The point of this article is not to provide guidance on how to get a job at your preferred employer. There's plenty of that kind of advice and courses widely available, online and elsewhere. Instead, the purpose of this article is to get into the weeds on figuring out how you know what is (or should be) that preferred employer.
Sure you have to have a solid grasp on your aptitudes and skills. That purely functional approach though could leave you in an unhappy place. Elsewhere, I've listed the elite of the best companies to work for . Anyone can do that, you have to figure out what's the best company for you to work at, based on your own disposition, preferences and compatibility.
Size Matters
Job seekers and career changers don't always take account of company size, but they really should. It can make a major difference in success and satisfaction of your work experience.
Some people prefer small firms, with a heavy hands-on focus, which provides the opportunity for close, very personal working relationships. The opportunity to not only know your colleagues well, but possibly even to know them all well, constitutes a distinctive work environment. Plus, the ability to really see the fruit of your efforts is possible in a way it is not within large, more impersonal firms.
It is true of course that larger firms endeavor to nurture something of a team mentality within their sub units, precisely to recapture some of this sense of excitement and commitment. However, rarely can such efforts get around the fact that in a large company your team's accomplishments will be always dependent upon the efforts of other divisions or departments. You have no control over them and yet your contributions always rely upon them. Only small business can really provide that environment in which your team's successes and challenges are experienced so immediately and tangibly.
However, large firms have benefits that just are not available in smaller businesses. Being larger, there is much more room for advance up the organizational ladder into greater and greater levels of responsibility and personal accomplishment. The size of such firms will provide as well far more opportunities for specialization. At the same time, organizational diversity also allows for lateral moves to change one's specialization, opening new career vistas without sacrificing seniority and tenure.
Another benefit of large firms, especially for those with a little of the explorer in them, is the opportunity for travel and residence abroad. So many large companies now are geographically dispersed in their operations that there are frequent opportunities for you and your family to experience life in a very difficult culture. This is the learning experience of a lifetime for your kids. And most large firms provide a wide range of support services for the family of relocating employees, including language training, schooling and orientation counselling. And of course we mustn't forget the bottom line. In general, large companies provide richer salaries and better 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.
At the other end are those companies, such as the video game producer Valve, that emphasize fluid, adaptive working relationships, relying upon employee initiative and innovation. In those at the very far end of the spectrum, there may not even be chain of command hierarchy, relying instead upon a culture of collegial supervision and informal 360 degree accountability.
Don't make the common mistake of dismissing those attracted to one form of structure or the other. As one sportscaster I know puts it, there's a reason they make both pepperoni and pineapple. Different people are better suited to different structures. The challenge is to figure out where you fit the best.
Do you thrive best when your tasks are clearly delineated? Do you dislike being sideswiped by problems which you had no idea would be part of your responsibility? Do you feel anxious at the prospect of vague instructions or unclear expectations? Though the more open ended, horizontally structured firms may sound appealing, with their campus like lifestyle, if you answered yes to those questions, you may find such work environments too stressful. All the basketball courts and massages in the world aren't going to make your work life satisfying or successful if you're in a state of constant distress or aggravation.
Likewise, if you're a person who gets claustrophobic in the face of authority or if strictly delineated job descriptions cramp your love for the excitement of work place improvisation and adaptation, no amount of security and stability from traditional, hierarchical firms is going to compensate for the feelings of choked creativity and spontaneity that you'll likely experience trying to work there. You need a fluid, flat structured work situation to provoke and support your boundary transgressing intellectual curiosity.
Remember, this is not about what's right and wrong or good and bad here. It's about what's right or wrong and good or bad for you. Companies of different sizes and structures possess different characteristics. Your success and satisfaction at work is much enhanced by ensuring that you're working in an environment that gets the most from and gives back the most to you. This short review has been intended to aid you in making the better choice for your own dispositions and long term success.
Sure you have to have a solid grasp on your aptitudes and skills. That purely functional approach though could leave you in an unhappy place. Elsewhere, I've listed the elite of the best companies to work for . Anyone can do that, you have to figure out what's the best company for you to work at, based on your own disposition, preferences and compatibility.
Size Matters
Job seekers and career changers don't always take account of company size, but they really should. It can make a major difference in success and satisfaction of your work experience.
Some people prefer small firms, with a heavy hands-on focus, which provides the opportunity for close, very personal working relationships. The opportunity to not only know your colleagues well, but possibly even to know them all well, constitutes a distinctive work environment. Plus, the ability to really see the fruit of your efforts is possible in a way it is not within large, more impersonal firms.
It is true of course that larger firms endeavor to nurture something of a team mentality within their sub units, precisely to recapture some of this sense of excitement and commitment. However, rarely can such efforts get around the fact that in a large company your team's accomplishments will be always dependent upon the efforts of other divisions or departments. You have no control over them and yet your contributions always rely upon them. Only small business can really provide that environment in which your team's successes and challenges are experienced so immediately and tangibly.
However, large firms have benefits that just are not available in smaller businesses. Being larger, there is much more room for advance up the organizational ladder into greater and greater levels of responsibility and personal accomplishment. The size of such firms will provide as well far more opportunities for specialization. At the same time, organizational diversity also allows for lateral moves to change one's specialization, opening new career vistas without sacrificing seniority and tenure.
Another benefit of large firms, especially for those with a little of the explorer in them, is the opportunity for travel and residence abroad. So many large companies now are geographically dispersed in their operations that there are frequent opportunities for you and your family to experience life in a very difficult culture. This is the learning experience of a lifetime for your kids. And most large firms provide a wide range of support services for the family of relocating employees, including language training, schooling and orientation counselling. And of course we mustn't forget the bottom line. In general, large companies provide richer salaries and better 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.
At the other end are those companies, such as the video game producer Valve, that emphasize fluid, adaptive working relationships, relying upon employee initiative and innovation. In those at the very far end of the spectrum, there may not even be chain of command hierarchy, relying instead upon a culture of collegial supervision and informal 360 degree accountability.
Don't make the common mistake of dismissing those attracted to one form of structure or the other. As one sportscaster I know puts it, there's a reason they make both pepperoni and pineapple. Different people are better suited to different structures. The challenge is to figure out where you fit the best.
Do you thrive best when your tasks are clearly delineated? Do you dislike being sideswiped by problems which you had no idea would be part of your responsibility? Do you feel anxious at the prospect of vague instructions or unclear expectations? Though the more open ended, horizontally structured firms may sound appealing, with their campus like lifestyle, if you answered yes to those questions, you may find such work environments too stressful. All the basketball courts and massages in the world aren't going to make your work life satisfying or successful if you're in a state of constant distress or aggravation.
Likewise, if you're a person who gets claustrophobic in the face of authority or if strictly delineated job descriptions cramp your love for the excitement of work place improvisation and adaptation, no amount of security and stability from traditional, hierarchical firms is going to compensate for the feelings of choked creativity and spontaneity that you'll likely experience trying to work there. You need a fluid, flat structured work situation to provoke and support your boundary transgressing intellectual curiosity.
Remember, this is not about what's right and wrong or good and bad here. It's about what's right or wrong and good or bad for you. Companies of different sizes and structures possess different characteristics. Your success and satisfaction at work is much enhanced by ensuring that you're working in an environment that gets the most from and gives back the most to you. This short review has been intended to aid you in making the better choice for your own dispositions and long term success.
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 anyone pondering a leave from work to pursue an MBA, his piece "Is Getting an MBA the Right Decision for You" is required reading.
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