Given my prospective position meets certain criteria, I would accept a job at Facebook. My decision would be circumstantial, depending on factors like alternative job offers, my role at the firm and its distance from the actions I believe are wrong, and the department’s history with ethics.
Alternative Job Offers
As a new grad, jobs at Facebook and other tech giants are highly sought after jobs, and for good reason. They provide a stable entry point to a career in tech, with strong compensation and generally favorable work-life balance. In addition, there are good benefits, a predictable career progression, and the name “Facebook” on my resume opens many doors in the future. For these reasons, an offer like this would be difficult to turn down, especially if my alternatives were at companies that are smaller or less prestigious. Even if I did not plan to stay at Facebook for the rest of my career, taking a job there out of college would make it easier to lateral to other companies (who are perhaps more ethical or are contributing more to society) due to the credibility it builds and the signal to other employers that I have what it takes to work at this level.
My Role and Its Distance from Unethical Actions
There are many departments and roles within Facebook, each operating at a different point on a broad ethical spectrum. Therefore, my decision would depend on my prospective role and where it sits on this spectrum. In the reading from Working for Ethically Complicated Organizations, it confirms that the fact that our economy is interlinked, and that it is nearly impossible to find a company that is completely detached from unethical practices. However, if I were in the corporate finance division and the team in charge of quality control had an unsavory past (as referenced in this article), I would be much more likely to accept the job offer since I am highly unlikely to directly contribute to the operations of this team or interact with them on a daily basis. Though I would not be turning a blind eye to the firm’s unethical practices, I would feel less personally complicit about it due to the distance between my role and these actions.
Personal Values and Priorities
Although everyone has different values and priorities, there are some things more important to me than working at a company whose practices I do not fully agree with. For example, I want to have a family and raise children, which requires a degree of financial stability to do comfortably. Additionally, I value working hours that allow me to maintain my health and fitness, a reputable brand that will build credibility and allow future career transitions, and the ability to come home at a reasonable time to have time for hobbies and family. I recognize that most of the adult life is spent working, and that it is crucial to choose a job that I love. However, despite its shortcomings and ethical considerations, a job at Facebook seems nearly ideal when looking at it from this angle, especially considering the alternative. If instead I had a job I loved at a highly ethical company but worked extremely long hours, earned little pay, and had little flexibility to switch firms, I would be sacrificing the aspects of life that are more important and fulfilling to me than the job itself.
