was attributed mainly to lack of support from top management as well as data inaccuracy. Other factors that led to ERP failure include poor participation, education and training, insignificant time ensuing from a minimal understanding of cross-operational organisational processes (Dechow & Mouritsen, 2005, p.691). Furthermore, ERP systems are exceedingly expensive, and also the need for the organisation to hire consultants to assist in the configuration as well as implementation, results in further escalation of price; thus, creating a high possibility of failure.

The cost used on consultants is almost thrice the cost of an ERP system; this negatively affects the productivity of the company and can lead also to the failure of the ERP system. ConclusionIn conclusion, it has been argued that ERP systems are beneficial because they improve the flow of information between every function of the company and also manages the connections to external stakeholders. Currently, the key basis of competitive advantage is the capability of a business to improve the processes of the supply chain.

This necessity has created the need for more advanced information systems like ERP systems. The articles have heightened numerous factors critical to the success of ERP, and which have allowed companies to efficiently plan their resources resulting in business efficient functionality and increased productivity. Failures as discussed in the article are caused by lack of support from top management, data inaccuracy, and lack of sufficient education and training.

The paper “New iPhones Show a Hit For Apple as Quarterly Profit Fluctuate 13 Percent” is an outstanding example of a business literature review. Yao (2014) explains that China is expected to provide information about its weakest growth since the occurrence of the global financial crisis within the third quarter while the property downturn is assessed based on manufacturing and investment. As a result, more pressure has been put on Beijing to unveil new stimulus measures. According to Yao (2014), the market assumes that the Communist Party leader will be able to adjust to the gradual slowdown. This will happen only in circumstances where there are no possibilities of experiencing a potentially destabilizing fluctuation in unemployment. However, anything weaker would lead to more speculations of key stimulus measures, for instance, an interest rate cut. Although the leadership has consistently provided steady aid specifically to vulnerable sectors of the economy, it has been noted that several stimuli have been ignored because China is still struggling to pay a huge local government debt (Yao 2014).

Article 2: New iPhones show a hit for Apple as quarterly profit fluctuate 13 percent

Due to strong demand for APPLE’s new larger-screen iPhones released in September, its quarterly profit increased by 13 percent. This also enabled APPLE to overcome the sluggish iPad sales (Jones 2014). Despite the more intensifying competition felt by Samsung Electronics as APPLE’s leading Smartphone competitor, Jones (2014) points out that the iPhone is attracting more consumers who are also ready to pay high prices particularly for cutting-edge handsets. Through its latest phones, Apple is profitably catching with its major competitors, such as, Samsung that have from time to time managed to post attractive sales of larger phones. It has also been noted that the marketing strength that iPhone has gained stands in contrast to sluggish iPad sales and the issues affecting Samsung’s Smartphone business (Jones 2014).

Article 3: Coal not the solution for poverty

Couchi (2014) examines that cheap coal-fueled electricity is highly considered by miners and politicians as the best alternative way out of poverty, particularly for developing nations. However, Africa has not considered this. In the business report provided by Couchi (2014) about the U.S financial group Citi, it can be noted that the booming market for African electricity has been a result of the coal approach. In the attempt to reinforce coals bearish outlook, Couchi (2014) reports that Citi discovered that a new International Energy Agency (IEA) outlook on the commodity is in contrast with the idea of BHP, the US coal producer Peabody as well as the Minerals Council of Australia which maintains that coal would play an integral role in minimizing energy poverty, particularly for developing countries. Despite its metallurgical and thermal forms, coal is considered the second-biggest mineral exported from Australia after iron ore (Couchi 2014).

Article 4: Ebola could be in the headlines, but tobacco is yet another killer in Africa

Research conducted by The Guardian (2014) shows that although Ebola dominates the headlines, there is yet another killer pandemic of great importance that continues to kill many people in the African continent unnoticeably. It is has been noted that tobacco kills at least one between two long term smokers. Currently, it is anticipated to kill 1 billion people globally before 2100. This is relatively more compared to the current number of people who die of Ebola. The Guardian (2014) terms this global issue as injustice and inequality because Transnational Tobacco Companies (TTCs), such as UK-based British American Tobacco (BAT) earn humungous profits yet they cause economic damage worthy over half a trillion dollars each year. Besides, TTCs contribute more to environmental degradation and thus create risks that compromise the health as well as the sustainability of populations. To earn more profits, TTCs are currently shifting and expanding their business to untapped markets in regions with unrestricted opportunities for growth (The Guardian 2014).

Article 5: NAB, ANZ lead pack in building home-lending share

The home loan is still considered the major driving force in recovering credit growth for banks. In this case, National Australian Bank (NAB) and ANZ are on the frontline to encourage the big banks in taking the advantage of the mortgage market, while home and business lending are sustainably becoming strong. Therefore, NAB and ANZ have put on media their fastest growth out of the big in all the past three months (Yeates 2014). Despite the faster growth and expansion made by NAB compared to their rivals in home lending, Yeates (2014) notes that analysts see business lending as a bigger concern because the bank has lost shares and faced more pressure, particularly on its margins. Generally, the home loan market is considered a major driving force that enables banks to recover from credit growth regardless of the risks associated with life specifically in business lending (Yeates 2014).

The paper “Globalization and Culture” is an outstanding example of a business essay. Today, it is common to hear people refer to the world as ‘a global village’. This has been a result of the process of globalization. This process has opened up and improved trade across regional and national borders. Not only has globalization enhanced economic interactions across nations but also improved access to information and uplifted the fight for human rights, among other benefits. Recent technological and communication developments along with improved road networks have been the key drivers of globalization. However, critics of globalization say that these benefits have been realized at a very high price: that of surrendering regional and national cultural values, mainly, for Western morals (Kwame, 2007).

Regarding this debate, two key schools of thought emerge. From one angle critics argue that globalization spreads out any and every culture all over the realm, leading to cultural heterogeneity and deeper understanding between diverse groups. This is mainly defined through the global production and distribution of commodities such that people in different parts of the world have access to commodities they would otherwise have never seen. A case in point is the cultural interaction between the United States and Japan. Teens in the U.S interact with the Japanese culture through their comic books, animations and video games, while teens in Japan interact with the American culture through watching TV shows and Hollywood movies produced in the U.S (Kwame, 2007).

On the flip side, critics argue that globalization erodes the regional and national cultural identity through cultural homogeneity. This leads to a cohesive global culture constituting diluted varieties of regional and national cultural nuances. For instance, French pastries, ‘American’ fried chicken, and Japanese sushi can be eaten in almost any part of the world. Restraint chains such as MacDonald’s and Starbucks have influenced traditions and behaviors in different countries. Even though champions of globalization claim that this merely affects consumer goods and media broadcasting, critics contend that it deteriorates customary culture ((Kwame, 2007; Czinkota, 2003).

Culture is a prevalent aspect in business whether it is in marketing, production, or human resource management. It is a key variable in the function of success in new markets (Czinkota, 2003). People’s purchasing decisions are based on a product’s design, style or color that supports their religious beliefs and practices. Empirical evidence shows that the success or failure of a company, especially, in a foreign market is reliant upon the effective managerial exercise of local religious beliefs and practices. Therefore, managers ought to be on familiar terms with their market’s religious differences given that religion influences people’s attitudes. For instance, Asians have a different attitude toward authority and women that differs from Western beliefs and practices. Whereas many parts of the world, including Asia, South America, and Africa, value collectivism very much, Americans are more individualistic. Chinese, Latin Americans and Koreans take time casually even as Americans are more proactive.

Failing to appreciate the religious beliefs and practices of the market will often lead to lots of inadvertent mistakes, such as being socially violent, cultural mix-ups, tarnished interpersonal relations, poor negotiations. As a consequence, the company’s future performance dwindles as profits decline. Lack of religious competence, or religious dogmatism, can easily put at risk millions of dollars through fruitless negotiations, lost purchases or sales, and pitiable customer relationships (Czinkota, 2003).

Cultural Literacy

Culture is a broad system that includes traditions, beliefs, attitudes, values, institutions and social interactions. This system reflects the global crunch facing the human race, and so it is a cultural catastrophe (UNESCO 1997). Dealing with such a cultural diversity calls for an important skill referred to as cultural competence. Chrisman (2007) defines cultural competence as ‘attitudes, practice skills, and system savvy for cross-cultural conditions’. The key force in work involving cultural competence is the people’s flexibility and ability to appropriately consider and treat the general public politely and in a proper way fitting their culture. Cultural literacy takes account of cultural competence plus the capacity to analytically mirror, and if needed institute change in, one’s a specific culture. Cultural literacy also comprises the capacity to examine the actions of central cultures measured against other cultures. This becomes very much useful in business. A case in point is the understanding of the effect of globalization or cross-cultural businesses on indigenous cultures all over the world.

Cultural literacy has been likened to an iceberg, through the iceberg model of culture. This is due to the expanse contextual material one requires to understand the culture. Cultural literacy often involves much more than the information essentially spoken. In other words, to understand the meaning of a cultural term, one has got to have much information that is not revealed by the bare meaning of that term. The clear cultural meaning of the term is like the ‘tip of an iceberg’ meaning that the deeper understanding lies below the casual meaning of the term and it constitutes a person’s own applicable information. It is known that 15 per cent or less of an iceberg can be seen above the water surface, 85 per cent or more of the iceberg is submerged below the water surface. This means that there is quite a different picture depicted shallowly from that which is the actual translation in the literature, giving the imprint that implied information comprises relatively tiny bits and pieces of information, left out by the correspondent due to dismissal or suitability (Hawkes, 2001).

Figure 1: Iceberg Model of Culture

It has been stated earlier that culture is a broad system that among other aspects involves religion. The world is very diverse in terms of culture as well as religion. Each culture embodies a creation in itself and yet it is not closed. Cultures give religious convictions semantics, and religions provide decisive connotation to each culture. Religion is a way of life for numerous cultures saturating every one human action. In other cultures, it characterizes the utmost ambitions of human life, and for others, religion is an institution that claims to convey a meaning of deliverance (Hawkes, 2001).

The paper “The Different Communications ” is an outstanding example of a management assignment. Phone: 23 rd August: the communication was made to remind that the bill for the mobile phone is outstanding and if not paid within the date will have a fine imposed on it. The communication was successful as it helped to fulfill my need and acted as a reminder. Further, the call also ensured that it was complete and all the details like outstanding amount, due date, late fine, and other details were provided. The call was complete and highlighted the important aspect which if ignored could have an impact on my usage.

Radio: 24 th August: The communication was made regarding the areas which are having huge traffic and showed the roads which should be avoided. The communication was successful as it helped to fulfill my requirements by highlighting the different roads which need to be avoided and which need to be used. The communication was further clear and loud regarding the different roads and path which should be avoided. This method acted as one where proper guidance was provided and acting in the correct way was highlighted so those correct decisions can be taken.

Communications that were unsuccessful

Television: 24 th August: The communication was made regarding the sale of women’s garments. The communication was ineffective because in the first instance it didn’t meet my needs and requirements as I was not looking to shop. Secondly, the message was not constructed properly as it didn’t speak about the brands which were available on sale, the different garments which were available, and also didn’t highlight the date when the sale would end.

Phone: 25 th August: The communication was made regarding the mobile bill payment which has already been made. The call was ineffective because it was not required as the payment has been made and I had the required receipt. The call was instead a wastage of time. In addition to it, the call was not constructed properly and required to focus on areas through which a message would have been enough as a source of communication to ensure that the payment was correctly entered.

Reasons for communication not to be successful

The communication process can be improved in the following ways

Firstly, ensuring that the communication which is made is required and is addressed properly so that the person who receives the communication gains from it (Nicholas, 2013)

Secondly, providing complete information is essential as it will serve as a benchmark to evaluate the manner in which different information is passed (Anne & Bochner, 2007). It will also help to understand the important matter which has been spoken and will help to highlight the manner in which changes can make so that proper communication and message is passed

Thirdly, the targeted audience was wrong and it is important to correct the audience (Mehrabian and Susan, 2007). This will help to improve the validity and reliability of the communication and will ensure that the process of communication becomes effective and is directed towards the correct person

Fourthly, the process of communication needs to be improved and changed so that the message is correctly interpreted and passed with the same intention (Imahori & Lanigan, 2012). This will help the listeners to evaluate the message in the correct form and will help to ensure maximum response.

Fifthly, the media which are used needs to be chosen wisely as the usage of a message instead of a phone call for bill paid confirmation would have been more helpful and could have caught the attention of the audience in a better way. This would have multiplied the effectiveness of communication and would have helped to understand the important points and issues.

The process of communication thereby requires working on the smaller and important aspect so that the overall process of communication improves and helps to provide the required dimensions through which effectiveness can be gained in the manner messages are passed.

The paper “Why Did Telefonica Initially Focus on Latin America” is a perfect example of a business assignment. Based on Telefonica’s objectives of rapidly increasing shareholder value, profits and achieving growth, it had to take advantage of location economies. Hence, the company initially focused on Latin America, as it must have perceived FDI to be a means for circumnavigating trade barriers. Indeed, the reasons why Telefonica initially focused on Latin America are perceivable through the lens of the Uppsala Model Theory.

According to the theory, the internalisation of a company across many foreign markets is correlated to psychic distance, where the first entry is to foreign markets that are familiar and closer in regards to the psychic distance of the host country, before making subsequent entries in foreign markets with greater psychic distance. Psychic distance comprises the differences in culture, language and political systems (Falvo & Parshad 2005).

Within the perspective of Uppsala Model Theory, it should be argued that companies tend to gradually increase their activities in international markets through a series of incremental stages, where the succeeding steps are anchored in learning and adapting to foreign markets (Pandian & Sim 2002).

This implies that the firms fast gain experience from the markets, where they have closer cultural ties before expanding to foreign markets. For instance, Telefonica had to first gain experience as a telecoms operator in Latin America, since the region has deep cultural ties with Spain, where it is headquartered.

Strategic competitive advantages

The company’s decision to slowly expand to Europe appeared opportunistic as well as strategic. Europe had initially possessed trade barriers that lowered the chances of successful entries. Essentially, there is a correlation between culture and national competitive advantage, where countries that are likely to impose trade barriers, in terms of competition are bypassed in preference to those that are less competitive (Enu & Attah-Obeng 2010). This argument is based on Dunning’s Eclectic Theory, which hypothesises that a company will always seek to leverage their specific advantages, including marketing, knowledge, skilled personnel, technology and information (Dunning 2001).

In this case, the Latin American markets were growing rapidly. They also experienced an increased high adoption rate and usage of mobile phones and internet connections. Additionally, after the Spanish government privatised Telefonica and deregulated the Spanish telecommunications market, the company’s core objective became increasing shareholder value, profits and achieving growth.

This implies that profit maximisation is a major drive to foreign direct development; through the use of particular advantages the company has (Glesem et al. 1990). It, therefore, had to select a region that would enable it to achieve higher profits. The company selected Latin America over Europe. Latin America had few entry barriers, such as competition and government regulations, while Europe had greater barriers due to more competitors. This implies that imperfect competition within the marketplace is a key incentive for expanding abroad. Besides, European mobile telecommunications operators had agreed they would not invade each other’s markets. However, after the entry of America Movil into Latin America, Telefonica faced a stronger competitor, forcing it to expand to Europe.

Commenting on other student’s post:

Why did Telefonica initially focus on Latin America?  Why was it slower to expand in Europe, even though Spain is a member of the European Union?

While the student hinted at the growth of multinational enterprises, a brief outline detailing why the company expanded and reasons for expansion could have provided a more relevant backdrop. Additionally, the reference to the Socialist Party by Popular Part in the general election of 1996 was irrelevant and out of context. The student’s decision to link the factors for the European Union to the opening of the telecommunications sector was misplaced. Rather, the student should have selected reasons why Telefonica selected to begin operating in Latin America before making headway to Europe. However, reference to high competition in the sector in Europe was justified.

Accordingly, the student should have explored the close cultural ties between Spain and Latin America, as the major drivers that triggered Telefonica to first launch in the region before expanding to Europe. In supporting the argument, a reference to a relevant theory, such as the Uppsala Model Theory could have pointed to the reasons why internationalisation of a company across many foreign markets is correlated to psychic distance (Uhasselt. be 2005). This includes why the initial entry is mostly made in foreign markets that are familiar and closer in regards to the psychic distance of the host country. Afterward, an explanation of what this meant to Telefonica based on the theory could have been appropriate (Gustafsson & Zasada 2011). For instance, the student should have stated that firms get to fast gain experience from the markets where they have closer cultural ties before expanding to foreign markets.

The student should have based his arguments on Dunning’s Eclectic Theory, which proposes that firms tend to use their peculiar advantages such as marketing, knowledge, skilled personnel, technology and information (Rugman 2010). Further, he should have stated that companies view FDI as a means to circumnavigate trade barriers before going forth to describe the correlation between culture and national competitive advantage, where countries that are likely to impose trade barriers in terms of competition are bypassed in preference to those that are less competitive.

While the student was also justified in arguing that the company sought to maximise profitability and to increase shareholder value, no basis was provided to support the argument, based on the case study. At this stage, the student should have suggested a theory to support his argument (Morgan & Katsikeas 1999). Later, the student should have provided examples from the case study to defend the choice of the theory he selected. However, the student provided examples outside the case study, such as “Telefonica has been able to establish footprints in 24 countries and having an average of 120,000 professionals with consolidated revenues of 24,957 million euros in January-June 2014 and more than 315.7 million customers at June 2014”

Additionally, the reasons the student outlined as the likely motivators for Telefonica to launch first in Latin America before making entries in Europe cannot be justified, as they have not been argued appropriately. For instance, in suggesting political developments, taking policy advantage and the fact that the markets shared a common language, the student should have discussed the concept of psychic distance and the related theory, such as the Uppsala Model Theory.

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Table of contents

Job Vs Business : 10 Differences, Pros and Cons, and Guide (With Table)

Photo of Basir Saboor

Job and business are two of the most popular terms in the entire business vocabulary. Yet, they remain the most misused ones as well, especially when it comes to defining their inherent differences and role in any given business activity. Jobs require you to work a fixed number of hours, while business is your own. Businesses have the potential to make a lot more money than jobs do. However, businesses also demand that you put in long hours and take on many responsibilities. So, In this article, we will cover definitions, pros and cons, and also a table that compares both job vs business.

Table of Contents

Job Vs Business

You Can Also Read:

  • Difference Between Sole Proprietorship and Partnership
  • Difference Between Businessman and Entrepreneur
  • Difference Between Entrepreneur and Manager

What Is Job?

A job is a temporary position with an employer. Jobs can be full-time or part-time, and they can be located in an office, factory, store, or another workplace. Jobs usually involve performing specific tasks for an employer in exchange for compensation, such as an hourly wage or annual salary. 

Advantages and Pros of a Job

  • Experience And Opportunities: Being an employee and working with an organization you get an opportunity to work and research on different projects that you are given by the company. This factor helps you to broaden your vision and enhance your knowledge and skills.
  • Fixed Wages: The most obvious advantage is that you get a regular paycheck. This can help you pay your bills and save up for your future.
  • Fixed Routine:  Having a job also gives you a sense of stability and routine. You know when you need to be at work and what is expected of you. This can provide a feeling of security and predictability in your life.
  • Social Opportunities: A job can also provide social opportunities and allow you to meet new people and make friends.  
  • Promotions: Being an employee, you get a great chance and opportunity to be promoted. The more you work hard for the company, the more you have the chance to get promoted faster.
  • Holidays: Being an employee, you can freely enjoy the rest of your life aspects after your working hours. Some companies even also provide sick leaves and annual leaves to their employees.

Disadvantages(Cons) of a Job

  • Less Control/Authority: You may have less control over your work schedule. You will likely have to work the hours that your employer sets, which may not be ideal for you.
  • Work Out of Your Skills: You may have to do tasks that you don’t enjoy or that are outside of your skill set. This can make your job less enjoyable and can lead to frustration.
  • Low Wages: Finally, jobs often come with a lower salary than starting your own business. This is because you are not sharing in the profits of the company, so your wages will be lower.
  • Rules And Policies: Being an employee, you cannot work according to your own choice and rules. Instead, you have to follow all the rules and regulations of the company
  • Skills And Qualification: The most challenging factor of getting a job of your own choice is qualification. It may require you a degree, experience, and certifications for the domain you want to work on. 

What is Business?

The dictionary definition of a business is a commercial or industrial organization engaged in the production of goods or services and offering them to the public. A business entity seeks to profit from its enterprise. Additionally, businesses have the ultimate goals and objectives for the growth of the companies. There are many different types of businesses. Some businesses are small, while others are large. Some businesses are local, while others are international. And some businesses are sole proprietorships, while others are corporations. 

Advantages(Pros) of a Business

  • Being Your Own Boss: You are your own boss and have complete control over your work schedule.
  • Profit And Earning: You can also make more money in a business than you can in a job.
  • Deduction Of Expenses: Another pro of owning a business is that you can deduct many expenses from your taxes, which can save you money.  
  • Freedom And Flexibility: A business can offer you more flexibility and freedom than a job.

Disadvantages(Cons) Of a Business

  • Financial risk: Starting a business requires a significant financial investment. There’s no guarantee that you’ll see a return on your investment, and you could end up in debt if things don’t go as planned.
  • Requires dedication: Running a successful business requires a lot of dedication and hard work. You’ll need to be prepared to sacrifice your personal time and social life in order to make your business a success.
  • Competition: When it comes to owning a business, you are not the only one there. In fact, you have hundreds and thousands of competitors with you who may are doing better than you. It means that in order to grow your business, you need to have a look at your competitors as well.
  • Requires financial investment: Businesses cost money to run and you’ll need enough of your own cash to cover the expenses for a few months (or longer).
  • Poor choice of product or service: Your business success rests upon choosing a product or service that people want and will pay

Key Differences Between Job And Business

While comparing job vs business, we have described some of the key differences between them as well. They are as; 

  • A job is a temporary position with an employer. Jobs can be full-time or part-time, and they can be located in an office, factory, store, or another workplace. On the other hand, f a business is a commercial or industrial organization engaged in the production of goods or services and offering them to the public.
  • A job typically involves working for someone else, while a business involves owning and operating your own company.
  • A job usually provides a set salary or hourly wage, while a business typically generates income through sales or other forms of revenue.
  • A job typically entails performing tasks as assigned by a boss or superior, while a business often allows for more creativity and autonomy in terms of what tasks are undertaken.
  • Another clear distinction between the two can be seen when discussing costs. A business will require investments and startup costs, whereas a job does not.
  • Another difference is that when you have a job, your employer typically sets your schedule for you. If someone decides to start their own business, they are typically responsible for setting their own hours.

The following table briefly compares job vs business.

comparison table for difference between job and business

  • Difference Between Accounting and Accountancy
  • Difference Between Accountability and Responsibility
  • Difference Between Manual and Computerized Accounting

Conclusions

The main difference between a job and a business is that a business offers the potential for financial independence, while a job is typically just exchanging time for money. A business usually requires more investment of time and money upfront but has the potential to earn much more than a typical job.

Some people prefer the stability and predictability that comes with having a job, while some folks feel more stable with having a business. Starting your own business can be very rewarding and satisfying, but it takes hard work and commitment. It’s important to carefully consider which option is right for you before making any decisions.

Reference Blogs :

  • Top 5 Business Ideas to Start a Profitable Business
  • Learn More Differences and Guide

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Basir Saboor

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Everything You Need to Know About Business School Essays

Padya Paramita

February 8, 2021

essay about business and job

You’ve worked hard to achieve a good GMAT score and beef up your resumé as you prepare to apply to your top-choice MBA programs. While you’ve got those components out of the way, you might still need to work on the element which could make all the difference between an acceptance and a rejection from the admissions committee: your business school essays .

Business school essays are program-specific and are geared towards helping admissions committees understand who you are and how their institution can help you reach your goals. In order to answer these prompts, you need to frame the biggest factors behind your choice of a school in terms of how they align with your personality and aspirations. 

You must take advantage of this essay component to give admissions committee members a concrete and memorable idea of who you are. To guide you through what to expect, we’ve outlined the 2020-2021 prompts for the top 20 MBA programs, how to answer common questions, explained the importance of the essays in the admissions decision, as well as  shared some final tips to aid you through the process.

Prompts for Top Schools

Here’s the thing: not all business schools ask for the same essay. In fact, for most schools, you have to answer multiple short prompts that add up to convey a bigger picture of who you are. While the prompts and word limits differ, they all ask questions which help provide context for other parts of your application, as well as demonstrate how you would fit into the school. Without further ado, let’s look at the prompts for business school essays assigned by the top 20 MBA programs for the upcoming cycle:

As you can see from the table, essay prompts and lengths vary from school to school. One personal statement won’t cover all of the MBA programs on your list! Nor can you copy one essay and directly paste it for another prompt, as you have to be specific to each school and its specialties. 

How to Tackle Common Prompts

Now that you’ve read the prompts for business school essays you’re likely to encounter, it’s time to analyze how to answer them. For any MBA response, it’s important to think about the following:

  • Who you are
  • What you’ve done so far
  • Where you hope to go
  • How an MBA from the school of your choice can help you reach your goals

To further break down specific ways to answer some common questions, let’s look at how to answer three typical MBA prompts you’ll almost certainly have to tackle.

The “Why Our School” Essay

Anyone can say they want an MBA from a top school. The “why our school” essay is your chance to convince admissions committees that you’ve done your research on their program and are convinced that this is the institution for you over any other. Each school frames it differently, and assigns their own limits such as:

Penn : What do you hope to gain professionally from the Wharton MBA? (500 words)

Columbia : Why do you feel Columbia Business School is a good fit for you? (250 words)

There’s no beating around the bush. You’ve made a choice to apply to the program, so make it clear why you’ve done so. Writing this essay will also prepare you to confidently back up your decision if you are invited to interview with the school. This is your chance to demonstrate that you know the program and aren’t writing generic statements that can apply to any MBA. Whether it’s Columbia’s J-Term or the Harvard Business School Case Method , know what opportunities you would have at the school whose essay you’re tackling that you can’t find anywhere else. 

Most importantly, remember that this is your business school application. Just outright stating that these resources are great won’t do. You have to tie them to the experiences you’ve had, the kind of business you want to engage with in the future, and how these resources can help you get where you want in your career. How can the school of your choice help you hone your teamwork skills? Is there a particular leadership program at the school that can benefit your long-term plans? Show the admissions reader that you know the opportunities inside out, that you’re aware of exactly which fellowships or seminars are perfect for you, and in turn, outline how you can contribute to the class environment.

The Career Goals Essay

For a lot of schools, the career goals and “why our school” questions are fused in one prompt. A few of the top schools ask you to write about where you see yourself at various points in the future:

Michigan: Michigan Ross is a place where people from all backgrounds with different career goals can thrive. What is your short-term career goal and why? (200 words)

UVA : What is your short-term, post-MBA goal and why? (150 words)

While attending business school and receiving an MBA can open you up to new career possibilities, admissions committees want to know that you’re an ambitious, reflective, and driven individual. Since you’ve probably taken time to step into the workforce for a few years, you should use this prompt to connect these dots and your forward-looking vision. If your word limit is restricted, don’t focus too much on the past. Mention the most meaningful aspects of your work experience or the field you wish to join, describe your biggest aspirations, and how an MBA from that specific school can help you get there. If a school has asked the “why our school” and career goals questions separately like Columbia has, make sure you haven’t repeated any information; each essay should convey something new.

Similar to the “why our school” question, the career goals essay also provides great practice for your interviews because schools will undoubtedly want to hear more extensively about what you’ve done where you plan to go, and how the institution fits into it all. A carefully written response can help you set up a compelling answer for your interview. So, make sure you don’t exaggerate or write about anything you can’t elaborate on if faced with the question in person.

The “Tell Us Who You Are” Essay

The “tell us about yourself” or “introduce yourself” questions for business school essays can seem broad. Where do you even start? Schools frame this type of question very simply, or sometimes in unconventional ways:

UT Austin : Please introduce yourself (250 words) 

NYU : Describe yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images. 

However worded, it’s time for you to reflect on what makes you a unique, memorable candidate when compared to thousands of others from all over the world.

The key to writing such an essay is to stay organized. Don’t write down every single thing you’ve ever done in your response. Take a hint from the Cornell Johnson prompt: “Please help us get to know you better by sharing ONE example of a life experience, achievement, or passion that will give us a sense of who you are as a potential community member.” When you’ve got limited words and readers with very little time on their hands, you need to narrow it down to the most compelling aspect about yourself. 

Think about leadership opportunities, honors and awards, and your family background. You could talk about your biggest passion and how it arose, you could talk about any experience which has shaped your perspective, or you could talk about your family background and how it has directed your career choices. No matter what you cover in your essay, you have to make sure it paints a memorable picture. Using anecdotes to drive your points home is an effective way of showing rather than telling. If you want to talk about work experience, make sure you’re not just writing about how you worked at a consulting firm where hundreds of your peers have also worked. It won’t help distinguish you to admissions officers. In fact, it might just do the opposite. You have to find a unique spin.

Make sure your response has a clear focus, so that the admissions committee members will be able to remember you easily once they’ve finished reading.

The Importance of Your Business School Essays: What Admissions Officers Look For

Your business school essays make up one of the most important components of your application, as they provide admissions committees the chance to understand your personality, figure out what matters to you, and gauge whether you would be a good fit for the school. No matter how strong your grades or test scores are, weak responses to essays can definitely prevent you from making it to the acceptance pile. Remember, your business school essay is not the place for you to explain why you have shortcomings in your application—schools typically have a separate addendum section for that. If your topic and writing are stellar enough, admissions committees might overlook slightly lower numbers. Of course, you need to work on your other elements as well, but the essay acts as a highly valuable opportunity to differentiate yourself.

When reading your essays, admissions committee members look to get a greater sense of who you are and how you’ve taken steps to pursue your interests. While your resumé outlines what you’ve done so far, the business school essays tie the most important pieces of it together to portray why your experiences matter. It’s crucial that you expand on a story that is your own—not your parents’ or your friends’—and one which helps admissions committees understand you beyond your grades and consulting experience. 

Business schools have specific characteristics that they look for in students. For example, Harvard Business School wants leaders who can thrive in a fast-paced environment and actively collaborate with their community. So, an important part of school research is ensuring that you know what kind of characteristics the school wants you to bring, and letting those traits shine in the anecdotes and points you bring up in your essays.

Final Writing Tips 

  • Authenticity and Uniqueness are Key - Trying to figure out what admissions officers want to hear, instead of actually reflecting on your career and goals, is the wrong way to approach MBA applications. Your business school essays should stand out as your chance to tell business schools your unique story. Think about whether or not your response will help you become a memorable candidate in admissions officers’ eyes. If you have a professional or personal experience that you know your peers won’t have, that’s what you should consider writing about in your essays.
  • Be as Specific as Possible - Saying you want to work in consulting or in investment banking once you’ve received your MBA is far from enough. It tells nothing unique about you. Why do you want to work where you do? What kind of consulting firms are you looking for and why? How do you hope to leverage your experiences and education to create something bigger? The more specific you are to your own goals and story, the more you can stand out to the reader.
  • Start Writing with Plenty of Time in Hand - If you’re applying to a handful of business schools, chances are you’ll have over 10 essays to write! In order to make sure all of your essays are as polished as possible; you need to give yourself plenty of time to work on each carefully. So, don’t wait until 3 weeks before the deadline to start. Plan ahead and put your best efforts into convincing admissions officers why you’re ideally suited for their MBA program.

Business school essays provide a great opportunity to emphasize your individuality and supply context on how your background, work experiences, and interests can contribute to the MBA program, as well as the world of business once you’ve graduated. Think carefully about topic choices, and let the admissions committee know that there’s more to you than just your grades and work experiences. Show that you will prove to be a wonderful asset to their institution.

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Business Essay Topics

Cathy A.

A Comprehensive List of Unique Business Essay Topics

15 min read

Published on: May 1, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 30, 2024

Business essay topics

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Are you a student struggling to come up with a good topic for your business essay?

Choosing the right topic is crucial to the success of your essay. A well-chosen topic can make your paper stand out, while a poor choice can make it fall flat. It can be challenging to narrow down the options and find a topic that is interesting and relevant.

But worry not, we've got you covered! 

In this blog, we'll provide you with a comprehensive list of business essay topics that are sure to impress your professors. We'll cover everything from business ethics to trending topics. Whether you're an undergraduate, or graduate student, we have topics that will suit your level of study.

So, if you're ready to take your business essay to the next level, let's dive in!

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Business Management Essay Topics

If you're studying business management, you may be tasked with business essay writing. Here are some topics to help you get started:

  • The role of effective communication in business management
  • How to develop and implement successful business strategies
  • The impact of leadership styles on organizational culture and productivity
  • The benefits and challenges of global expansion for businesses
  • The importance of ethical behavior in business management
  • How to effectively manage workplace diversity and inclusivity
  • The role of technology in modern business management
  • The impact of environmental factors on business management decisions
  • The benefits and drawbacks of decentralized decision-making in business management
  • How to effectively manage change in the business environment

Human Resources Essay Topics

Human resources is a critical function in any organization, responsible for managing the recruitment, training, and retention of employees.  Check out the following HR essay topics for inspiration: 

  • The importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace
  • Strategies for effective employee recruitment and retention
  • The role of human resources in ensuring workplace safety
  • How to manage conflict in the workplace
  • The impact of technology on human resources management
  • The importance of employee engagement and motivation
  • The impact of employee benefits on job satisfaction and retention
  • How to effectively manage remote employees
  • The role of human resources in managing employee performance and development
  • The impact of globalization on human resources management practices

Organizational Behavior Essay Topics

Organizational behavior is the study of how people interact within organizations. It covers topics such as leadership, teamwork, communication, and motivation. 

Here are some topics to inspire your writing: 

  • The impact of leadership styles on organizational culture and employee behavior
  • How to effectively manage conflict in teams and organizations
  • The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership
  • The impact of diversity on organizational behavior and performance
  • The importance of employee motivation and engagement in achieving organizational goals
  • The impact of organizational structure on employee behavior and job satisfaction
  • The role of communication in creating a positive organizational culture
  • How to develop and implement successful change management strategies
  • The impact of employee empowerment on organizational behavior and performance
  • The importance of ethics and social responsibility in organizational behavior

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Business Ethics Essay Topics

Business ethics refers to the moral principles and values that guide behavior in the world of business. It covers topics such as corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and fair trade.  Let’s take a look at business ethics essay topics to get you started:

  • The importance of corporate social responsibility in modern business
  • The ethics of business practices in developing countries
  • The impact of globalization on business ethics
  • The role of ethical leadership in creating a culture of integrity in organizations
  • The ethics of outsourcing and offshoring
  • The impact of environmental regulations on business ethics
  • The ethics of marketing practices and advertising
  • The role of ethics in supply chain management
  • The ethics of executive compensation and corporate governance
  • The ethics of data privacy and cybersecurity in business

Supply and Demand Essay Topics

The law of supply and demand is a fundamental concept in economics. It explains how the availability of goods and services and the desire for them determine prices in the market.

If you're studying economics, you may be asked to write an essay on a topic related to supply and demand.  

Here are supply/demand business essay ideas to consider for your next assignment.

  • The impact of supply and demand on price stability in markets
  • The role of elasticity in supply and demand analysis
  • The impact of technology on supply and demand in modern markets
  • The effects of government policies on supply and demand
  • The role of advertising in shaping consumer demand
  • The impact of income inequality on consumer demand and market outcomes
  • The effects of globalization on supply and demand in different industries
  • The role of consumer behavior in shaping supply and demand
  • The impact of shortages and surpluses on market outcomes
  • The role of the labor market in shaping supply and demand in the economy

Business Law Essay Topics

Business law covers the legal regulations and requirements that apply to business activities and operations. It is an important field for business students, and here are some topics for help: 

  • The role of contract law in business transactions
  • The legal requirements for forming a business entity
  • The impact of intellectual property laws on businesses and innovation
  • The legal requirements for protecting consumer privacy in business operations
  • The role of antitrust laws in regulating competition and market power
  • The legal requirements for workplace safety and health
  • The impact of employment laws on hiring and termination practices
  • The legal requirements for protecting the environment in business operations
  • The role of international trade laws in shaping business practices and outcomes
  • The impact of bankruptcy laws on business operations and reorganization

Entrepreneurship Paper Topics

Entrepreneurship is the process of starting and growing a new business venture. It requires a combination of innovation, risk-taking, and business acumen. Check out the following topics related to entrepreneurship: 

  • The role of creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship
  • The challenges and opportunities of social entrepreneurship
  • The impact of government policies on entrepreneurial activity
  • The role of entrepreneurial ecosystems in supporting new business ventures
  • The importance of market research in developing successful business ideas
  • The challenges and opportunities of international entrepreneurship
  • The impact of technology on the entrepreneurship landscape
  • The role of mentorship and networking in supporting new entrepreneurs
  • The importance of financial management in entrepreneurship
  • The challenges and opportunities of female entrepreneurship

International Business Essay Topics

International business is a complex and dynamic field that encompasses a wide range of issues related to global commerce and trade.

Let’s take a look at some potential essay topics: 

  • The role of cultural differences in international business negotiations
  • The impact of globalization on the international business landscape
  • The challenges and opportunities of cross-border mergers and acquisitions
  • The impact of international trade agreements on global business practices
  • The role of international finance in supporting global business ventures
  • The challenges and opportunities of international marketing and branding
  • The impact of geopolitical factors on international business operations
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in global business practices
  • The challenges and opportunities of emerging markets in international business
  • The impact of digital transformation on international business models

Value Essay Topics

Values are the guiding principles that shape our beliefs, actions, and attitudes towards life. In business, values play an essential role in defining a company's culture, ethics, and identity. 

If you're looking for value essay topics, here are some ideas to inspire your research and writing:

  • The importance of ethical values in business decision-making
  • The role of values in shaping company culture and employee behavior
  • The impact of shared values on team collaboration and productivity
  • The relationship between personal values and career success
  • The role of social and environmental values in sustainable business practices
  • The importance of values-based leadership in creating a positive organizational culture
  • The influence of cultural values on international business operations
  • The role of values in shaping consumer behavior and brand loyalty
  • The impact of technological advancements on traditional values and ethical frameworks
  • The intersection of religious and secular values in the workplace

Argumentative Business Essay Topics

Let's take a look at some argumentative essay topics for business students:

  • The pros and cons of remote work for businesses and employees
  • The ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in business decision-making
  • The impact of social media on consumer behavior and brand reputation
  • The effectiveness of traditional marketing vs. digital marketing strategies
  • The role of government regulation in business operations and profitability
  • The benefits and drawbacks of globalization for businesses and economies
  • The impact of minimum wage laws on small businesses and their employees
  • The ethics of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy
  • The effectiveness of diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace
  • The role of unions in protecting the rights and interests of employees

Persuasive Business Essay Topics

Here are 10 persuasive business essay topics to inspire your business essay writing:

  • Should companies be required to disclose their carbon emissions and environmental impact?
  • Should employers offer unlimited paid time off for their employees?
  • Should businesses be allowed to pay employees less than a living wage?
  • Should companies be required to offer equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender or race?
  • Should corporations be held responsible for the social and environmental impact of their supply chains?
  • Should businesses be required to prioritize sustainability in their operations and products?
  • Should employers be allowed to monitor employees' social media activity outside of work?
  • Should businesses be required to offer mental health services to employees?
  • Should companies be allowed to patent and profit from genetic engineering and biotechnology?
  • Should businesses be required to disclose the diversity of their leadership and staff?

Business Extended Essay Topics

Let's explore some extended essay topics for business students:

  • An analysis of the impact of corporate social responsibility on shareholder value
  • The effectiveness of leadership development programs in improving business performance
  • An investigation of the relationship between workplace diversity and organizational performance
  • A case study of a successful corporate turnaround strategy
  • An analysis of the impact of technology on the future of work
  • An investigation of the factors that contribute to successful mergers and acquisitions
  • A comparative study of the marketing strategies of two competing companies in the same industry
  • An examination of the role of corporate governance in preventing corporate scandals and failures
  • A study of the relationship between employee engagement and customer satisfaction in service industries
  • An analysis of the effectiveness of performance management systems in improving employee performance and motivation

Business Essay Topics For College Students

Here are some business essay topics for college students:

  • The impact of social media marketing on consumer behavior
  • The challenges and opportunities of e-commerce in developing countries
  • The effect of workplace diversity on organizational performance
  • The ethics of corporate social responsibility
  • The impact of globalization on small businesses
  • The importance of supply chain management in business operations
  • The use of big data in business decision making
  • The challenges and benefits of implementing sustainable business practices
  • The role of innovation in driving business growth and success

Essay Topics For BBA Students

If you're a BBA student struggling to select a topic for your assignment, we have some inspiring topic ideas for you.

  • Exploring ways to make the workplace more inclusive for people with disabilities.
  • Strategies for reducing psychological pressure in the workplace.
  • Developing effective short and long-term goals for business success.
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of a thesis statement in a business essay.
  • Discussing a business concept that does not work and exploring alternative solutions.
  • The group training and cons of ai based technology in job analysis: A comparative study.
  • Examining the impact of massive changes in an unethical business environment on employee morale and company reputation
  • An analysis of the business strategies used to select a higher demand for products aimed at children in the toy industry
  • How can companies create a supportive work environment for people with disabilities and reduce psychological pressure in the workplace?
  • Storage and cons of AI-based technology in job analysis: A critical analysis of its impact on job roles and responsibilities.

Business Essay Topics IELTS

Here are business essay topics for IELTS:

  • How has globalization affected the way businesses operate?
  • Discuss the impact of social media on modern businesses.
  • Should companies prioritize profit over social responsibility?
  • In what ways can small businesses compete with large corporations?
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of different leadership styles in business.
  • Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of remote work for businesses.
  • Should businesses be allowed to collect and use personal data for marketing purposes?
  • Evaluate the impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
  • Discuss the role of government regulation in promoting ethical business practices.
  • Should businesses prioritize sustainability over economic growth?

Interesting Business Essay Topics 

  • The impact of social media on consumer behavior: A case study of Instagram.
  • Exploring the role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness.
  • The ethics of corporate social responsibility: A critical analysis.
  • An investigation into the challenges of managing virtual teams in the 21st century.
  • The impact of globalization on small businesses: Opportunities and challenges.
  • The role of corporate culture in driving business success: A case study of Google.
  • How to effectively manage workplace diversity: Strategies for creating an inclusive workplace.
  • An analysis of the factors contributing to successful entrepreneurship in the tech industry.
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.
  • The role of innovation in driving sustainable business growth: A case study of Tesla.

Trending Business Essay Topics for Exam- 2024

With the business landscape constantly evolving, it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends. Here are some trending business essay topics to help you ace your upcoming exam.

  • The impact of COVID-19 on small business management and entrepreneurship
  • The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership and management
  • The importance of effective communication in business organizations
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional retail business models
  • The role of innovation and creativity in business success
  • The impact of organizational culture on employee motivation and performance
  • The challenges and opportunities of managing a diverse workforce
  • The impact of corporate governance on business ethics and social responsibility
  • The role of supply chain management in achieving competitive advantage
  • The challenges and benefits of implementing a sustainability strategy in business operations

Trending Business Essay Topics for Assignments

Take a look at thelatest business assignment topics for your next asdsignment: 

  • The top reasons why outsourcing is obligatory in the fashion industry: An analysis.
  • Addressing the racial bias factor in the field of supply and demand: Challenges and solutions.
  • The importance of having a correct perception of job objectives.
  • The benefits of free online promotion for video games.
  • The impact of work environment on employee productivity and job satisfaction.
  • Top reasons why outsourcing is becoming obligatory in the fashion industry.
  • The impact of remote work on productivity and work-life balance
  • Analyzing the strategies of successful startup companies in today's market
  • The role of social media marketing in the growth of small businesses
  • Examining the ethical concerns of data privacy in the digital age

Small Business Essay Topics

  • The impact of technology on small business growth and success.
  • The role of entrepreneurship in small business development.
  • Analyzing the challenges faced by small businesses in accessing funding and financing.
  • How to effectively market a small business on a tight budget.
  • The importance of creating a strong brand identity for small businesses.
  • The benefits and drawbacks of small business franchising.
  • The role of social media in the success of small businesses.
  • The impact of government regulations on small businesses.
  • The importance of customer service in small business success.
  • The role of small businesses in economic growth and development.

How to Pick a Business Essay Topic That Stands Out

Follow these steps to choose an ideal topic for your business essay:

Step 1: Understand the Assignment Requirements Before selecting a topic, make sure you understand the assignment requirements. Consider the length, format, and scope of the essay to help guide your topic selection.

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas Think about your own experiences, interests, and knowledge in the field of business. Brainstorm a list of potential topics that align with the assignment requirements.

Step 3: Research Current Business Trends Research current events, news articles, and emerging trends in the business world. Consider how these trends relate to the assignment requirements and incorporate them into your topic ideas.

Step 4: Narrow Down Your List Review your list of potential topics and identify the ones that stand out the most. Consider which topics you have the most knowledge and passion for, as well as which ones are the most unique.

Step 5: Conduct a Preliminary Search Before finalizing your topic, conduct a primary search to ensure there is enough information available to support your essay. Look for scholarly articles, books, and other sources that can help you develop your argument.

Step 6: Finalize Your Topic Based on your research and evaluation, select the topic that you are most confident and passionate about. Make sure your topic is specific, manageable, and aligns with the assignment requirements.

By following these steps, you can pick a business essay topic that showcases your knowledge and expertise in the field.

The Bottom Line!

Writing a business essay can be a tiring task, but it can also be a rewarding one. By choosing the right topic you can create an insightful essay that impresses your professor and earns you a top grade. 

However, if you are short on time or need additional assistance, our Essay Writer AI is here to help!

Our essay writing service online can provide you with expert guidance and support to help you achieve academic success. 

So, don't hesitate - order from our business essay writing service now and get started on your journey to becoming a successful business student!

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Job vs Business – What is Better?

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  • Updated on  
  • Jan 11, 2024

Job vs Business

Starting a job or a business is not easy, as it involves being mentally prepared and having a proper understanding of your field. Youngsters often face this dilemma, which to choose? a job or a business. Experts suggest people who are willing to take independent risks are more likely to be a successful businessman.

If you think about the job vs business debate, both sides have equal supporters but in the present world, we have positively seen the rise of entrepreneurship over employment. But opening a business is not everyone’s cup of tea and to start your own business, you will need some practical training that a job can provide you with. If you are aiming for financial security, a job is a better reliable option while for those ready to take risks, business seems enticing. Here we bring you all the job vs business differences, which is better, benefits of job vs business, challenges, quotes, amongst others.

This Blog Includes:

What is a job , what is a business, motivation factor, growth , what are the benefits of having a job, job vs business quotes, job vs business: challenges in a job , job vs business: pros of self-employment, challenges in business.

There is no one particular definition for a job. It can be best identified as a part-time or full-time piece of work or employment. It can be easily recognised as a responsibility or duty for a specific kind of work. A job gets you a predetermined salary. However, the most important characteristic of a job is that there is always a person who is superior to us and that person determines our salary or the remuneration we will be paid for our work. 

Doing a job or working in a job essentially means that we are working for someone. There is a boss above us, who assigns us the work we need to do in our job.

The best definition of a business is that it is an organisation that has a professional, commercial and non-commercial objective. A business is a collection of two or more people who work towards achieving a common goal. It can also be just one person. A business organisation can either be profit-oriented or non-profit-oriented. 

If you are running or doing a business, means that you are the boss. The success of your business wholly depends on you and your hard work. You can decide anything and everything about your business. 

Job vs Business Comparison

Now let us compare a job and business on single factors.

  • If you work in a job, you will not receive any profit or share from the profit which your organisation will incur. You will receive your fixed salary.
  • If you run your own business, all the profits which are earned will come to you directly.
  • In a job, you do not have a risk to be afraid of. The only risk you have is of termination.
  • Businesses have more risk associated with them. The risk has to be incurred by the owner of the business.
  • In a job, you are working towards the vision of your boss. 
  • If you do a business, you are working towards your own vision. 
  • The motivation factor behind a job is bonuses, rewards and promotions. 
  • However, the motivation factor in a business is success, profit and goodwill. 
  • The growth in a job is limited. The only growth you get is when you get promoted from your post.
  • A business helps you grow in many ways. 

Also Read: CV Format

The market is witnessing tremendous growth technologically as well as financially. As a result, there are booming job opportunities sprouting along with promising prospects for those planning to begin their ventures. Here are the advantages of working as an employee at a full-time job:

  • Exposure The best part about working in a full-time job is that you will get complete exposure to a diverse environment and organisational culture.
  • A steady source of income Along with the financial security of receiving a fixed monthly salary, there are other additional benefits such as bonuses, insurance, etc. When it comes to jobs vs business, Your excellent performance can earn you promotions to help you progress further in your career.
  • Added perks In scores of companies, employees are awarded paid holidays, vacations and work recognition in terms of monetary as well as non-monetary incentives.
  • Working hours Lastly, there are fixed work hours provided by every company and you have the freedom to follow your other interests in the remaining hours.
  • No need for strategies When you are working in a job, you do not need to think of strategies or take stress. You are shown the way by your boss or the person above of you. Strategies are presented to you by your boss or team leader and you have to follow it and take it in the right direction. 
  • A Place for Showing Skills

Working in a job gets you the opportunity to meet new people and work in a different place. When working in a job, there are different people around us and the level of interaction is a lot. While meeting new people you can exhibit your skills and always learn something new from them.

  • Holidays and Vacation

A job helps you get a routine and your life gets set in it. In a job, the working time and working days are definite. The schedule of your workdays does not change unless there is a special circumstance. Similarly, your holidays or days of vacation are fixed. You can always plan your holidays knowing in advance when you can go or when you have a holiday.

  • Easy to Plan A Life

With a fixed salary and a fixed work routine, managing your life and finances is very easy. Knowing the amount of remuneration you will get and following the routine you have, you can plan your life ahead easily. There is no uncertainty or risk involved.

benefits of having a job

Here are the best job vs business quotes:

  • “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
  • “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
  • “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson
  • “I don’t know the word ‘quit.’ Either I never did, or I have abolished it.” – Susan Butcher
  • “ In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. “  —Albert Einstein
  • “To be a great champion, you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.”  —Muhammad Ali
  • “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
  • “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!” – Henry Ford
  • “Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” – Coco Chanel
  • “I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.” – Oprah Winfrey

When defining the challenges in job vs business, you must know that there will always be fierce competition for the promotion you are aiming for. Switching jobs is another complicated decision. You might come across organisations whose values may not resonate with yours. You might not get appreciated for your work or there might be some discriminatory notions in the organisations. Office politics is another derogatory aspect that can tamper with the peace of a professional workplace. Rigid rules Working in a job means you are bound by certain rules and need to follow them to successfully survive in your job. Sometimes, even if you do not like the rules, you still have to follow and abide by them.

If you are planning to start your own business, you should know the advantages and disadvantages of being an entrepreneur. Here we have listed the pros of self-employment:

  • Independent An obvious advantage of choosing entrepreneurship is that you will be your boss and thus be free to make your own decisions. You are not answerable to anyone and don’t need to worry about getting fired or facing competition with other employees.
  • Employment generation You will be an employer who will not only give a new meaning to the lives of others but will also help in their skill development .
  • Learn new skills From marketing management and formulating budgets to handling business economics , your work will not be confined to one area. This will help in enhancing not only your competencies but will also improve your business ethics .
  • Profits You are also entitled to the profits of your company rather than depending on a fixed salary every month.
  • Job Creation  

When you run a business of your own you create jobs. It is not just beneficial for your business but also your economy. By creating jobs you can allow others to get a means of living and sustain themselves and their families.

  • No One to Fire You 

Running your own business means you are the boss of yourself. There is no one above you, therefore, there is no one to fire you. You do not have to live in the perpetual worry that your job may be terminated if you do not perform well. 

  • Can achieve your vision 

If you have a dream of becoming successful then you must put your best foot forward to make that dream into reality. You can simply create a vision of your life or the life you want to have and align your business with it. By running a business you are running behind your dreams and not working to achieve the dreams of someone else. 

  • Finding Funds The first challenge you will face as an entrepreneur is finding the funds to invest in your business. There is also a huge possibility of incurring losses, especially at an early stage. The risk-taking factor is always high for entrepreneurs.
  • Managing Deadlines Also, there is a pressure of meeting the client’s deadlines and an entrepreneur is required to have proper expertise in the field in which they are starting their venture. The heat of the competition with your competitors will be high as well.
  • Unethical Practices/Political Interference This is one of the biggest challenges of running a company when it comes to jobs vs business. Bribery, delay in clearance, etc. will be common aspects. For this, you must handle things calmly using efficient business tactics to get further ahead in the competition. 

A. There is no one particular definition for a job. It can be best identified as a part-time or full-time piece of work or employment. It can be easily recognized as a responsibility or duty for a specific kind of work.

A. A business is a collection of two or more people who work towards achieving a common goal. It can also be just one person. A business organisation can either be profit-oriented or non-profit-oriented.

A. A job provides you with fewer risks, a steady income source and industrial exposure required for a professional surge.

Related Articles

Thus, we hope that this blog helped you understand the different advantages and disadvantages of job vs business. The final verdict depends on you and that’s why it is important to weigh the pros and cons carefully as per your situation. Leverage Edu experts can guide you in making the right decisions to help you advance in your career whether through a job or pursuing the part of entrepreneurship.

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Essay on Business 500+ Words

Business is like the heartbeat of our world. It’s all around us, from the corner store to big companies. In this essay, we’ll explore why business matters and how it shapes our lives.

What Is Business?

Business is more than just buying and selling. It’s about creating, making, and sharing things that people want or need. Businesses can be small, like a lemonade stand, or huge, like international companies such as Apple or Google.

Creating Jobs

Businesses are like job creators. When someone starts a business, they often hire other people to help them. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses in the United States create about two out of every three new jobs.

Meeting Needs and Wants

Businesses play a big role in making our lives better. They provide us with things we need, like food and clothes, and things we want, like toys and gadgets. Without businesses, we wouldn’t have access to many of the things that make our lives comfortable and enjoyable.

Innovation and Invention

Businesses are like engines of innovation. They come up with new ideas and turn them into real products. Think about how companies like Tesla are changing the way we think about cars by creating electric vehicles. Businesses push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Supporting the Community

Businesses also support our communities. They pay taxes that help build schools, parks, and roads. Some businesses even donate money to charities and sponsor local events. When businesses do well, the whole community benefits.

Global Connections

Business isn’t just local; it’s global. Companies in one country often trade with companies in other countries. This helps us get products from around the world, like bananas from South America or electronics from Asia. It also connects people from different cultures.

Learning Opportunities

Business can be a great way to learn. When you run a lemonade stand, you learn about money, customer service, and teamwork. Many successful entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, started with small businesses and learned valuable skills along the way.

Challenges and Problem Solving

Businesses face challenges every day. They need to make smart decisions, adapt to changes, and solve problems. These challenges teach us important life skills, like resilience and creativity. Learning how to overcome obstacles is a valuable lesson from the world of business.

Conclusion of Essay on Business

In conclusion, business is not just about making money; it’s about making the world go round. It creates jobs, provides us with what we need and want, drives innovation, supports communities, and connects people worldwide. Whether you dream of starting your own business or not, understanding the importance of business is essential. It’s like a puzzle piece in the big picture of our lives, and it’s a puzzle piece that makes the world a better place. So, let’s appreciate the role of business and the opportunities it offers in shaping our world for the better.

Also Check: The Essay on Essay: All you need to know

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  • Job Application Documents

How to Write a Job Application Essay

Last Updated: April 9, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Shannon O'Brien is the Founder and Principal Advisor of Whole U. (a career and life strategy consultancy based in Boston, MA). Through advising, workshops and e-learning Whole U. empowers people to pursue their life's work and live a balanced, purposeful life. Shannon has been ranked as the #1 Career Coach and #1 Life Coach in Boston, MA by Yelp reviewers. She has been featured on Boston.com, Boldfacers, and the UR Business Network. She received a Master's of Technology, Innovation, & Education from Harvard University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 198,106 times.

Many employers now require a writing sample, or job application essay , to accompany all applications or résumés — even if writing is not a significant part of the position. The goal of the job application essay is to ensure that applicants have the right communication skills for the position offered. Sometimes, potential employers will provide a specific topic or series of questions for your essay to respond to. However, you may also be asked to provide an essay with no guidance whatsoever. Either way, approach the essay seriously so that it highlights the skills and assets you could bring to the company. [1] X Research source

Outlining Your Essay

Step 1 Read the job listing and essay description carefully.

  • If you don't know much about the company, do a little research on it before you start writing. You might look at their website or do a general internet search with the name of the company to see if any news articles or other reports come up. Go beyond the four corners of the job listing so that you understand who will likely be reading your essay.
  • If there's anything in the job listing or essay requirements that you don't understand, contact the employer and ask about them. Employers are often impressed by applicants who clarify the employer's intent rather than making assumptions.

Step 2 State your theme or thesis statement upfront.

  • For example, if you're applying for a position in sales, you might want to write an essay about your ability to tailor your pitch to specific clients and close the deal. If you have the ability to be more creative, you might tailor your essay to "sell" yourself directly to the employer.

Step 3 Brainstorm 3 or 4 points that support your thesis statement.

  • For each of your points, think of a specific example you can relate briefly that illustrates the point. For example, if you've described yourself as a "team player," you might include an example of how you came in on your day off to complete some of the more monotonous tasks that no one else wanted to do so a project could be completed ahead of schedule.
  • It's a good idea to have more than one example in your outline for each point, even if you only end up using one. That way, if you start writing something and it ends up not working as well as you thought it would, you'll have a back-up handy.
  • Brainstorming can be difficult. If you find yourself churning over the same thoughts, stand up and take a break for a few minutes. Step outside or go for a walk to clear your head, then come back to it.

Step 4 Gather documents and information to fill out your points.

  • For example, if you want to describe how you increased sales in a specific quarter, you would want to state specifically how much you increased sales. Your former employer may have sales figures that you could ask them for. You might also have that information in your records.
  • Wherever possible, use specific numbers and dates rather than making general statements. It's okay to estimate, but make sure your estimate is conservative. Saying you led your sales team to the highest sales in a quarter is impressive — but only if it's true.

Completing Your Rough Draft

Step 1 Start with an introductory paragraph that describes you and your essay.

  • Think of this paragraph as telling the hiring manager what you're going to tell them in the essay. Outline the points you're going to elaborate on in the essay that back up your theme or thesis statement.
  • Sometimes it's best to go back and write your introduction after you've written the body of your essay. That way, you can make sure the introduction provides an outline that matches the body.

Step 2 Organize your essay logically.

  • If the employer listed specifically what should be included in your essay, follow their order, since that's what they'll be looking for when they read the essay.
  • Write in the first person and make yourself the star of any anecdote you include as an example. Use action verbs to focus on what you did rather than focusing on what happened and how you reacted to it. [7] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

Step 3 Create transitions between each paragraph of your essay.

  • For example, if you're writing about your skills as a team player, you might note that you discuss doing routine work that others found monotonous so they had time to work on other parts of a project. You could use that detail to move on to a section describing how you're detail-oriented.

Step 4 Use your closing to summarize your essay.

  • For example, you might write "My business school education, skills as a team player, and focus on detail make me the best candidate to lead your sales team."

Finalizing Your Essay

Step 1 Proofread your essay for spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.

  • For example, you might start by looking solely at punctuation, then read through again focusing on spelling.
  • If you find that you tend to repeat a particular error, go through your essay looking for that error specifically.
  • If your grammar isn't particularly strong or you're writing in a language other than your native language, have someone else read over your essay as well.

Step 2 Read your essay out loud.

  • If you find that you stumble over a sentence while reading aloud, that's a sign that your writing could be clearer. Work with your text until you have something that you can read aloud with ease.

Step 3 Edit

  • If the prospective employer did not specify a length, try to keep your essay under 2 double-spaced pages. Remember that hiring managers are busy and don't have a lot of time to read a long, rambling essay.
  • Eliminate all unnecessary words or sentences that aren't relevant to the subject of your essay. The majority of your sentences should be short, declarative sentences with action verbs.
  • Apps such as Hemingway ( http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ ) or Grammarly ( https://app.grammarly.com/ ) can help you identify portions of your essay that are more difficult to read. Both of these apps have a free version that you can use to edit your text.

Step 4 Work backward through your essay to proofread a second time.

  • Working backward is particularly helpful for noticing spelling mistakes, especially hard-to-catch homophone errors, because you're seeing the word out of context.

Step 5 Print your essay and read through it a final time.

  • It may also help to print your essay in a different font or font size than what you used to type it. This breaks your brain's familiarity with the text, which can make typos and other errors more noticeable. Just remember to change the font back after you print it.

Job Application Essay

essay about business and job

Expert Q&A

Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM

  • Give yourself plenty of time to work on your essay. Ideally, you should plan to work on it over the course of at least two days, so you have the time to set it aside after writing before you move to the editing and proofreading stage. [15] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

essay about business and job

  • Unless you're applying for a position in a political or religious organization, avoid including anything in your essay that identifies your political or religious preferences or beliefs. [16] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Avoid using humor, especially sarcasm or ironic humor, as it can be misconstrued in text. Additionally, humor may lead the hiring manager to believe that you aren't serious about the position. [17] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Write a Letter of Application for a Job

  • ↑ https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/writing-sample-job-application
  • ↑ https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/04/30/essay-how-write-good-applications-jobs-or-grants
  • ↑ Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM. Life & Career Coach. Expert Interview. 25 May 2021.
  • ↑ https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/government-job-application-essays-made-easy/
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/application-essays/
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
  • ↑ https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/proofreading-tips
  • ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/career-transitions/200906/the-dreaded-writing-sample

About This Article

Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM

Job application essays can seem scary, but they’re really just an opportunity for you to highlight your skills and explain why you’re suitable for the role. Read the job listing to find out what traits and skills the company is looking for, like time management, working under pressure, and leadership. If you don’t know much about the company, read through its website and do an online search to find articles about its work. In your introduction, you’ll want to to describe yourself and introduce the main points you’ll be making. Then, write a paragraph for each trait or skill. Use real life examples from previous jobs, your recent studies, or extracurricular activities to support your points. For example, you could highlight your leadership skills by talking about a time you led a group project that exceeded your targets. For more tips, including how to write a compelling conclusion for your job application essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Work and Career Essays

essay about business and job

Reducing the Working Week

by Hayder Ahmed (Leeds, UK)

The length of the working week does not reflect modern lifestyle needs. It should be substantially reduced to give people more leisure time and time with their families. How far do you agree with this statement? Day by day, the life is becoming more complex and very difficult and people work for long time in every day. It is agreed that the number of working day in a weak should be reduced to give workers more free time with their families. Analysing both difficulty and complexity of life nowadays as well as people work hard for long time will show this. Firstly, today, the life is complex and people spend a long time working very hard without a rest time. For instance, people work from the beginning of morning to the end of evening very hard. When they back to their home, they might be tired and stressful. Therefore, people can not find a free time to talk and discuss with their families and spend enjoyable time with them. Thus, this makes it clear why people need for more free time every week. Secondly, as people work hardly for a long time during a working day, they might be stress and their health could be not good. For example, when workers do their job, they will be standing all the time and sometime doing hard without a rest time. Thus, their body could be very tired and in a bad condition and this routine continues every day. From this, it becomes quiet evident that why decreasing the number of working day is important for people health. In summary, people are working very hard for long time. Therefore, their health condition could be bad and they do not spend more time with their families. Thus, it is clear why the idea of increasing the number of working day can not be supported. After analysing this subject, it is predicted that the drawbacks of working a long time without rest more than benefits. (295 words) ***** I'd appreciate some feedback for my essay on work and careers.

Working Part-time while at High School

Some high (secondary) school students work part-time while some do not, instead just focusing on their studies. What are the advantages and disadvantages of part-time jobs for high school students? Many high school students take up jobs in their free time. Some parents discourage their teenagers from working while studying. Both these cases have good and bad points. The students who take up part-time jobs become responsible. A job brings them income by which they get spending power. For example, a teen who works can use his money to buy his own text-books, pay for his lunch at the canteen, and also purchase personal things for himself. This reduces the burden on their parents especially in low-income families. These high school kids learn to spend wisely and hence tend to practice the art of saving for a future need. There are also drawbacks of getting themselves employment. They can get distracted from their studies. This can happen because a student may want to put in more hours of work in order to earn more cash. As a result, he will spend more time working and less time focusing on his educational side. Another downside is that with money power in his hands, he could easily fall prey to bad habits like gambling, drugs and smoking. This can lead to destruction of his academics and ultimately destroy his future career. Different homes are different when it comes to their financial state. Hence, low income groups might prefer if their children make a small earning to support themselves. However, high society people may not be in favor that their offspring gets employed as they feel it is below their status and , besides they can fund their teens.

Not Paying Taxes Essay

Some people believe that they should be able to keep all the money they earn, and should not have to pay tax to the state. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Every citizen have to pay a amount of their income. Countries implement changeable income taxes that generally depends on people`s rich rate. You will be seen end of the this Essay, how we are returning paid taxes by government. We use money every moment of our life for buying necessary things such an food, drinks and other costs to survive our life. And this provided product to us is controlling by government. There are massive official that they are working to supply our needs behind of this process. Those officials earn money from our taxes. On the other hand, governments have very large of responsibilities on own citizens such a security, relationship with other countries that is for giving right when they left their country, service that is for every sector to survive their life. To sup up, we have to pay taxes for this a lot of wheel can work. It is obligated rule for all citizens. Likely there are strict rules that someone reduce to pay income taxes , government do punish by fine or imprisonment .

IELTS Essay: Motivation to Stay in the Workforce

by storm (Bangladesh)

There are several factors that motivate people to stay in the workforce, and money is the most important. To what extent do you agree or disagree? There are lots of factor that impel peoples stay in the workforce where salary is the main reason for it. Well, I disagree with this point and I believe and think that job satisfaction is much more important than money this essay will explain why is that. First of all, I believe that job satisfaction can give a person fulfillness whereas money can not guarantee that. Even if a person gets highly payment for his job however it does not bring happiness for him. He feels stressed and compromise his consciousness for his job. That person will be in depression and end up leaving that job sooner or later cause it does not bring any enthusiasm towards the job, he is doing it just to sake for the salary. Secondly, when you have freedom and like what you do it keeps you motivated and leads you to career growth. Its is said that those love their job they can easily excel in their field or work than who puts salary in their job first. For example, I love what I do for living which gives me urge to do more and more but the salary is not as it expected but there are lots opportunities and facilities which helps me do my task easily. On the other hand, my friends work for a company where she gets highly pay for her job but she is not happy what she does in the end. She is doing the job because of the money. She stays depressed most of the time because of the job and she think about leaving it. In conclusion, I strongly believe job satisfaction is more important and essential than money. Job satisfaction gives better career growth and happiness.

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Characteristics of Business Leadership: Steve Jobs Essay

Introduction, steve jobs and business leadership.

Modern human resource management has come to recognize the value of leadership in management. Leadership has been adopted in the modern organizational and business management to the level that it is replacing the word management. In the modern business world, there is need for business leadership more than we need business managers; because of the complexity of business environment.

The modern business environment is characterized by stiff competition, tough rules of taxation, changing forms of management that is moving away from personnel management and adopting human resource management as a form of managing employees, increasing logistics and costs of operating businesses among other challenges. All these aspects call for a lot of resilience in successful management of businesses.

Thus, this calls stronger leadership which goes well beyond what management can offer. Leadership can be defined as the progressive creativity; the ability to foresee the future basing on the present while at the same time putting in mind the past. It is the major component of vision. In business, effective leadership is defined in terms of the corporate culture. This leadership propels the business to maximize profits which is the major goal of all businesses (Scheer, 2009).

In the world today, there are a number of businesses that have achieved tremendous growth. These businesses have grown from scratch to become among the top leading businesses in the world. Most of the success in these businesses is associated with the leaders of the business. The leaders of those businesses have been argued to poses creativeness and excellent leadership skills that they have development with time (Cohen & Rath, 2007).

One of the leaders who are known to have leadership qualities that have helped the business they lead to grow to greater heights is Steve Jobs; who was the Chief Executive Officer of Apple. Jobs was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apple Incorporated which is an information technology firm that deals in the production of computers and other information technology goods and services.

The company is worldly known for the invention of the iPod and iPhone technology products. This paper looks into Steve Jobs and his leadership skills that enabled him to lead Apple Company.

The Apple Company underwent several transformations before it made the success it has attained under the leadership of Jobs. The company was started in 1976 by Jobs. In the year 1974, Jobs started the ‘Revolutionary Macintosh’ of which he ushered to the market. Jobs was later forced to step down by the board of directors of Apple in 1985.

He later went ahead to make NeXt Computer in 1986. In the year 1997, Apple bought NeXt Computers. He was nominated to become the chief executive officer. In the year 2001, the company invented the iPod that entered the market in a revolutionary way. In 2007, apple invented the 3G iPhone which was unique in the market and which gave the company much glory (O’Grady, 2009).

One of the best attributes of a good business leader is vision. Firms are founded by people who have vision. The vision of the organization has to be coupled with creativity for any growth to be realized, and Steve Jobs was a visionary leader. Jobs was well understood for the attitude of perfectionism which he always embraced.

This quality helped him to withstand business pressures; for instance, pressures arising from the adversity of the conditions in the market that needed a quick move. In 2002, the company was constrained in a big way. At this period, Jobs stood with the vision of the company. He always likened the future of the company to the superior inventions that the company had made for instance the iPod.

He involved himself in the Nitti gritty of the goods that the company produced. He had the ability to blend well the micromanagement skills, as well as the vision of the firm. A combination of vision and intelligence enabled the company to manage to come up with products that were of a revolutionary nature in the information technology market.

Notable attributes of visionary leadership are depicted in the personal computer concept, invention of revolutionary consumer information technology products such as the iPod and the iPhone. These products were applauded in the market by technology experts as products that utilized high technology in their manufacture, and that they were much far beyond the technology that was used in the invention of mobile phones.

Another indicator of visionary leadership is the three dimension animated movies. Job came out as a person with a lot of brilliance, and an innovative person who was able to come up with solutions for instance production of computers to aid in transforming the world.

He was a motivated person, through whom other workers got motivated creating a high morale work environment that encouraged performance to rise. Innovation is a key tenet of a good leader. It differentiates between who a leader is and who a follower is. Jobs was indeed a leader (Whitelaw & Wetzig, 2008).

Jobs had a good grasp of excellent skills of communication that leaders in the business world must have if they want their businesses to succeed. He was able to make and deliver keynote speeches that were written in a professional manner apart from being excellently rehearsed. He was well informed of the content of his speeches. The speeches he delivered articulated the information therein in an ecstatic way (Wyckoff, 2007).

Jobs portrayed his credibility skills though he was mostly known as being a secretive person in the sense that he did not seem to be fond of giving many interviews. He was however, known to be a person who held to his words. He delivered the promises he made. Steve was known to be an ‘Authority Obedience Manager’ when apple ousted him in 1985; he was then termed to be an arrogant leader. In 2009 however, when he became sick, he was able to pass his responsibilities for almost a half a year.

The running of the company went on without any constraints. This period led to a conclusion that he had mentorship skills of which he had used to mentor the followers to think, and make decisions in a manner in which he used to do himself. By this can be termed as being an excellent team manger (Caligiuri & Mendenhall, 2005).

Jobs had good relational skills. He did not seem to distance himself from the audience which comprised of customers and team members of the company. He mostly chose to put on simple attire like jeans instead of wearing swift executive attire that would distance him from the organization and its customers. The closeness he had with customers made him have a grasp of the needs of customers (Ireland, Hoskisson & Hitt, 2008).

Jobs inspirational aspect was behind the success he achieved as the leader of Apple. He had a message that is referred to as ‘think different’ and a strong ability of making continuous surprises, and delivering on his vision for the firm (Ireland, Hoskisson & Hitt, 2008). Jobs had a good grasp of what the business he was dealing with entailed.

For a person to be able to lead well, he has to have deeper insights of the products that he dealt in. Jobs had a good master of computer and information technology knowledge which he has combined with creative thinking to make the company to succeed. He had competence in the field, and therefore, he was actively involved in the invention of products by the company (Whitelaw & Wetzig, 2008).

Leadership is important in business management in the modern times. The current business environment is marked with numerous challenges, for instance high competition, rising production costs, tougher regulations from government and other regulators. This therefore, calls for more than just management but leadership. Leadership in business goes beyond management, and is the reason behind the success that has been made by various businesses around the world.

Steve Jobs is one of the leaders in business who have done pretty well in leading their businesses to becoming successful. Jobs who was the Chief executive Officer of Apple Incorporated had a mastery of excellent leadership skills that helped like good relational skills, as well as excellent communication skills combined with personal qualities to make the firm succeed. Though with numerous constraints, Job did so well in leading the firm to success.

Caligiuri, P., Bird, A., & Mendenhall, M. E. (2005). Global dimensions of HRM . Oxford: Blackwell.

Cohen, E., & Rath, T. (2007). Leadership Without Borders: Successful Strategies from World-Class Leaders . Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E., & Hitt, M. A. (2008). Understanding business strategy: Concepts and cases . Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

O’Grady, J. D. (2009). How Apple Inc. changed the world . Mumbai: Jaico.

Scheer, S. (2009). The entrepreneur as business leader: Cognitive leadership in the firm . Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Whitelaw, G., & Wetzig, B. (2008). Move to greatness: Focusing the four essential energies of a whole and balanced leader . Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey International.

Wyckoff, C. (2007). Top careers in two years: Computers and information technology . New York: Ferguson.

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An illustration shows a large bag with a dollar sign on it, with dollars coming out, and five people dancing around the bag, grasping for dollars.

What Do Students at Elite Colleges Really Want?

Many of Harvard’s Generation Z say “sellout” is not an insult.

Credit... Jeff Hinchee

Supported by

By Francesca Mari

  • Published May 22, 2024 Updated May 24, 2024

The meme was an image of a head with “I need to get rich” slapped across it. “Freshmen after spending 0.02 seconds on campus,” read the caption, posted in 2023 to the anonymous messaging app Sidechat.

The campus in question was Harvard, where, at a wood-paneled dining hall last year, two juniors explained how to assess a fellow undergraduate’s earning potential. It’s easy, they said, as we ate mussels, beets and sautéed chard: You can tell by who’s getting a bulge bracket internship.

“What?” Benny Goldman, a then-28-year-old economics P.h.D. student and their residential tutor, was confused.

One of the students paused, surprised that he was unfamiliar with the term: A bulge bracket bank, like Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan Chase or Citi. The biggest, most prestigious global investment banks. A B.B., her friend explained. Not to be confused with M.B.B. , which stands for three of the most prestigious management consulting firms: McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group.

While the main image of elite campuses during this commencement season might be activists in kaffiyehs pitching tents on electric green lawns, most students on campus are focused not on protesting the war in Gaza, but on what will come after graduation.

Despite the popular image of this generation — that of Greta Thunberg and the Parkland activists — as one driven by idealism, GenZ students at these schools appear to be strikingly corporate-minded. Even when they arrive at college wanting something very different, an increasing number of students at elite universities seek the imprimatur of employment by a powerful firm and “making a bag” (slang for a sack of money) as quickly as possible.

Elite universities have always been major feeders into finance and consulting, and students have always wanted to make money. According to the annual American Freshman Survey , the biggest increase in students wanting to become “very well off financially” happened between the 1970s and 1980s, and it’s been creeping up since then.

But in the last five years, faculty and administrators say, the pull of these industries has become supercharged. In an age of astronomical housing costs, high tuition and inequality, students and their parents increasingly see college as a means to a lucrative job, more than a place to explore.

A ‘Herd Mentality’

Joshua Parker, wearing a dark top and pants, sits on stone steps, his arms resting on his knees, one hand holding the other.

At Harvard, a graduating senior, who passed on a full scholarship to another school, told me that he felt immense pressure to show his parents that their $400,000 investment in his Harvard education would allow him to get the sort of job where he could make a million dollars a year. Upon graduation, he will join the private equity firm Blackstone, where, he believes, he will learn and achieve more in six years than 30 years in a public-service-oriented organization.

Another student, from Uruguay, who spent his second summer in a row practicing case studies in preparation for management consulting internship interviews, told me that everyone arrived on campus hoping to change the world. But what they learn at Harvard, he said, is that actually doing anything meaningful is too hard. People give up on their dreams, he told me, and decide they might as well make money. Someone else told me it was common at parties to hear their peers say they just want to sell out.

“There’s definitely a herd mentality,” Joshua Parker, a 21-year-old Harvard junior from Oahu, said. “If you’re not doing finance or tech, it can feel like you’re doing something wrong.”

As a freshman, he planned to major in environmental engineering. As a sophomore, he switched to economics, joining five of his six roommates. One of those roommates told me that he hoped to run a hedge fund by the time he was in his 30s. Before that, he wanted to earn a good salary, which he defined as $500,000 a year.

According to a Harvard Crimson survey of Harvard Seniors, the share of 2024 graduates going into finance and consulting is 34 percent. (In 2022 and 2023 it exceeded 40 percent. The official Harvard Institutional Research survey yields lower percentages for those fields than the Crimson survey, because it includes students who aren’t entering the work force.)

These statistics approach the previous highs in 2007, after which the global financial crisis drove the share down to a recent low of 20 percent in 2009, from which it’s been regaining ground since.

Fifteen years ago, fewer students went into tech. Adding in that sector, the share of graduates starting what some students non-disparagingly refer to as “sellout jobs” is more than half. (It was a record-shattering 60 percent in 2022 and nearly 54 percent in 2023.)

“When people say ‘selling out,’ I mean, obviously, there’s some implicit judgment there,” said Aden Barton, a 23-year-old Harvard senior who wrote an opinion column for the student newspaper headlined, “How Harvard Careerism Killed the Classroom.”

“But it really is just almost a descriptive term at this point for people pursuing certain career paths,” he continued. “I’m not trying to denigrate anybody’s career path nor my own.” (He interned at a hedge fund last summer.)

David Halek, director of employer relations at Yale’s Office of Career Strategy, thinks students may use the term “sell out” because of the perceived certainty: “It’s the easy path to follow. It is well defined,” he said.

“It’s hard to conceptualize other things,” said Andy Wang, a social studies concentrator at Harvard who recently graduated.

Some students talk about turning to a different career later on, after they’ve made enough money. “Nowadays, English concentrators often say they’re going into finance or management consulting for a couple of years before writing their novel,” said James Wood, a Harvard professor of the practice of literary criticism.

And a surprising number of students explain their desire for a corporate job by drawing on the ethos of effective altruism : Whether they are conscious of the movement or not, they believe they can have greater impact by maximizing earnings to donate to a cause than working for that cause.

But once students board the prestige escalator and become accustomed to a certain salary, walking away can feel funny. Like, well, walking off an escalator.

Financial Pressures

The change is striking to those who have been in academia for years, and not just at Harvard.

Roger Woolsey, executive director of the career center at Union College, a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, N.Y, said he first noticed a change around 2015, with students who had been in high school during the Great Recession and who therefore prioritized financial security.

“The students saw what their parents went through, and the parents saw what happened to themselves,” he said. “You couple that with college tuition continuing to rise,” he continued, and students started looking for monetary payoffs right after graduation.

Sara Lazenby, an institutional policy analyst for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that might be why students and their parents were much more focused on professional outcomes than they used to be. “In the past few years,” she said, “I’ve seen a higher level of interest in this first-destination data” — stats on what jobs graduates are getting out of college.

“Twenty years ago, an ‘introduction to investment banking’ event was held at the undergraduate library at Harvard,” said Howard Gardner, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “Forty students showed up, all men, and when asked to define ‘investment banking,’ none raised their hands.”

Now, according to Goldman Sachs, the bank had six times as many applicants this year for summer internships as it did 10 years ago, and was 20 percent more selective for this summer’s class than it was last year. JPMorgan also saw a record number of undergraduate applications for internships and full-time positions this year.

The director of the Mignone Center for Career Success at Harvard, Manny Contomanolis, also chalked up the change, in part, to financial pressure. “Harvard is more diverse than ever before,” Mr. Contomanolis said, with nearly one in five students eligible for a low-income Pell Grant . Those students, he said, weigh whether to, for instance, “take a job back in my border town community in Texas and make a big impact in a kind of public service sense” or get a job with “a salary that would be life changing for my family.”

However, according to The Harvard Crimson’s senior survey, as Mr. Barton noted in his opinion column, “The aggregate rate of ‘selling out’ is about the same — around 60 percent — for all income brackets.” The main distinction is that students from low-income families are comparatively more likely to go into technology than finance.

In other words, there is something additional at play, which Mr. Barton argues has to do with the nature of prestige. “If you tell me you’re working at Goldman Sachs or McKinsey, that’s amazing , their eyes are going to light up,” Mr. Barton said. “If you tell somebody, ‘Oh, I took this random nonprofit job,’ or even a journalism job, even if you’re going to a huge name, it’s going to be a little bit of a question mark.”

Maibritt Henkel, a 21-year-old junior at Harvard, is an economics major with moral reservations about banking and consulting. Ms. Henkel sometimes worries that others might misread her decision not to go into those industries as evidence that she couldn’t hack it.

“Even if you don’t want to do it for the rest of your life, it’s seen kind of as the golden standard of a smart, hardworking person,” she said.

Some students have also become skeptical about traditional avenues of social change, like government and nonprofits, which have attracted fewer Harvard students since the pandemic, according to the Harvard Office of Institutional Research.

Matine Khalighi, 22, founded a nonprofit to award scholarships to homeless youth when he was in eighth grade. When he began studying economics at Harvard, his nonprofit, EEqual, was granting 50 scholarships a year. But some of the corporations that funded EEqual were contributing to inequality that created homelessness, he said. Philanthropy wasn’t the solution for systemic change, he decided. Instead, he turned to finance, with the idea that the sector could marshal capital quickly for social impact.

Employers encourage this way of thinking. “We often talk about the fact that we work with some of the biggest emitters on the planet because we believe that’s how we actually affect climate change,” said Blair Ciesil, the global leader of talent attraction at McKinsey.

The Recruitment Ratchet

Princeton’s senior survey results are nearly identical to The Crimson’s Senior Survey: about 38 percent of 2023 graduates who were employed took jobs in finance and consulting; adding tech and engineering, the rate is close to 60 percent, compared with 53 percent in 2016, the earliest year for which the data is available.

This isn’t solely an Ivy League phenomenon. Schools slice their data differently, but at many colleges, a large percentage of students pursue these fields. At Amherst , in 2022, 32 percent of employed undergrads went into finance and consulting, and 11 percent went into internet and software, for a total of about 43 percent. Between 2017 and 2019, the University of California, Los Angeles, sent about 21 percent of employed students into engineering and computer science, 9 percent into consulting and nearly 10 percent into finance, for a total of roughly 40 percent

Part of that has to do with recruitment; the most prestigious banks and consulting firms do so only at certain colleges, and they have intensified their presence on those campuses in recent years. Over the last five years or so, “the idea of thinking about your professional path has moved much earlier in the undergraduate experience,” Ms. Ciesil said. She said the banks first began talking to students earlier, and it was the entrance of Big Tech onto the scene, asking for junior summer applications by the end of sophomore year, that accelerated recruitment timelines.

“At first, we tried to fight back by saying, ‘No, no, no, no, no, sophomores aren’t ready, and what does a sophomore know about financial modeling?’” said Mr. Woolsey at Union College. But, he added, schools “don’t want to push back too much, because then you’re going to lose revenue,” since firms often pay to recruit on campus.

The Effective Altruist Influence

The marker that really distinguishes Gen Z is how pessimistic its members are, and how much they feel like life is beyond their control, according to Jean Twenge, a psychologist who analyzed data from national surveys of high school students and first-year college students in her book “Generations.”

Money, of course, helps give people a sense of control. And because of income inequality, “there’s this idea that you either make it or you don’t, so you better make it,” Ms. Twenge said.

Mihir Desai, a professor at Harvard’s business and law schools, wrote a 2017 essay in The Crimson titled “ The Trouble With Optionality ,” arguing that students who habitually pursue the security of prestigious employment foreclose the risk-taking and longer-range thinking necessary for more unusual or idealistic achievements. Mr. Desai believes that’s often because they are responding to the bigger picture, like threats to workers from artificial intelligence, and political and financial upheaval.

In recent years, he’s observed two trends among students pursuing wealth. There’s “the option-buyer,” the student who takes a job in finance or consulting to buy more time or to keep options open. Then there’s what he calls “the lottery ticket buyer,” the students who go all-in on a risky venture, like a start-up or new technology, hoping to make a windfall.

“They know people who bought Bitcoin at $2,000. They know people who bought Tesla at $20,” he said.

Some faculty see the influence of effective altruism among this generation: In the last five years, Roosevelt Montás, a senior lecturer at Columbia University and the former director of its Center for the Core Curriculum, has noticed a new trend when he asks students in his American Political Thought classes to consider their future.

“Almost every discussion, someone will come in and say, ‘Well, I can go and make a lot of money and do more good with that money than I could by doing some kind of charitable or service profession,’” Mr. Montás said. “It’s there constantly — a way of justifying a career that is organized around making money.”

Mr. Desai said all of this logic goes, “‘Make the bag so you can do good in the world, make the bag so you can go into retirement, make the bag so you can then go do what you really want to do.’”

But this “really underestimates how important work is to people’s lives,” he said. “What it gets wrong is, you spend 15 years at the hedge fund, you’re going to be a different person. You don’t just go work and make a lot of money, you go work and you become a different person.”

Inside the World of Gen Z

The generation of people born between 1997 and 2012 is changing fashion, culture, politics, the workplace and more..

Many of Harvard’s Generation Z say “sellout” is not an insult, instead it appears to mean something strikingly corporate-minded .

A younger generation of crossword constructors is using an old form to reflect their identities, language and world. Here’s how Gen Z made the puzzle their own .

For many Gen-Zers without much disposable income, Facebook isn’t a place to socialize online — it’s where they can get deals on items  they wouldn’t normally be able to afford.

Dating apps are struggling to live up to investors’ expectations . Blame the members of Generation Z, who are often not willing to shell out for paid subscriptions.

Young people tend to lean more liberal on issues pertaining to relationship norms. But when it comes to dating, the idea that men should pay in heterosexual courtships  still prevails among Gen Z-ers .

We asked Gen Z-ers to tell us about their living situations and the challenges of keeping a roof over their heads. Here’s what they said .

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A new future of work: The race to deploy AI and raise skills in Europe and beyond

At a glance.

Amid tightening labor markets and a slowdown in productivity growth, Europe and the United States face shifts in labor demand, spurred by AI and automation. Our updated modeling of the future of work finds that demand for workers in STEM-related, healthcare, and other high-skill professions would rise, while demand for occupations such as office workers, production workers, and customer service representatives would decline. By 2030, in a midpoint adoption scenario, up to 30 percent of current hours worked could be automated, accelerated by generative AI (gen AI). Efforts to achieve net-zero emissions, an aging workforce, and growth in e-commerce, as well as infrastructure and technology spending and overall economic growth, could also shift employment demand.

By 2030, Europe could require up to 12 million occupational transitions, double the prepandemic pace. In the United States, required transitions could reach almost 12 million, in line with the prepandemic norm. Both regions navigated even higher levels of labor market shifts at the height of the COVID-19 period, suggesting that they can handle this scale of future job transitions. The pace of occupational change is broadly similar among countries in Europe, although the specific mix reflects their economic variations.

Businesses will need a major skills upgrade. Demand for technological and social and emotional skills could rise as demand for physical and manual and higher cognitive skills stabilizes. Surveyed executives in Europe and the United States expressed a need not only for advanced IT and data analytics but also for critical thinking, creativity, and teaching and training—skills they report as currently being in short supply. Companies plan to focus on retraining workers, more than hiring or subcontracting, to meet skill needs.

Workers with lower wages face challenges of redeployment as demand reweights toward occupations with higher wages in both Europe and the United States. Occupations with lower wages are likely to see reductions in demand, and workers will need to acquire new skills to transition to better-paying work. If that doesn’t happen, there is a risk of a more polarized labor market, with more higher-wage jobs than workers and too many workers for existing lower-wage jobs.

Choices made today could revive productivity growth while creating better societal outcomes. Embracing the path of accelerated technology adoption with proactive worker redeployment could help Europe achieve an annual productivity growth rate of up to 3 percent through 2030. However, slow adoption would limit that to 0.3 percent, closer to today’s level of productivity growth in Western Europe. Slow worker redeployment would leave millions unable to participate productively in the future of work.

Businessman and skilled worker in high tech enterprise, using VR glasses - stock photo

Demand will change for a range of occupations through 2030, including growth in STEM- and healthcare-related occupations, among others

This report focuses on labor markets in nine major economies in the European Union along with the United Kingdom, in comparison with the United States. Technology, including most recently the rise of gen AI, along with other factors, will spur changes in the pattern of labor demand through 2030. Our study, which uses an updated version of the McKinsey Global Institute future of work model, seeks to quantify the occupational transitions that will be required and the changing nature of demand for different types of jobs and skills.

Our methodology

We used methodology consistent with other McKinsey Global Institute reports on the future of work to model trends of job changes at the level of occupations, activities, and skills. For this report, we focused our analysis on the 2022–30 period.

Our model estimates net changes in employment demand by sector and occupation; we also estimate occupational transitions, or the net number of workers that need to change in each type of occupation, based on which occupations face declining demand by 2030 relative to current employment in 2022. We included ten countries in Europe: nine EU members—the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden—and the United Kingdom. For the United States, we build on estimates published in our 2023 report Generative AI and the future of work in America.

We included multiple drivers in our modeling: automation potential, net-zero transition, e-commerce growth, remote work adoption, increases in income, aging populations, technology investments, and infrastructure investments.

Two scenarios are used to bookend the work-automation model: “late” and “early.” For Europe, we modeled a “faster” scenario and a “slower” one. For the faster scenario, we use the midpoint—the arithmetical average between our late and early scenarios. For the slower scenario, we use a “mid late” trajectory, an arithmetical average between a late adoption scenario and the midpoint scenario. For the United States, we use the midpoint scenario, based on our earlier research.

We also estimate the productivity effects of automation, using GDP per full-time-equivalent (FTE) employee as the measure of productivity. We assumed that workers displaced by automation rejoin the workforce at 2022 productivity levels, net of automation, and in line with the expected 2030 occupational mix.

Amid tightening labor markets and a slowdown in productivity growth, Europe and the United States face shifts in labor demand, spurred not only by AI and automation but also by other trends, including efforts to achieve net-zero emissions, an aging population, infrastructure spending, technology investments, and growth in e-commerce, among others (see sidebar, “Our methodology”).

Our analysis finds that demand for occupations such as health professionals and other STEM-related professionals would grow by 17 to 30 percent between 2022 and 2030, (Exhibit 1).

By contrast, demand for workers in food services, production work, customer services, sales, and office support—all of which declined over the 2012–22 period—would continue to decline until 2030. These jobs involve a high share of repetitive tasks, data collection, and elementary data processing—all activities that automated systems can handle efficiently.

Up to 30 percent of hours worked could be automated by 2030, boosted by gen AI, leading to millions of required occupational transitions

By 2030, our analysis finds that about 27 percent of current hours worked in Europe and 30 percent of hours worked in the United States could be automated, accelerated by gen AI. Our model suggests that roughly 20 percent of hours worked could still be automated even without gen AI, implying a significant acceleration.

These trends will play out in labor markets in the form of workers needing to change occupations. By 2030, under the faster adoption scenario we modeled, Europe could require up to 12.0 million occupational transitions, affecting 6.5 percent of current employment. That is double the prepandemic pace (Exhibit 2). Under a slower scenario we modeled for Europe, the number of occupational transitions needed would amount to 8.5 million, affecting 4.6 percent of current employment. In the United States, required transitions could reach almost 12.0 million, affecting 7.5 percent of current employment. Unlike Europe, this magnitude of transitions is broadly in line with the prepandemic norm.

Both regions navigated even higher levels of labor market shifts at the height of the COVID-19 period. While these were abrupt and painful to many, given the forced nature of the shifts, the experience suggests that both regions have the ability to handle this scale of future job transitions.

Smiling female PhD student discussing with man at desk in innovation lab - stock photo

Businesses will need a major skills upgrade

The occupational transitions noted above herald substantial shifts in workforce skills in a future in which automation and AI are integrated into the workplace (Exhibit 3). Workers use multiple skills to perform a given task, but for the purposes of our quantification, we identified the predominant skill used.

Demand for technological skills could see substantial growth in Europe and in the United States (increases of 25 percent and 29 percent, respectively, in hours worked by 2030 compared to 2022) under our midpoint scenario of automation adoption (which is the faster scenario for Europe).

Demand for social and emotional skills could rise by 11 percent in Europe and by 14 percent in the United States. Underlying this increase is higher demand for roles requiring interpersonal empathy and leadership skills. These skills are crucial in healthcare and managerial roles in an evolving economy that demands greater adaptability and flexibility.

Conversely, demand for work in which basic cognitive skills predominate is expected to decline by 14 percent. Basic cognitive skills are required primarily in office support or customer service roles, which are highly susceptible to being automated by AI. Among work characterized by these basic cognitive skills experiencing significant drops in demand are basic data processing and literacy, numeracy, and communication.

Demand for work in which higher cognitive skills predominate could also decline slightly, according to our analysis. While creativity is expected to remain highly sought after, with a potential increase of 12 percent by 2030, work activities characterized by other advanced cognitive skills such as advanced literacy and writing, along with quantitative and statistical skills, could decline by 19 percent.

Demand for physical and manual skills, on the other hand, could remain roughly level with the present. These skills remain the largest share of workforce skills, representing about 30 percent of total hours worked in 2022. Growth in demand for these skills between 2022 and 2030 could come from the build-out of infrastructure and higher investment in low-emissions sectors, while declines would be in line with continued automation in production work.

Business executives report skills shortages today and expect them to worsen

A survey we conducted of C-suite executives in five countries shows that companies are already grappling with skills challenges, including a skills mismatch, particularly in technological, higher cognitive, and social and emotional skills: about one-third of the more than 1,100 respondents report a shortfall in these critical areas. At the same time, a notable number of executives say they have enough employees with basic cognitive skills and, to a lesser extent, physical and manual skills.

Within technological skills, companies in our survey reported that their most significant shortages are in advanced IT skills and programming, advanced data analysis, and mathematical skills. Among higher cognitive skills, significant shortfalls are seen in critical thinking and problem structuring and in complex information processing. About 40 percent of the executives surveyed pointed to a shortage of workers with these skills, which are needed for working alongside new technologies (Exhibit 4).

Two IT co-workers code on laptop or technology for testing, web design or online startup - stock photo

Companies see retraining as key to acquiring needed skills and adapting to the new work landscape

Surveyed executives expect significant changes to their workforce skill levels and worry about not finding the right skills by 2030. More than one in four survey respondents said that failing to capture the needed skills could directly harm financial performance and indirectly impede their efforts to leverage the value from AI.

To acquire the skills they need, companies have three main options: retraining, hiring, and contracting workers. Our survey suggests that executives are looking at all three options, with retraining the most widely reported tactic planned to address the skills mismatch: on average, out of companies that mentioned retraining as one of their tactics to address skills mismatch, executives said they would retrain 32 percent of their workforce. The scale of retraining needs varies in degree. For example, respondents in the automotive industry expect 36 percent of their workforce to be retrained, compared with 28 percent in the financial services industry. Out of those who have mentioned hiring or contracting as their tactics to address the skills mismatch, executives surveyed said they would hire an average of 23 percent of their workforce and contract an average of 18 percent.

Occupational transitions will affect high-, medium-, and low-wage workers differently

All ten European countries we examined for this report may see increasing demand for top-earning occupations. By contrast, workers in the two lowest-wage-bracket occupations could be three to five times more likely to have to change occupations compared to the top wage earners, our analysis finds. The disparity is much higher in the United States, where workers in the two lowest-wage-bracket occupations are up to 14 times more likely to face occupational shifts than the highest earners. In Europe, the middle-wage population could be twice as affected by occupational transitions as the same population in United States, representing 7.3 percent of the working population who might face occupational transitions.

Enhancing human capital at the same time as deploying the technology rapidly could boost annual productivity growth

About quantumblack, ai by mckinsey.

QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Organizations and policy makers have choices to make; the way they approach AI and automation, along with human capital augmentation, will affect economic and societal outcomes.

We have attempted to quantify at a high level the potential effects of different stances to AI deployment on productivity in Europe. Our analysis considers two dimensions. The first is the adoption rate of AI and automation technologies. We consider the faster scenario and the late scenario for technology adoption. Faster adoption would unlock greater productivity growth potential but also, potentially, more short-term labor disruption than the late scenario.

The second dimension we consider is the level of automated worker time that is redeployed into the economy. This represents the ability to redeploy the time gained by automation and productivity gains (for example, new tasks and job creation). This could vary depending on the success of worker training programs and strategies to match demand and supply in labor markets.

We based our analysis on two potential scenarios: either all displaced workers would be able to fully rejoin the economy at a similar productivity level as in 2022 or only some 80 percent of the automated workers’ time will be redeployed into the economy.

Exhibit 5 illustrates the various outcomes in terms of annual productivity growth rate. The top-right quadrant illustrates the highest economy-wide productivity, with an annual productivity growth rate of up to 3.1 percent. It requires fast adoption of technologies as well as full redeployment of displaced workers. The top-left quadrant also demonstrates technology adoption on a fast trajectory and shows a relatively high productivity growth rate (up to 2.5 percent). However, about 6.0 percent of total hours worked (equivalent to 10.2 million people not working) would not be redeployed in the economy. Finally, the two bottom quadrants depict the failure to adopt AI and automation, leading to limited productivity gains and translating into limited labor market disruptions.

Managers discussing work while futuristic AI computer vision analyzing, ccanning production line - stock photo

Four priorities for companies

The adoption of automation technologies will be decisive in protecting businesses’ competitive advantage in an automation and AI era. To ensure successful deployment at a company level, business leaders can embrace four priorities.

Understand the potential. Leaders need to understand the potential of these technologies, notably including how AI and gen AI can augment and automate work. This includes estimating both the total capacity that these technologies could free up and their impact on role composition and skills requirements. Understanding this allows business leaders to frame their end-to-end strategy and adoption goals with regard to these technologies.

Plan a strategic workforce shift. Once they understand the potential of automation technologies, leaders need to plan the company’s shift toward readiness for the automation and AI era. This requires sizing the workforce and skill needs, based on strategically identified use cases, to assess the potential future talent gap. From this analysis will flow details about the extent of recruitment of new talent, upskilling, or reskilling of the current workforce that is needed, as well as where to redeploy freed capacity to more value-added tasks.

Prioritize people development. To ensure that the right talent is on hand to sustain the company strategy during all transformation phases, leaders could consider strengthening their capabilities to identify, attract, and recruit future AI and gen AI leaders in a tight market. They will also likely need to accelerate the building of AI and gen AI capabilities in the workforce. Nontechnical talent will also need training to adapt to the changing skills environment. Finally, leaders could deploy an HR strategy and operating model to fit the post–gen AI workforce.

Pursue the executive-education journey on automation technologies. Leaders also need to undertake their own education journey on automation technologies to maximize their contributions to their companies during the coming transformation. This includes empowering senior managers to explore automation technologies implications and subsequently role model to others, as well as bringing all company leaders together to create a dedicated road map to drive business and employee value.

AI and the toolbox of advanced new technologies are evolving at a breathtaking pace. For companies and policy makers, these technologies are highly compelling because they promise a range of benefits, including higher productivity, which could lift growth and prosperity. Yet, as this report has sought to illustrate, making full use of the advantages on offer will also require paying attention to the critical element of human capital. In the best-case scenario, workers’ skills will develop and adapt to new technological challenges. Achieving this goal in our new technological age will be highly challenging—but the benefits will be great.

Eric Hazan is a McKinsey senior partner based in Paris; Anu Madgavkar and Michael Chui are McKinsey Global Institute partners based in New Jersey and San Francisco, respectively; Sven Smit is chair of the McKinsey Global Institute and a McKinsey senior partner based in Amsterdam; Dana Maor is a McKinsey senior partner based in Tel Aviv; Gurneet Singh Dandona is an associate partner and a senior expert based in New York; and Roland Huyghues-Despointes is a consultant based in Paris.

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Why I quit Goldman Sachs

I became a VP in six years. Then the 'boys only' culture drove me out.

essay about business and job

Goldman Sachs has a problem.

Only 29% of the 2022 partner class was women — just slightly more than the previous two classes — and a flood of women leaders have recently taken their talents elsewhere . Dina Powell McCormick, head of sovereign business and sustainability efforts, left last year. Beth Hammack, a longtime partner, exited after she was passed over for the CFO role. Stephanie Cohen , once a likely CEO successor, left in March after 25 years. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that two-thirds of female partners had left or lost the title since 2018. The same was true for only 50% of male partners.

Two years ago, I joined the ranks of the women leaving Goldman. My career propelled me from an intern to a vice president in just six years, but it wasn't a walk in the park. I didn't feel like my innately feminine, sensitive self could cut it at Goldman, so I stashed her aside and stepped into an alternate persona. Under my desk, I would keep a pair of black pumps that I called my "Hollywood heels." When I put them on every morning, I channeled a thick-skinned character who thrived in a man's world.

It worked, but it was draining. Eventually, I decided I'd had enough; I left to write novels and build my own coaching and consulting business. It's been liberating to work in my authentic style, and it's made me realize how much of myself I was keeping small while at Goldman.

The lack of female leadership in the financial industry is nothing new, but many companies have been making strides. Citi has a female CEO and surpassed its 2022 goal to increase the number of women in leadership positions. Morgan Stanley has steadily increased its share of women in senior management. And two women are likely candidates to succeed JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. But at Goldman, the problem has only gotten worse.

In 2023, Goldman paid $215 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2010 that alleged it had discriminated against thousands of female employees. Earlier this year, CEO David Solomon told the Journal: "Advancing women into our most senior ranks is an area where we have not accomplished our goals." But as I watch senior women continue their exodus from Goldman, I'm not sure the company actually wants to change.

Bringing women in the door isn't Goldman's problem — in its most recent hiring report, 50% of its entry-level analysts were women. The problem is that it can't keep women, especially those in leadership roles, around.

In my first role, I was the only woman on a team of 20 investors. Without role models to reflect different ways to be a leader, I felt like I had to mimic the masculine way to succeed. I wore a pantsuit and muted my personality; I played golf, talked football, and cried in the bathroom stall so I wouldn't be seen shedding tears at my desk. My out-of-the-box ideas were discouraged. I was told to stick to the Excel templates and precisely formatted PowerPoint decks, and to stop using exclamation points in my emails. My schedule was whatever the male leadership pushed: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and long hours most weekends.

Many financial firms have a rigid culture, but Goldman's takes it to the next level — and women tend to bear the brunt.

When I took my first week of vacation after being at Goldman for over a year, my manager lectured me for not replying to emails or updating financial models during my personal time off. I told him that I had been hiking off the grid with my mom and hadn't had much cell service. "Next time, choose a vacation spot with better reception," he told me. Jaw clenched, I agreed.

Many financial firms have a rigid culture, but Goldman's takes it to the next level — and women tend to bear the brunt. Take the firm's strict return-to-office policy as an example. While many companies have modernized to embrace hybrid and remote work , Goldman has not. This disproportionately hurts women, as research has found women are more likely to thrive and stay at companies longer when they have hybrid and flexible working environments. In a 2023 survey by International Workplace Group, 72% of women polled said they would look for a new job if their company took away their option for hybrid work. And a recent McKinsey survey found that two of the top priorities for the women in the poll when picking a job were the ability to work remotely and control when they work.

Rather than changing its "be in the office every day and grind it out" culture to better suit women, Goldman puts the onus on us to change ourselves to fit the model.

Jacki Zehner, a former Goldman partner turned CEO of the women's networking platform ShePlace, recently wrote about the company on LinkedIn. The biggest reason women leave, she said, is "not feeling valued."

This resonated with me. Feeling — and being — undervalued means women miss out on promotions. McKinsey calls this the "broken rung": For every 100 men promoted from an entry level role to manager in 2023, only 87 women were promoted, according to their survey of 27,000 workers in the US and Canada. This disparity out of the gate creates a leadership-pipeline problem down the road.

While leadership styles vary from person to person, research suggests that women and men tend to lead differently. In her book, "When Women Lead," the CNBC reporter Julia Boorstin says women are more likely to lead with empathy, vulnerability, gratitude, communal leadership, and a greater sense of purpose. Boorstin's reporting found that women were more likely than men to invest in mentorship and have more diverse teams. The differences translate to financial results: In a recent study, McKinsey found that companies with at least 30% female leaders tended to outperform financially.

Goldman says it understands the importance of female leadership. "When women lead, everything changes," its corporate site says. The company offers a women's network, encourages male allyship, and talks a big game about diversity. But Goldman leadership seems to want the benefits of gender diversity without the hard work of supporting diverse leadership styles. For all the talk, I never noticed it trickle down to how it actually felt to work there. My female coworkers and I talked about it frequently — Goldman was squandering our talents by making us conform to the small box of how finance was supposed to be done. It felt like they were glad to have recruited such bright, multidimensional women but had no interest in empowering our gifts.

When we contemplated what it would take to rise into the senior ranks, we knew we would be compromising too much.

As I moved up at Goldman, I tried to incorporate more of my true self at work, whether that meant letting out my bubbly laugh or writing a "Goldman Sachs joy newsletter" to boost morale. Many colleagues appreciated my style, especially when I worked for a year in the London office. But in New York, I met resistance. When colleagues found my poetry on Instagram, they made negative comments to me about how emotional the poems were. When I brought in cookies for my team, I was told I should have been building financial models instead of baking.

These are small examples, but that's where bias often lives — in the million little ways women are told to tweak themselves to be more like men. The implication is that our way is lesser. I became a VP at 28, but I was burned out — not from the work itself but from the parts of me I had to dim along the way. The internal balancing act pushed me out.

Nearly two dozen of my women friends at the VP and managing-director levels have also left Goldman to join companies — or start companies — where they have more freedom, whether that means hybrid work, greater autonomy, or the ability to be promoted based on the quality of their work, rather than who they knew.

Goldman was a great place for us to start our careers, but when we contemplated what it would take to rise into the senior ranks, we knew we would be compromising too much.

From what I've seen, the C-suite men who reinforce Goldman's culture generally have good intentions. They assume that because their way worked for them, everyone else should follow suit. But when a woman doesn't fit the typical pattern or mold for CEO or partner, she's passed over.

As more women leave Goldman, the business itself suffers. Data shows that companies in the top 10% financially have more women in leadership positions. These companies excel because their women leaders act differently. Sometimes they see things that others miss. Just look at the 2008 financial crash .

If Goldman can manage to grow its ranks of women leaders, more women will follow. Deloitte found that for each woman added to a financial firm's C-suite, there's a positive, quantifiable impact on the number of senior women in levels just below the C-suite. We all need role models to show us what's possible. Women like Asahi Pompey and Yassaman Salas, Goldman partners whose commitment to being themselves radiates like a superpower, and Rebecca Anderton-Davies , a managing director who also shines as an author and yogi, show me there's hope.

Since I left two years ago, Goldman has been good to me. They bought copies of my book and hosted me to speak with interns. But when one intern asked how I "brought my full self to work" — one of Goldman's favorite slogans — I sidestepped the question. The truth was, I didn't bring my full self. Most of the time, I kept my feminine side tucked away, and I was rewarded for it.

Since leaving, I've been able to let my full self shine. I delivered a TEDx talk comparing Wall Street dealmaking to modern dating — something I would not have had the autonomy to do if I were still at Goldman. And rather than matching my schedule to Goldman's rigid model, I'm able to honor the natural ebbs and flows of my productivity. My feminine side is no longer a liability; it's an asset. I lead creativity and breathwork workshops, write women-centered novels, and mentor clients to help them build their dream careers.

I'm grateful to Goldman for launching my career, but it has a lot of room for improvement. And until it turns things around, don't be surprised when talented women keep walking out. We know there are other places we can go.

Lindsay MacMillan is an author, speaker, and coach.

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    Compared to the University of Michigan's consumer survey, the Conference Board survey puts more weight on perceptions of the job market. Unemployment remains below 4%, job openings still exceed ...

  26. We started a crypto company weeks before the crash

    Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI. Hong Yea spent 10 years as a trader but always had dreams of starting his own business. Yea quit his director job at Goldman Sachs to start a crypto company, just ...

  27. The work perk that GenZ really wants

    Some employers in recent years have conducted experiments with working four, eight-hour days for the same pay as five days. Other employers have tried the 4-and-a-half-day workweek. In the survey ...

  28. Prisoners are using VR to prepare them for life after release

    For Busch, who expects to be released in June after being incarcerated on-and-off since age 19, the program will give her a crucial head start in rebuilding her life outside of prison. "It's ...

  29. Why I Quit Goldman Sachs' Rigid, Male-Dominated Culture

    Lindsay MacMillan. May 21, 2024, 2:35 AM PDT. Goldman Sachs has a problem. Only 29% of the 2022 partner class was women — just slightly more than the previous two classes — and a flood of ...