Broader Background or Deeper Knowledge

"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.

The answer to this question lies in the position for which the hiring is being done. If the position is highly technical and needs minimum interaction with people, it makes sense to focus only on the required subject. But if the position may eventually require a person to participate in client interaction, corporate strategy or a lot of people interaction, it makes sense to hire a person with a broad background.

For example, when hiring a database administrator the most important factor is the person's knowledge about databases. Anything else may be good to have but is not likely to have any significant effect on the quality of the job. On the other hand a person hired into the human resources department may need to have a broader background as it may help him to communicate with the company employees in a better way. Similarly a Sales person's personality and background can play a more pivotal role than his actual knowledge of the sales lifecycle. Another reason to prefer people with broader background for a strategic role is that most of the things in the world are inter-connected. Financial needs can drive marketing and a good marketing may depend on feedback from the sales force. A person with a broader background is more likely to notice these connections and make constructive inputs to strategic decisions. 

A person with a strong knowledge in a small number of subjects is extremely useful and irreplaceable. Nevertheless such a person cannot be expected to look beyond his subjects to seek solutions to problems affecting the whole company. They may also face difficulties if given a role that entails interaction with people of different backgrounds. Hence the employers should emphasize a broader background or a strong subject knowledge on the basis of technicality and the amount of people interaction required in the role.