Written by David Pereira- HR Manager, Liz Lyn Careers
Ever wondered why many Freshmen want to work only for “reputed organizations”. Easy! It's all they know and heard about, during their time in college. They only know the big names like TATA, ICICI, HUL, Wipro etc. Don’t get me wrong these are great Organizations and they are important milestones for many individuals. However, these bigger organizations interview a lot of applicants and have multiple filters for selection. So do not get upset or demotivated if you get an email stating that you are not selected.
What you can rather do is…(drumrolls) …. Work for a good Startup. Startups are great places to work and gain good hands on experience and they are constantly looking for good people to hire. Their only problem is that many people don’t know about them. Irrespective of the industry, there is a lot to learn and from someone who has worked in both a Corporate and Startups, here are my 2 cents about working in startups:
1. Build from Scratch
Small businesses are not as organized as MNC’s in terms of systems and processes. This offers employees a great platform to set up and build SOP’s from scratch. There will be trial and error but it’s a nice achievement to add to your resume if you are an active contributor to something like this. 2. Business Know-how
The business model of start-ups are rather simpler compared to conglomerates. Its easier for a fresher to comprehend and learn their way around the role assigned to them. It's one of the reasons why many people working in smaller companies understand the need of urgency to get things moving. 3. No bureaucracy
Bureaucracy has its place in an organization and many may find it frustrating. You have a brilliant idea, but the approvals to get that idea executed are yet to come through. In start ups there is no need to have complex bureaucracies. Decisions are made by the founders and depending on their involvement, executions are almost immediate. 4. Multiple Hats
If you find yourself handling customer service, social media, marketing, certain parts of finance and making hiring decisions for a company, chances are that you are an important employee in a startup. Startups expose you to multiple departments and tasks. Its good to have an in-depth understanding of the various moving parts in an organization. However, bear in mind that as the volumes increase its important for the company to hire more people. Do not burn out doing everything. 5. Absence of Politics
Politics and conflicts are a very sensitive topic. Multiple things can trigger it and it gets harder to monitor this in larger organizations. Regardless of how it starts, it almost always ends with employees being victimized, demotivated or in worse cases depressed. Smaller businesses with more approachable founders don’t really host a breeding ground for politics and other such conflicts. Employees are often focused on their tasks and work towards a common goal. There are many other benefits to working with startups, that also means there are some downsides or elements that you wouldn’t really call benefits. For instance, smaller companies will not have the best salaries to pay and in this extremely competitive economy some of them may shut down or struggle to survive. As risky as that sounds, loss of jobs in bigger organizations is also quite common. If you are starting out or already working somewhere looking for a new challenge, find a nice small company that will give you a platform to learn, grow and look forward to the experience. Speaking of hiring for start-ups, We, at Liz Lyn Careers are always looking for great talent and we have vacancies for some really cool brands and agencies. Send in your resumes to jobs@lizlyncareers.com or apply via our own software