Leadership Blog #2

Ethics In Work
What?
I work as a leasing agent at a student apartment complex in Gainesville. Every day I give tours and work with future residents to sign leases and select where they will be living. This takes a great amount of ethics when working with contracts that cause students to take out loans and use their income or their parents money to live. I have to be sure to thoroughly explain the lease contract with the student and make sure that they know when signing the lease that they are executing a binding contract that locks them in for 12 months at our apartment complex. Even though it is my job to sign as many leases as possible and to keep my companies best interest in mind, I also feel it is my responsibility to keep complete honesty with the tenant and let them know everything that they are agreeing to within the lease. I am sure not to just tell them where to sign and trick them into signing or lie to them about what they are agreeing to.
So What?
In my job as a leasing agent it is so important to remain honest and demonstrate good ethics when dealing with contracts and money. Often, money will lead to greed and the law will be broken. I want students to make sure that they know this contract is over a $7,000 purchase on housing that they are agreeing to, more than several full time students make per year. Being honest is a key trait to a successful leasing agent, because it will pay off!
Now What?
Now that I am able to practice good ethics and honesty at my current part time job, I plan to have strong ethics in my career and life. With several of the recent corporate ethics scandals, it is obvious that bad ethics will shine through if used and that it is important to remain honest and use good judgment and it will pay off. If you lie, people will find out and other people appreciate honesty and good ethics. If my company makes me question my ethics, I am confident that I will have no problem finding another job with a company that I am proud to work with.