Overheard on a plane by a 23 year old girl with bright white teeth:
“It’s really important that my next company offer training. I want to work for a few years at a big company that offers training… and then when my husband and I figure out where we want to live, then I’ll find a small company there and I’ll be able to waltz in… you know.”
Dear Shiny Teeth,
That’s a great plan you’ve got there. I wish you well. You’ll need a few things to make it come true:
1. A promise to yourself.
2. A rock-solid network.
3. A permanently carefree outlook on life.
These things will be your talismans, protecting you against the three big challenges you will face. In many ways, you are the heroine at the beginning of an adventure, and these are the gifts you will need to reach your destination. Think of me as the wizened, mysterious old hermit who confers upon you these 3 gifts. Here is why you will need them:
1. A promise to yourself. That big company you go to work for? Training is but one of the many, many perks it offers that it will use to lure you into giving up your dream. You may hate the work and feel deadened by the culture, but after awhile, you’ll crave the corporate morphine drip: first class upgrades, per diems, easy-to-pilfer reams of paper, on-site health club, better pay… without a promise to yourself to stay true to your dream, the slippery slope of a decent status quo will take you off track.
2. A rock-solid network. You may be able to waltz into a small company… or you may not. It’s a question of who’s already in that small company that you know. If small companies accepted just anyone from the outside, they wouldn’t have that special something that makes them attractive to you now. Those small companies protect their cultures by keeping big company goons at bay. So unless you know someone on the inside who can pull you in, or unless you get lucky, you may find them tough nuts to crack.
3. A permanently carefree outlook on life. Sorry, ladies; what follows is impolite, unfair, and true. When you get prego and you start thinking about the price of diapers… college… insurance… and you consider the perks of the corporate morphine you’re on, you probably won’t be able to justify making the leap. Without a permanently carefree outlook on life, you’re cooked. Especially once you decide to have a family. When it comes to careers, men have it easier. (This isn’t me talking, it’s the data. This was the premise of my wife’s dissertation.)
So my advice? Don’t wait. If you think a mid-size company will make you happy, then go that route now. There are great training programs out there. Books. Mentors. Get yourself to where you want to go, then fill in the blanks.
Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.
I'm the CEO of Ajax Social Media. We're helping 1 million people shine by making their online stories better. 
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I have to admit, there are serious downsides to working for small companies, and once you’ve had the Big Corporate experience, it can be difficult to adjust.
I’m on the other end of the spectrum. After working in Big Corporate, getting the “downsize deluxe” and moving to BFE, I’m working for a small company until we get a bit more settled, and then I’m hoping to parlay this small, non-corporate experience back into something with better benefits, pay, perks, etc.
That’s just my experience.
Just wanted to pop by and say, “Wow, that’s good!”
@Kelly O—Once you’ve had a taste of big co perks, it’s a hard habit to break, no?
@Frank—If I knew you were coming, Frank, I’d have spruced up the joint… oh, wait: I did! Hope all is well in Philadelphia…
I believe the type of company (big, small, etc) is less of a factor to your happiness and success than the person you report to. He or she will be the #1 reason why you leave or why you stay. Unlike Jason, I don’t have the data to back it up, just a hunch from experience.
Thomas
@Thomas—The Gallup Organization would agree with your hunch. The did a little study (nothing big; you know, a few score thousand people) that indicated exactly what you’re saying to be true.
Self commitment is very important than anything else.
@CO—commitment to oneself is either the easiest or most difficult thing to maintain.