Toronto – Canada
Being a fairly recent grad and with the economy the way it is, us young go-getters are always thinking about the best way to get a leg up on the competition and how to fire away into a bright, bright, future. For obvious reasons landing that first job is pretty crucial in setting you up for future success, or so it seems. A recent conundrum I’ve encountered is whether it is better to work at an ambitious start up, or get a job working for the big dogs right off the bat.
I’ve always been a supporter of the under dog, so I’m prone to supporting the start up. In general, everyone should work for a start up at one point in their lives. Start ups inherently must fight for every piece of the pie in order to gain market share, this “spirit” permeates throughout the organization and can lead to a more entrepreneurial nature within the employees. Also the idea of getting a slice of the pie leads start ups to occupy niches or have very unique specializations that larger companies cannot have.
Yet one of the most important characteristics of start ups might be the ability to make mistakes. They are curious and experimental in nature leading them to teach valuable lessons in short spans of times. Larger more established firms may be more risk averse, preventing them from pursuing opportunities where others see it. Assessing and supporting a risky business move, can be a difficult and expensive lesson to learn, being able to partake in that opportunity early in your career can be a great opportunity.
Working at a big company obviously has its perks as well. The pay is probably better, there is more job security and you undoubtedly will be amongst professionals with a high standard of work. You will gain valuable “work experience”, but it you might miss out on that dose of “life experience”.
Thats why I say take the plunge early, work for a young exciting company, where you can affect the future and help move it in the right direction. If you do a really good job, you just might turn your “start up” into a big company as well : )
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