In 1999, Jennifer Gu was only the second employee hired at Quia, a Burlingame, Calif.-based Internet technology company focused on educational tools and content. She had worked at Oracle, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., nearly six years before making the move. “Quia is built on a great vision,” says the vice president of Product Development. “I wanted to be part of it. In a smaller company, I saw more opportunities—what you do in a small company makes a real difference.”
The contrast between Oracle’s large company hierarchy and Quia’s startup atmosphere appealed to Gu, who had been the senior development manager at Oracle prior to accepting the job with Quia. Quia began with just three employees and each had to stretch his or her talents and skills. “At that point, we focused on getting the product out. I did a lot of recruiting back then, too, trying to find people who were passionate about education and learning,” she says. Quia’s size was their selling point for new recruits. “Here, your ideas count. You’re not waiting in line to be heard. In a small company everyone gets to play more than one role, so as an engineer, you can also be part of design and marketing,” Gu adds.
With only around 20 employees, it’s still small. “We are very united,” Gu says. “Everyone here is in alignment, and we have pizza lunches together. In a large company, you don’t get this well knit. It’s personality that makes people like small companies, even if they can’t offer all the perks of large firms. But that doesn’t matter so much when you are young. You want a job that you wake up and enjoy going to every day—a place where you can find your niche,” she says.
As evidenced by what happened with Gu, a small company can put you on the fast track to success.
But be sure to select the right match for you. In a corporate environment of 30 employees or fewer, your presence is known from day one—and your success or failure is glaringly apparent.
The Trade-Offs
As recruiter and director of marketing for San Jose, Calif.-based Silicon Talent, Master Burnett understands that corporate culture is not always shaped by size. “You can find big companies that mimic the advantages of startups and vice versa,” he says. “Although there are some overarching characteristics—there are also crossovers.”
When he talks to jobseekers, he begins by asking them questions. They go over what they are looking for in an employer as well as in a job, exploring potential characteristics of the company and the work they are seeking. Burnett also asks what kind of manager they’d like to work with and what kinds of products are of most interest to them. “Then we help them determine which companies are the best fit,” he says.
“It’s important that the new graduate realizes that going to a startup can be a tremendous career-building experience,” Burnett adds. “There they will be exposed to the development of a product or service at an intense level. If their plan is to build a broad knowledge base, a startup has a lot to offer.”
In recruiting for upper-level positions, Jim Thorpe sees advantages to getting early experience in a small firm. Thorpe is a consultant for Kenn Spinrad, a Reading, Pa., executive recruiting firm that focuses on executive management positions in engineering and data processing. “Experience in a smaller firm is generally desirable when hiring at management and executive levels,” he says. “It can give the individual a faster rise in career path and offer them greater financial rewards. A larger firm provides more security. Opportunities are there, but you don’t know how rapidly the individual will develop in that organization.”
At Virginia Tech’s Department of Industrial and System Engineering in Blacksburg, Va., academic advisor Sonya Dye finds that some small firms are competing with larger firms by offering large sign-on bonuses or starting salaries. This gets younger students’ attention more quickly than good retirement plans. Stock options tend to be offered more by small firms, too, Dye notes. But the two hottest decision-benders she sees are sign-on bonuses and job location.
In her experience, Dye finds that personal demographics often push students toward a large or small firm. “A non-traditional student who is married, for example, may not want to go with a [large] consulting firm because of the amount of travel required. Younger students, though, typically enjoy the pace.
“Many top students want to try out large firms, Dye says. “Then, if they are honest, they say: ‘maybe in five or ten years when I’m starting a family, I’ll go with a smaller firm, one that offers flexible hours and the ability to work from home.’ With a few large firms requiring sixty-hour workweeks, the flexibility [of a small firm] can be very appealing.” Dye recommends that students build a broad and flexible knowledge base while in college so they have the option of going with the company they want, regardless of size.
“I tell students there are trade-offs,” says J. Patrick Donohoe, Ph.D., P.E. The associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Mississippi State University in Starkville often talks with students who are trying to decide if a small firm is right for them. He finds that students essentially focus on opportunities for advancement and how comfortable they feel about the job.
“Personality traits can determine whether a student is suited for a large or small firm,” Donohoe says. “Someone who doesn’t necessarily like to interact with a lot of people may find better isolation in a large company, though this varies by firm. But in small companies, you typically need good people skills because you work so closely with others. If a student needs help in making the transition from college to work, large firms probably do a better job of helping. They are more likely to offer training to help new employees adjust. Small firms tend to hire more self-starters,” he says.
Weighing Large Firms in the Balance
Stability and the right equipment shaped Paul Peltz’s job choice. Currently a computer science major at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, he is also a system administrator there. “The reasons I chose a large organization are the stability of my job, the benefits and the retirement plan,” he says. “My problem with a small company is that there isn’t enough money to do all the things I need to do. With a large company, I can purchase the necessary equipment and not worry about having to cheap out on things. The only problem I have with large companies is the red tape that goes along with them,” he notes.
Corporate giants offer some unique advantages, though. When Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart joined IBM back in the late 1970s, “I went with the best in the industry. When I joined the company, it was the best at training and developing management, leadership and marketing skills.”
Mayberry-Stewart turned that learning experience into a successful information technology career. Currently chairman and CEO of Black Diamond IT Consulting Group, LLC in Brentwood, Tenn.; interim CIO for Fisk University in nearby Nashville; and chairman of the board of the Black MBA Association, she notes that big firms can deliver unparalleled advantages. For example, as a global company, IBM offers access to resources around the world, including a major research lab.
Now a principal in Plainfield, N.J.-based MBS Education Services, Randal D. Pinkett began his career at Lucent Technologies based in Murray Hill, N.J. “The good thing about a big company is that they have the resources to incubate and finance ideas that, if they fail, are still sustainable. So you can cast a wider net, try this and that, and even if only one effort is successful, the firm will still make money.
“With a small firm, you have to be wise about how you spend [the company’s money],” says Pinkett, who is now a Ph.D. candidate in the Epistemology and Learning Group of the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Reflecting on his experience with MBS Education Services, Pinkett says, “In a new marketing initiative, we have to be careful. It’s a constant hustle. But, we’re able to be more flexible in responding to market conditions.
At Lucent, if you had a new idea, you pitched it to your boss, [who pitched it] to his boss, and then you waited for a team to be formed. All these steps take time in a big company.
“In large firms you are assigned a very small piece of a big picture,” Pinkett adds. “I tell folks that there are benefits to large companies. They are established with lots of resources. But in the right small companies, you can acquire a broad set of skills.”
Being Flexible
“Nine months ago, I was the 21st employee at Zembu Labs,” says Jason Thorpe, senior systems engineer. In those not-so-long ago days, employees at the Palo Alto, Calif., firm took care of routine maintenance chores in addition to their regular jobs. Now the firm is growing, with international deployments and a regular maintenance crew.
Thorpe chose to leave the Numerical Aerospace Simulation Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., for Zembu Labs. “I saw friends having fun and doing well at startups,” he says. “I looked at established companies like AT&T as well as at other startups. But I chose Zembu for the people—they are incredible.
#147;The founders are well-known and have a good track record. Plus I knew other people from NASA who were already with the company.” He likes what he found. In addition to a dynamic environment and working directly with the founders, his experience defies standard wisdom on startups—he works a normal number of hours. “I still have time to go home and relax,” he says, adding, “I’ve always worked at home on things I like. That was true now and when I was with NASA.”
Norm Stafford finds that small firms offer a close relationship among co-workers. The project manager- hydraulic engineer at Genesis Environmental Solutions in Oklahoma City says, “You get to know everyone immediately and get to do all phases of the work from hands-on field operations and report writing to interfacing with regulatory people. You work more with the business side, too. In a small firm, you have to watch your nickels and dimes. Having worked in both large and small arenas, though, I think working at a small firm is more fun.”
Keith Willis, the president of Talon Computer Company in Tyler, Texas puts it succinctly. “The main advantage of a small firm is flexibility,” he says. “We have schedule flexibility in working with software and hardware. Our employees have room to grow.”
At Talon, employees also enjoy the ability to shape their own schedules. When they want to take a course, opt for some telecommuting or work unusual hours, it’s usually possible. “Employees generally control their time,” says Willis. “Unless they are under deadline, they just report it. We have seven folks here who value that. But when we have a massive project, we all work over the weekend. It’s a two-way deal.
“A second advantage is quality control. As a small company, we can make sure we give our customers top-notch service,” adds Willis. “The third advantage is time in training. We spend time working with people in a personal atmosphere. Here you matter; you are part of the family.”
Pros and Cons
In a small company you are likely to:
- Work closely with founding members
- Be teamed with senior engineers & get to leverage off their experience
- Be exposed to product development at close range
- Participate in the full life cycle of a product/service
- Impact the product/service directly
- Relax in a laid-back environment with relatively little bureaucracy, while being energized by a dynamic process
In a large company you are likely to:
- Have a less rigorous time commitment than you would experience in a small company
- Have more opportunities to move around in the organization
- Be exposed to different development methodology
- Have access to a broad base of resources
- Experience more diversity and formal resolution mechanisms
Advice From the Crossroads
When Mark Mehler reflects on the small firm vs. large firm issue, he speaks from a unique perspective. In addition to regularly updating CareerXroads: The Directory to Job, Resume, and Career Management Sites (www.careerxroads.com) on the Web, he and co-author Jerry Crispin have conducted over one hundred classes to teach recruiters how to use emerging technology in their work as well as participated in public speaking engagements all over the world.
Mehler, based in Kendall Park, N.J., gives his take on current small/big business realities:
“When seeking employment, there are several things you should consider:
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Dr. Pamela Palmer is a free-lance writer who specializes in career, business and information technology.