Category: With my opening statement out of the way, time to start talking about my career: Past, Present and Future.
Past/Present:
In my career to date at (company), the greatest contribution I have made is minimizing the environmental impact of direct mail campaigns. As a statistical modeler, I am tasked with targeting prospects in the most efficient manner possible. This profit-maximizing behavior has the additional benefit of minimizing the amount of paper used to acquire new accounts.
(Real time comment #1: All kidding aside, I’m embarrassed to re-read this. I wish I could talk to the AdCom who read this, to at least see if they laughed at how hard I stretched this example.)
One page down, one (or less) to go. Not happy with what I’ve got so far.
Future: I’ve got to show some real vision here, or I’ve done nothing with the most important essay in the entire application.
Later in my career, I’d like to combine the teachings of Fuqua in social entrepreneurship with my card marketing experience to develop a socially responsible lending institution. I will be a leader of consequence by insisting that this institution maintain the highest integrity and ethics with respect to the consumer, community, and the environment.
NOW we’re talking. I’ve touched a few of the keywords in the opening question, and given myself a wide opening to be an idealist.
For far too long, financial institutions have maintained a combative relationship with consumers through abusive policies, excessive fees, and impersonal service. <snip>
…I will not tolerate abusive practices such [as] two-cycle billing, universal default, or processing checks largest to smallest and before deposits to generate overlimit fees. <snip>
All of these practices are currently legal, but they certainly aren’t ethical, and have definitely contributed to the global financial crisis. <snip>
Finally, companies can no longer afford to ignore the environmental impact of their operations. Some companies take this a step further and refuse to do business with other companies that aren’t environmentally sensitive. This is an interesting idea, and something that I will need to evaluate as part of a detailed business plan.
(Real time comment #2: How did I miss the word ‘as’ in that sentence? How did my proofreader miss it? Just goes to show, maybe use two proofreaders other than yourself!)
At one and three-quarters pages, I’ve laid out how I’m going to be a leader of consequence. Time to wrap this thing up.
When I was writing this, my assumption was that it was better to be honest and show awareness of my surroundings than to act if it wasn't going on, or worse, not being aware that unethical behavior is everywhere.
How much you write or talk about negatives in your interview is really up to what you are trying to portray. In my case, I was writing about starting an ethically run financial services company. So it made sense to compare and contrast what I want to do in the future vs. what the current standard is today.
I don't think any of the adcoms are going to hold the nature of the environment you work in against you. As you said, if you're not a decision maker, you only have so much control over what everyone else does. It's better to just be confident in who you are and what you want to do going forward, and if the unethical behavior you are currently experiencing shapes what you want to do in the future, then talk about it. Otherwise, there's no sense in bringing up a negative.
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