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.
You have the skills and experience that you have and effective marketing of them is up to you. But how to go about that is in fact the secondary question after knowing who your target market is. We can, and have, provided a list of the elite of the best companies to work for , but that list offers no tailoring to your own unique 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.
Are you more suited to working at a smaller firm? It usually has a much more hands-on focus. The working relationships you'll form will likely be much closer, almost family-like (which has two sides to it). This is not only opportunity for a close familiarity with your colleagues; you could actually know everyone with whom you work. This is a distinct work environment. An additional benefit, in the minds of many, is the chance to see the immediate payoff for your work and effort. This is something that large, impersonal firms usually can't provide -- certainly not to the same degree and in the same manner.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Again, there's no right and wrong or good and bad here. There's only what works for you. The different kinds of companies possess different qualities. Your work success and satisfaction depends upon a thoughtful and realistic alignment of those qualities with your own dispositions. Hopefully this quick review has given you food for thought that will pay off in a more rewarding work experience.
You have the skills and experience that you have and effective marketing of them is up to you. But how to go about that is in fact the secondary question after knowing who your target market is. We can, and have, provided a list of the elite of the best companies to work for , but that list offers no tailoring to your own unique 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.
Are you more suited to working at a smaller firm? It usually has a much more hands-on focus. The working relationships you'll form will likely be much closer, almost family-like (which has two sides to it). This is not only opportunity for a close familiarity with your colleagues; you could actually know everyone with whom you work. This is a distinct work environment. An additional benefit, in the minds of many, is the chance to see the immediate payoff for your work and effort. This is something that large, impersonal firms usually can't provide -- certainly not to the same degree and in the same manner.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Again, there's no right and wrong or good and bad here. There's only what works for you. The different kinds of companies possess different qualities. Your work success and satisfaction depends upon a thoughtful and realistic alignment of those qualities with your own dispositions. Hopefully this quick review has given you food for thought that will pay off in a more rewarding work experience.
About the Author:
Thomas Ryerson's writing at the Best Companies to Work For blog is a tremendous resource for job hunters and career changers. Also, for those considering 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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