Stigma attached to Tobacco company on resume?

Hey guys I have been getting rather mixed responses for this question. How much negativity would working as a financial analyst at a big tobacco firm be for my resume? I can reasonably see it affecting b-school apps but outside of that would industries say banking or consulting care too much about it?

11 Comments
 

Why would a business school care? If you mean for an MBA later on down the road, they really don't give a fuck. In fact no one gives a fuck. Being a financial analyst at ANY big company is a huge plus on your resumes and I'm wondering why you would even want to think about leaving a position like that. I assume it could be quite lucrative.

 

I've heard a lot more shit about finance companies than tobacco companies in the past few years...so yeah I highly doubt that having a tobacco company on your resume will be looked upon negatively.

 

Most people probably wouldn't care but I could definitely imagine someone basically putting you on a shit list. I've never seen someone with a background from Altria (or similar) though. If I had other alternatives that were equivalent, I would take those instead for sure. That industry certainly won't be viewed positively by everyone.

 

Cheers guys. Yeah I can see it being highly specific to the individual, just wondering how frequent it might be to hit that HR guy that really hates tobacco. I am currently looking at two options, finance analyst here or underwriter at Zurich. Want to move into something investments related later.

 

I think it would have a lot more stigma if you worked in marketing. If you're interested in finance, I think (or would like to think) most in hiring positions are rational. If you wanted to work in politics or non-profits, that may be a different story where they are hiring a person as a whole (including their views), not a tool to increase profits.

 

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