Ethical and Professional Issues: Reading Responses

One of the most important things that I have learned throughout my life and especially the job search process is the importance of first impressions. It is important to note that not all first impressions are made when you meet someone face to face for the first time; recruiters or those reviewing your job application will immediately cross you off their list if your resume does not satisfy what they are looking for. While it is obviously important that your skill set and other requirements such as GPA and experience to match, I would argue that the layout and presentation of the information on your resume is more important. One career advisor once told me that, during her role as a talent recruiter, if she was reviewing resumes and she came to one that was not easily readable and was hard to follow, she wouldn’t even bother to look at the applicant’s name, she would place the resume directly in the “NO” pile. Continuing with the conversation I had with that same advisor, she also str...

            Based on the readings and my own prior knowledge of the Edward Snowden case, I view Snowden as a hero. Even though I do believe that the United States should have a surveillance program, I think that that way in which it was completely unknown to the public prior to this leak makes Snowden’s actions honorable.             In order to release what he knew to the public, Edward Snowden gathered information regarding surveillance activities that the NSA was conducting. The 2016 film Snowden portrays this with Snowden secretly downloading data from his NSA facility onto a very small memory card and hiding it within a Rubik’s Cube. He was able to pass through the intense security leaving the facility because none of the guards thought to check his Rubik’s Cube for stolen material. Snowden then leaves the United States and heads to Hong Kong where he lives in a hotel and provides the informatio...

From the readings, I learned that the Challenger disaster was caused by a chain of events initiated by a failed seal on a rocket booster. There was erosion of an O Ring caused by the cold temperatures of the day of that launch that allowed a stream of hot gas to ignite an external fuel tank. Although the launch team was warned about the dangers of going through with the launch in such cold temperatures (near 31 degrees when 54 degrees was recommended), they decided to accept the risks and proceed as planned.   I believe that Roger Boisjoly was ethical in sharing his information regarding the dangers of proceeding with the launch in cold temperature. In this situation, and in many others like it, I believe that individuals have the responsibility to stand up for what they believe is right. By voicing his opinion pre-launch Roger was watching out for the lives of the astronauts on board the space shuttle. Roger was simply valuing the lives of those astronauts over the other conseq...

While I do believe that codes of conduct are important for companies, organizations, or communities to have, I think that their importance is often overstated. In his article The Code of Conduct , Jesse Noller defines a code of conduct as a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party, or organization. A code of conduct does not illustrate what one can do or must be, but what is not acceptable. The author goes on to discuss how a code of conduct is similar to a set of laws due to the manner in which they discourage harmful behavior. I would argue that a code of conduct is not much different that the codes of ethics we discussed in previous classes.   However, codes of conduct are, I believe, enforceable whereas codes of ethics are merely a behavioral guide. Codes ethics and codes of conduct both are less impactful than laws. Codes of conduct and ethics, to me, seem to be more a mission statement or public relations act saying, “This i...