The Internet is full of advice on how to prepare a resume and rehearse top interview strategies and so on. This article is not another contribution to how to land your dream job. It's about how to know what that dream job is in the first place. Being adept at landing the job isn't much of a virtue if you're landing a job at the wrong firm.
Whatever aptitudes, skills and work history you have is what it is. How you choose to market it is how you choose to do so. My question is, are you choosing to market yourself to the right companies? Elsewhere, I've give my list of the most elite of the best companies to work for . Knowing that though won't solve for you the question of the right fit.
Size Matters
Whether or not you've previously weighed it as a consideration, company size does make a big difference in both the quality of your work experience and the standard of success implicit in your employment.
First, consider the virtues of small companies, with fewer employees there are few layers of organization, which means the opportunity for a more immediate encounter with customers, suppliers and collaborators. As well, you'll be able to have much closer personal working relationships with your peers. This is a distinctive work experience; the feeling of family can be quite palpable. An additional benefit, very valuable to many people, is the opportunity to directly enjoy the fruits of your labor. The consequences of your work are experienced in a way not available within big, impersonal businesses.
It is certainly true that big companies aspire to compensate for this cost of scale by attempting to cultivate a team spirit in their various departments and divisions Sometimes there is notable success in these efforts. However, in such a context, your team's accomplishments will always be conditional upon those of other departments and divisions, over whose work and efforts you and your team have no influence. So, even the best intended efforts at such scaled team building can never really capture the immediate and tangible experience of gratification from meeting challenges and achieving success experienced from work at a small company.
On the other hand, big companies offer advantages which the smaller ones simply cannot provide. Their greater size embodies more opportunity for organizational advancement, up the executive ladder, with all the benefits of increased responsibility, challenge and salary. Most large firms also offer options for more intensive specialization, should that be your preference. Yet, the same operational diversity of the large firm also allows you a better option to get out of a specialization which has grown stale for you, providing the option for lateral movement within the firm. This opens new career paths that don't cost you established seniority and tenure through changing employers.
As many large companies have geographically dispersed operations, they present the opportunity to travel and live in exotic locations, making your work a cultural adventure as well as a business one. Though there are certainly exceptions, generally, larger firms will be able to provide richer compensation and almost always will be able to provide better perks and benefits.
Structure Matters
Size of a firm though isn't the only thing that matters; you should be giving consideration to the organizational structure of a firm for whom you're considering working. How will your personal disposition fit with the structural operations of a given work experience? It can have a big impact on our success and satisfaction at work The extremes go from the regimented, tightly rule bound, hierarchy that prides itself on the precision of job description and responsibility, along with a rigorously practiced chain of command, at one end of the spectrum.
The other end of the spectrum has very differently structured companies, such as the video game producer Valve. These are businesses conceived as fluid, adaptive association arrangements. Their success depends upon very high levels of employee enterprise and innovation. Indeed, in some of these firms, such as Valve, there is no chain of command hierarchy. Initiative and responsibility are generated from within a culture of collegial collaboration, supervision and accountability.
Don't be misled into passing moral judgments on those attracted to one form of structure or the other. The reason that both exist is because different people thrive better in different environments. You have to figure out which is right for you.
Perhaps you thrive most when tasks are clearly prescribed? Are you stressed when blindsided by problems which you had no idea were going to be your responsibility? Are you anxious when given vague instructions or encounter unclear expectations? If so, no matter about all the great perks you may have heard about at some of the flatter structured firms, it's probably not the place for you. No number of ping-pong or massages tables will be adequate compensation for a work life that feels constantly distressed. That's not a recipe for either satisfaction or success.
On the other hand, if you feel suffocated by authority, are constantly seeking new challenges and love the thrill of relentlessly demanding work place improvisation, notwithstanding the security and stability that the more traditional, hierarchical firms often provide, you'd likely find the organizationally conservative culture to be claustrophobic. You need to be in a more fluid, flat structured work environment that provokes your creative spontaneity and encourages your intellectual curiosity.
To reiterate, this is not about right and wrong or good and bad. It's about what works and what doesn't. Different kinds of companies embody different styles and cultures, which are largely a function of their size and structure. Success and satisfaction from your work life rides upon a smart and pragmatic assessment of which set of business practices best complement your own personal dispositions. Hopefully this brief overview helps you better assess what choices of company to work for will offer you the most rewarding work experience.
Whatever aptitudes, skills and work history you have is what it is. How you choose to market it is how you choose to do so. My question is, are you choosing to market yourself to the right companies? Elsewhere, I've give my list of the most elite of the best companies to work for . Knowing that though won't solve for you the question of the right fit.
Size Matters
Whether or not you've previously weighed it as a consideration, company size does make a big difference in both the quality of your work experience and the standard of success implicit in your employment.
First, consider the virtues of small companies, with fewer employees there are few layers of organization, which means the opportunity for a more immediate encounter with customers, suppliers and collaborators. As well, you'll be able to have much closer personal working relationships with your peers. This is a distinctive work experience; the feeling of family can be quite palpable. An additional benefit, very valuable to many people, is the opportunity to directly enjoy the fruits of your labor. The consequences of your work are experienced in a way not available within big, impersonal businesses.
It is certainly true that big companies aspire to compensate for this cost of scale by attempting to cultivate a team spirit in their various departments and divisions Sometimes there is notable success in these efforts. However, in such a context, your team's accomplishments will always be conditional upon those of other departments and divisions, over whose work and efforts you and your team have no influence. So, even the best intended efforts at such scaled team building can never really capture the immediate and tangible experience of gratification from meeting challenges and achieving success experienced from work at a small company.
On the other hand, big companies offer advantages which the smaller ones simply cannot provide. Their greater size embodies more opportunity for organizational advancement, up the executive ladder, with all the benefits of increased responsibility, challenge and salary. Most large firms also offer options for more intensive specialization, should that be your preference. Yet, the same operational diversity of the large firm also allows you a better option to get out of a specialization which has grown stale for you, providing the option for lateral movement within the firm. This opens new career paths that don't cost you established seniority and tenure through changing employers.
As many large companies have geographically dispersed operations, they present the opportunity to travel and live in exotic locations, making your work a cultural adventure as well as a business one. Though there are certainly exceptions, generally, larger firms will be able to provide richer compensation and almost always will be able to provide better perks and benefits.
Structure Matters
Size of a firm though isn't the only thing that matters; you should be giving consideration to the organizational structure of a firm for whom you're considering working. How will your personal disposition fit with the structural operations of a given work experience? It can have a big impact on our success and satisfaction at work The extremes go from the regimented, tightly rule bound, hierarchy that prides itself on the precision of job description and responsibility, along with a rigorously practiced chain of command, at one end of the spectrum.
The other end of the spectrum has very differently structured companies, such as the video game producer Valve. These are businesses conceived as fluid, adaptive association arrangements. Their success depends upon very high levels of employee enterprise and innovation. Indeed, in some of these firms, such as Valve, there is no chain of command hierarchy. Initiative and responsibility are generated from within a culture of collegial collaboration, supervision and accountability.
Don't be misled into passing moral judgments on those attracted to one form of structure or the other. The reason that both exist is because different people thrive better in different environments. You have to figure out which is right for you.
Perhaps you thrive most when tasks are clearly prescribed? Are you stressed when blindsided by problems which you had no idea were going to be your responsibility? Are you anxious when given vague instructions or encounter unclear expectations? If so, no matter about all the great perks you may have heard about at some of the flatter structured firms, it's probably not the place for you. No number of ping-pong or massages tables will be adequate compensation for a work life that feels constantly distressed. That's not a recipe for either satisfaction or success.
On the other hand, if you feel suffocated by authority, are constantly seeking new challenges and love the thrill of relentlessly demanding work place improvisation, notwithstanding the security and stability that the more traditional, hierarchical firms often provide, you'd likely find the organizationally conservative culture to be claustrophobic. You need to be in a more fluid, flat structured work environment that provokes your creative spontaneity and encourages your intellectual curiosity.
To reiterate, this is not about right and wrong or good and bad. It's about what works and what doesn't. Different kinds of companies embody different styles and cultures, which are largely a function of their size and structure. Success and satisfaction from your work life rides upon a smart and pragmatic assessment of which set of business practices best complement your own personal dispositions. Hopefully this brief overview helps you better assess what choices of company to work for will offer you the most rewarding work experience.
About the Author:
Thomas Ryerson's writing at the Best Companies to Work For site is a tremendous resource for job hunters and career changers. Also, for those pondering a leave of absence from work to pursue an MBA, his article "Is Getting an MBA the Right Decision for You" is required reading.
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