Advantages Of Working In A Small Company

Most job hunters give priority to looking for work in large, well-known companies. It is widely believed that large companies offer higher compensation and job security as they have more resources. The truth is that for most applicants, the prospects are better in firms that are not in the top ranks.

In the first place, competition for slots in large companies is intense. You can see thousands line up, with only a small percentage getting hired. If you have no backer inside the company, you better have outstanding qualifications. Oftentimes, even having outstanding credentials is not enough for there are also many like you knocking at that well-known company’s door.

After all this, even if you manage to get hired, rising to the position that will satisfy your desire may take forever as, again, you will be fighting for that post with countless others. Because of this and several other important reasons, it is time to look at the benefits of working in a smaller but progressive company with high growth potential.

You learn more. In a smaller company, you get to do more tasks. With less manpower, work is less specialized and a large number of functions are by necessity given to each person. There are more opportunities to learn from co-workers and even higher management because of more interaction with each other. The physical compactness of the company premises will virtually guarantee the chance of meeting everyone in person.

Smaller firms are more flexible. Almost every deviation from a regulation, no matter how trivial or obvious, needs to be approved by the legal department in large companies. Even in the case of an urgent need to implement a new course of action, it may take a board meeting to come to a decision, which means by the time that it is approved, the opportunity may have already passed. There has been much talk of huge corporations turning on a time, which means being able to change course quickly, but in general a small company is far more nimble.

Less office politics. While it is virtually impossible to find a totally politics-free workplace, there is less office politics in smaller companies because your work output is more easily seen. True performance is more easily gauged and it would be harder to put up a false image. It is harder, for example, to grab credit for a different person’s excellent work if everyone knows that it is another person who did it.

You can accomplish more. For people who want to make things happen, chances are better with smaller companies. Unless you are already high up in the corporate ladder, in most cases you rarely have the chance to make a substantial contribution in large corporations. You will just be a small cog in a large wheel. Being able to claim an entire project as your own gives you a sense of achievement that is hard to obtain if a thousand other people were also responsible for the work.

You have a better training ground for entrepreneurship. If your dream is to start your own business someday, then you would be better prepared if you work in a company that is small enough so that you can have a good idea of the different functions. Even if you do not know exactly how each person does his job, it is easier to have a basic grasp of what each person is doing and his contribution to the company’s operations. Also, you yourself are likely to be trained for a broad set of responsibilities that will be extremely useful if you do decide to go into business. In big firms, you are bound to know only a small portion of what makes your company work.

There are countless benefits to working in a smaller company. While most aspire for positions in larger firms, it is time to examine if it would be better for your career to consider working in a small firm. You may be surprised to find out that there may be better opportunities for most people in the smaller firms. It is not always true that “the bigger is better,” especially in the case of your career.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-6, Sunday, April 20, 2014. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.