By Joshua Knopp/entertainment editor

Business ethics are important to career success, an employer account representative for Workforce Solutions of Tarrant County told a group of NW students Oct. 7.

Dennis Smith, who has spent 20 years in workforce development and personal development, presented I Want to Get and Keep the Job!

“The key to ethics is that businesses and employees need to work together … more,” he said. “Ethics unites people on a higher ground.”

When asked who in the audience had worked at a bad job, everyone (about 25) raised their hands. After listening to individual answers, Smith said it was because students had “held a resentment toward the company.”

To solve this, Smith recommended students read mission statements. Companies use mission statements to explain their broader goals. Through mission statements, companies are prevented from “taking over the world,” he said.

Following mission statements creates loyalty and ethics, Smith said. He suggested students ask for the mission statement during their interviews.

“You’ll blow the interviewer out of the water,” he said.

Smith then set a series of ethical questions before his audience. First, Smith asked if a customer wanted an expensive product and another company sold it cheaper, should an employee tell the person about the cheaper product? Students responded that they would find a discount or tell the customer about the other company, but Smith warned students that simply telling the customer might not sit well with higher-ups.

Then, he asked what could be done if a worker did a good enough job that he was guaranteed a raise, but the office had no money for it. Students said they would find other ways to recognize the worker, which Smith agreed was a good solution.

Lastly, Smith asked about a worker using company printers to print out love letters to another office worker when there was no policy on using company materials for personal use. The only answer students had was to create a policy to prevent such abuses of company facilities. Smith agreed but said the nature of the printed material also needed to be addressed.

“If there’s one thing you remember from today, it’s to keep your work life and business life separate,” he said. “They’re different worlds.”

Smith then discussed social media’s role in business by outlining the do’s and don’ts of social media in the business world. For instance, he said it is not OK to text during an interview.

However, Smith said social media can be used positively.

“LinkedIn and Twitter are good ways to find a job,” he said.

Lastly, Smith warned about Facebook and told students not to put up anything they didn’t want the whole world to see.

“Set your privacy settings,” he said.

Smith said the most important things in workforce are integrity and ethics.

“Carry your skills with you, your integrity with you, your ethics with you,” he said. “As long as you are willing to work, you will be secure.”