There Are No Bad Business Ideas

BUSINESS There Are No Bad Business Ideas, Only Those That Never Leave the Drawing Board The age of traditional efforts to prepare students for a desk-based career is already past its prime. The careers of modern students will be built upon entirely new challenges linked with not only knowledge gained in their studies but also the search for personal development. Working on the establishment of a startup project will become an irreplaceably necessary experience and conducting business alongside studies will become standard. This is definitely a possible future for universities that adopt creativity as part of their campus culture and VŠB-TUO is a great example of this. Ms Šimoníková, you have been the head of the Career centre at VŠB-TUO for three years now. You have been in the business of supporting the growth of ideas, individuals and teams for many years. What is your opinion on the young people you and your team work with? Today’s youth has the same wants and needs as we used to have. Some strive to enjoy life to the fullest, others look for opportunities to develop themselves; a difference that I have noticed, however, is that most young people today are more willing to devote their efforts to activities they enjoy and make sense to them. Essentially, they are more focused on personal development. On the other hand, activities that seem fruitless and bear a sort of discomfort are very unpopular and are only done on an unavoidably necessary scale. 20 ǀ POSITIV 4/2021 Sometimes I wonder, though, if that was the way we used to do it, as well. What is your favorite part of working with students? Does it inspire you in some way? You see, for us, working with students is a little bit of a double-edged sword, motivating in some respects but demotivating in others. We share in the joys of successes we take part in, however, sometimes we have a little sigh to ourselves wondering where the will and perseverance of young folk has gone. Some things have been made easier for them than they were for us; they are offered so many opportunities. Fortunately, eventually we are always reminded that we cannot compare our environments this way; we can only accept, encourage and help when needed.