If you saw two job openings with similar descriptions, one for a large multinational corporation and the other for a small Irish business with about 100 employees, which would you think was the better opportunity? Here are nine compelling reasons why the small company is the better option.
1. Small Companies Are More Flexible, Agile, and Ambitious
You’ll find smaller companies are more flexible and agile, particularly in fast-growing markets. They will adapt better to new opportunities and are more open to new ideas. Very often, the focus is on rapid growth making small companies exciting to work for as well as being rewarding.
2. You Won’t Be Put in a Box
In a corporate environment, you often end up doing the same thing on the same equipment with the same colleagues working for the same clients and using the same technology. In a smaller company, you’ll get the opportunity to work on a more varied selection of projects, expanding your skillset and giving you a much broader range of experience.
3. You’ll Be Exposed to Wider Range of Technology
Following on from the last point, you’ll also be exposed to a wider range of technology in a small company. In SL Controls, for example, we are vendor neutral. That is a sales term but for the engineers on our team, it means they get the opportunity to work on systems and platforms from all vendors, increasing their skill levels and equipping them for the future.
4. You’ll Develop a Wider Range of Skills
This has already been touched on in the two points above, but it doesn’t just apply to job-specific skills. In a smaller company, you’ll also get new opportunities for professional development. For example, you will get business experience in areas like sales, and you will get more opportunities to work on soft skills like presentation skills or customer service. This will make you a more rounded professional, enhancing your career prospects.
5. It’s Easier to Get Noticed
In a large company, there are multiple layers of management which means many different people who take part (or all) of the credit for the things you do. This is much less likely to happen in a smaller company. Instead, it’s easier to get noticed which makes it easier to make your mark. This improves your potential for career progression.
6. You’ll Interact with a Wider Range of People
If you currently work in a multinational corporation, when was the last time you had a conversation with the managing director or CTO? Probably never. In a smaller company, however, senior people, including the executives and company owners, are much more accessible. You can learn from them, express your ideas, build relationships, and get noticed.
7. You Can Work Closer to Home
In many cases, working for a smaller company enables you to work closer to where you live – or closer to where you want to live. If this is outside Dublin, you also get the benefit of getting away from the traffic and high house prices.
8. More Flexible Salary Review Process
Multinational companies often have fixed salary increases across all business units based on company profits. In a smaller company, the process is much more flexible and is more directly linked to your performance and career progression. This often means higher percentage increases at reviews, particularly if the company you work for benchmarks rates with the market, as SL Controls does.
9. It’s a More Fulfilling Work Environment
You’ll find there is more camaraderie in a smaller company with everyone feeling a greater sense of ownership of what the business does. This is a more pleasant environment to work in, but it also gets you closer to the success of the business as you play an integral part, something which is very rewarding.
So, if you’re job hunting or are just looking to see what job opportunities are available, remember this: bigger doesn’t always mean better.