GMAT Essays (AWA)

"Some employers who recruit recent college graduates for entry-level jobs evaluate applicants only on their
performance in business courses such as accounting, marketing, and economics. However, other employers
also expect applicants to have a broad background in such courses as history, literature, and philosophy."

Do you think that, in the application process, employers should emphasize one type of background-either
specialization in business courses or a more varied academic preparation-over the other? Why or why not? Develop your position by using reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

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The issue of whether employers should emphasize one type of background --either specialization in business courses such as accounting, marketing, and economics over a more varied academic preparation such as a broad background in such courses as history, literature, and philosophy is controversial. In my essay below I will favor the former over later.

Today's firms are working in unprecedent environment of cut throat competition where it is impossible to survive unless one works in a very specialize area. Take any example from any industry the trends of outsourcing and similar other moves from competitors forces an organization to focus all its energy one core businesses and outsource or tender all non core businesses. Nearly every other industry or successful organization is based on similar principle of focusing on core businesses. Take for example, semiconductor industry. The largest chip makers like Texas Instruments or Intel. The semiconductor businesses will be divided in several distinct fragments. These chip makers mostly focus on their core businesses of in house chip design, outsourcing lot of their automation work to Electronic Design Automation companies such as Cadence, Synopsis or Mentor, and lot of their foundry work to companies such as TSMC(Taiwan Semiconductor Corp) or other foundry giants. These companies have further outsource their work to other companies and so on so forth. What I am trying to bring forth here is that in virtually every organization industry the focus is on core businesses.

So if my firm core business is Accounting or economics I will prefer to choose a fresh graduate who is best in those skills rather than trying to focus on their overall knowledge of history social sciences and others. The firms day to day efficiency comes from the specialized knowledge and its application. So hiring freshers with specialized knowledge will do wonder for the organization, rather than hiring a person with overall good knowledge.

In summary, as the success of organization depends on their core businesses in a select few areas the employer should prefer to hire graduates who are good in those select areas.