In this role-playing exercise, students weigh the pros and cons of working for companies with different philosophies about work. Company A is a large, established hardware and software company. Employees have a reasonable level of job security, although there have been layoffs in the past few years. Salaries are highly competitive. The company offers stock options, but the stock price is not rising rapidly, and employees know they are not going to get rich from selling their options. The typical programmer works about 45 hours a week. Company B is a medium-sized, mature software company that plays a dominant role in a specialized market. The company has never had to lay off employees. Salaries are a little low by industry standards, but programmers get paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week. The company discourages managers from resorting to overtime work on projects. Many employees are involved in community activities, such as coaching their kids’ sports teams. Company C is a small start-up company trying to be the first to bring a new kind of shopping experience to the Web. Salaries are not high, but all the employees have a lot of stock options. If the product is successful, everyone expects to become a multimillionaire when the company goes public in a couple of years. In return for the stock options, the founders expect a total commitment from all the employees until the product is released. Every programmer in the company is working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. Divide the class into four groups: three groups of recruiters and one group of students about to graduate from college. Each group of recruiters, representing one of the three companies, should make a “pitch” that highlights the reasons why their company represents the best opportunity. The graduates should raise possible negative aspects of working for each company.