essay - GMAT: Issue 20

"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.

Answer:
Which is the better for employers, choosing students with specialized capabilities or students with a broad range of capabilities? Although the choice should not be oversimplified, I support the idea that employers should emphasize specialized capabilities in relevant areas that the company has.

To begin with, I believe that there is significant relation between working capability and the corresponding academic areas especially in entry-level jobs. For instance, it is apparent that a student who learned information technology and gained a good evaluation on the course is better at utilizing office applications than one who did not. Taking a look at accounting, it is for sure that a student who took the course and gained a fine grade would be eligible for booking with a high possibility. Therefore, if the company wants a student who can contribute to it immediately, it should choose a student who has specialized skills.

Furthermore, although evaluating other areas than specialized ones is a good practice in terms of the benefit that the company might find a smart student, I strongly believe that there is a strong connection between grades in specialized courses and grades in other courses. In other words, a smart student, who is a person that companies pursue sincerely, should have obtained good results not only in other areas, but in specialized areas. Looking at this from the other side of fence, a student who gains excellent grades in other areas but gains poor grades in specialized areas is not one whom companies yearn for, because he is not so smart that he cannot gain good ones in specialized areas. Smart students all do well in both areas.

In conclusion, I strongly support the opinion that employers should evaluate the performance in relevant courses to the area where the company stands. It's because students with such kind of performance will show good contribution to the company, and focusing on other areas is somehow nonsense for the reason that I mentioned above.