Early Career: What Company is Right for me?
How to choose the right company to start your early career, moves that work.
Avoid Big Corporations
It may be more appealing to start at a larger firm that has the right prestige and brand reputation to adequately bulk up your slim resume. But because of the sheer size of larger companies(+35000) starting out your career in a larger firm means you start right at the bottom. It also means climbing the corporate ladder may take longer than you imagined.
Higher Competition
Bigger companies have anything upwards of 35000 employees. This presents added competition for the few junior roles. Increased competition will also mean competing with people that have longer tenure at the firm than yourself and who may be first up for promotions or new opportunities.
Stand out early in smaller firms
Whilst it can be dificult to stand out in a larger firm with many employees. In contrast working for a smaller start-up with fewer employees may mean your hard work gets noticed sooner.
Having worked in a smaller firm myself, I had the opportunity to work with different departments and also benefit from exposure to all levels of management.
For instance, I once worked on a project with the BI team and got to know the team quite well, I also had more immediate access to senior leadership. E.g. in a smaller firm your proximity to senior management may be smaller than that in a larger form where senior management may be on different floors or even different office or region.
Learn More, Faster
As the small firm starts to grow they may offer and open up new opportunities to existing employees before bringing in new employees. Think anything from being offered an exciting project or standing in for a colleauge in the short term which may open you up to learning new skills and help you figure out quickly what you are good at. Is it sales? are you a strong communicator?
Know when to leave a bad environment
Being a first time employee can mean starting with a reasonable stipend, a lower salary if you are lucky, or even an unpaid internship. It it therefore important to know when to leave when things no longer work out, you feel you are being overworked or you feel the company is simply the wrong fit. It could be longer hours than what was agreed or a toxic environment that affects your mental health, it is important to decide what your dealbreakers are before choosing what company is right for you.
Stay empowered,
C