Ethical Jobs Response

There are a lot of companies that I think have questionable moral and ethical practices – for this activity, I chose to think about Amazon. I think Amazon’s violations of worker’s rights is appalling, on top of the myriad of other ethically dubious actions the company is constantly taking. However, the context of where I am at in my career greatly affects whether I’d take that job or not. As someone just starting my career, in a more difficult job market, the moral values I hold lose priority over the necessities of finding a job to pay rent and loans. Regardless of my hesitance to inadvertently support these practices, the “best option may be to do whatever’s necessary to build the strongest résumé possible”(Business Ethics). With this, I agree with the author’s perspective on the reality of being unable to completely avoid unethical companies. Since it’s difficult to avoid, I believe it becomes more an issue of what you do when you’re there. I may not be able to make large scale changes at Amazon, but if I can leverage the opportunity to get a different job at a more ethical company or one that makes a positive impact rather than a negative one, then I may still be able to make a net positive change in the world. It’s difficult to maintain a lie to myself that nothing is wrong, but acknowledging the wrongdoings of the organization, and my potential involvement with them, can help me minimize my impact and preserve my values as best I can, even while working at an unethical company.