Your Career Futureproofing – Why Company Size Matters
Your Career Futureproofing – Why Company Size Matters
I started my career in recruitment in 2001 – for context, that was the same year Apple released the iPod!
Over the last 25 years I’ve worked through a wide range of economic conditions and had firsthand experience working in very different business environments, from global organisations to starts up with fewer than a handful of employees.
As a recruiter, I always encourage professionals to experience working for a variety of different sized companies. This is one of the most effective ways to futureproof your career. Having experience in both large, publicly listed businesses and smaller, employee-owned organisations creates a much stronger and more adaptable professional profile.
Working inside a large, publicly listed company with potentially tens of thousands of employees and possibly international operations teaches you things you simply can’t learn in a small company. How to navigate complex policies and procedures and cross-functional teams. How to influence without authority. How to get things done when the path forward requires alignment from people you’ve never met. Your manager would be in another time zone, and you may never meet the CEO.
In contrast, working in a small company of fewer than 20 people offers a completely different type of growth. There is often far greater opportunity to influence and even drive the strategic direction of the company. You take ownership beyond your job title, decisions get made quickly, and your contribution is immediately visible. You’ll be stretched in ways that accelerate your growth faster than almost any structured development program could. You’ll also learn what it means to really care about the outcome, because in a small business, everyone does. The owner of the company is likely working under the same roof.
As your career progresses, it becomes increasingly important to give yourself choices for the future. During tougher economic conditions, large organisations often implement redundancy programs – something we’ve seen recently across major technology companies. In these environments, the person making decisions about your future may never have even met you.
Similarly, when I meet with clients recruiting for senior leadership roles, they often want candidates who have already succeeded in a similar business environment. It can be difficult to demonstrate your ability to add value in a smaller organisation if your entire career has been spent in large corporates. The reverse is equally true.
The bottom line is simple.
Give yourself options for the future.
Don’t spend your entire early career in just one type of environment. Large businesses and small businesses each teach you valuable but very different lessons. The professionals who can bring both experiences to the table are often in higher demand, more commercially valuable, and have far more choice in shaping their future career.
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