This article's objective is not the usual advice on getting your dream job. The Internet is loaded with ideas on how to do that. Rather, my goal is to emphasis to you how to identify that dream job, in the first place.
You have the skills and experience that you have and effective marketing of them is up to you. But how to go about that is in fact the secondary question after knowing who your target market is. We can, and have, provided a list of the elite of the best companies to work for , but that list offers no tailoring to your own unique disposition, preferences and compatibility.
Size Matters
Whether or not you've previously weighed it as a consideration, company size does make a big difference in both the quality of your work experience and the standard of success implicit in your employment.
First, consider the virtues of small companies, with fewer employees there are few layers of organization, which means the opportunity for a more immediate encounter with customers, suppliers and collaborators. As well, you'll be able to have much closer personal working relationships with your peers. This is a distinctive work experience; the feeling of family can be quite palpable. An additional benefit, very valuable to many people, is the opportunity to directly enjoy the fruits of your labor. The consequences of your work are experienced in a way not available within big, impersonal businesses.
Though larger firms strive, and often succeed, in creating a team atmosphere within departments and divisions, the truth is that your team's success is ultimately always dependent upon the accomplishments of some other teams beyond your control and outside your shared group identity. At a small firm, the successes and the challenges are all much more immediate and tangible.
However, large firms have benefits that just are not available in smaller businesses. Being larger, there is much more room for advance up the organizational ladder into greater and greater levels of responsibility and personal accomplishment. The size of such firms will provide as well far more opportunities for specialization. At the same time, organizational diversity also allows for lateral moves to change one's specialization, opening new career vistas without sacrificing seniority and tenure.
Another benefit of large firms, especially for those with a little of the explorer in them, is the opportunity for travel and residence abroad. So many large companies now are geographically dispersed in their operations that there are frequent opportunities for you and your family to experience life in a very difficult culture. This is the learning experience of a lifetime for your kids. And most large firms provide a wide range of support services for the family of relocating employees, including language training, schooling and orientation counselling. And of course we mustn't forget the bottom line. In general, large companies provide richer salaries and better benefits.
Structure Matters
Size of a firm though isn't the only thing that matters; you should be giving consideration to the organizational structure of a firm for whom you're considering working. How will your personal disposition fit with the structural operations of a given work experience? It can have a big impact on our success and satisfaction at work The extremes go from the regimented, tightly rule bound, hierarchy that prides itself on the precision of job description and responsibility, along with a rigorously practiced chain of command, at one end of the spectrum.
At the other end are those companies, such as the video game producer Valve, that emphasize fluid, adaptive working relationships, relying upon employee initiative and innovation. In those at the very far end of the spectrum, there may not even be chain of command hierarchy, relying instead upon a culture of collegial supervision and informal 360 degree accountability.
Don't be misled into passing moral judgments on those attracted to one form of structure or the other. The reason that both exist is because different people thrive better in different environments. You have to figure out which is right for you.
Do you thrive best when your tasks are clearly delineated? Do you dislike being sideswiped by problems which you had no idea would be part of your responsibility? Do you feel anxious at the prospect of vague instructions or unclear expectations? If that's a fair description of how you function at work, you're not going to thrive in the more fluid environment of the flatter hierarchies. You'd likely only find those work environments to be stressful. No number of basketball courts and massages are going to compensate for working in an environment in which you are unable to feel satisfied or successful.
The inverse set of considerations, though, are equally true: those who feel inhibited by authority, inspired by new challenges and revel in the roughshod work world of endless improvisation are not going to thrive in a button down firm of clearly delineated and firmly enforced processes and responsibilities. The increased security and stability that they may offer, likely isn't worth the price of the organizationally conservative culture. Such people will find their satisfaction and greatest success in the more fluid, flat structured organization, where they will be provoked into creative spontaneity adaptation. These are the companies most likely to encourage and reward such people's boundary defying style of intellectual curiosity.
Again, there's no right and wrong or good and bad here. There's only what works for you. The different kinds of companies possess different qualities. Your work success and satisfaction depends upon a thoughtful and realistic alignment of those qualities with your own dispositions. Hopefully this quick review has given you food for thought that will pay off in a more rewarding work experience.
You have the skills and experience that you have and effective marketing of them is up to you. But how to go about that is in fact the secondary question after knowing who your target market is. We can, and have, provided a list of the elite of the best companies to work for , but that list offers no tailoring to your own unique disposition, preferences and compatibility.
Size Matters
Whether or not you've previously weighed it as a consideration, company size does make a big difference in both the quality of your work experience and the standard of success implicit in your employment.
First, consider the virtues of small companies, with fewer employees there are few layers of organization, which means the opportunity for a more immediate encounter with customers, suppliers and collaborators. As well, you'll be able to have much closer personal working relationships with your peers. This is a distinctive work experience; the feeling of family can be quite palpable. An additional benefit, very valuable to many people, is the opportunity to directly enjoy the fruits of your labor. The consequences of your work are experienced in a way not available within big, impersonal businesses.
Though larger firms strive, and often succeed, in creating a team atmosphere within departments and divisions, the truth is that your team's success is ultimately always dependent upon the accomplishments of some other teams beyond your control and outside your shared group identity. At a small firm, the successes and the challenges are all much more immediate and tangible.
However, large firms have benefits that just are not available in smaller businesses. Being larger, there is much more room for advance up the organizational ladder into greater and greater levels of responsibility and personal accomplishment. The size of such firms will provide as well far more opportunities for specialization. At the same time, organizational diversity also allows for lateral moves to change one's specialization, opening new career vistas without sacrificing seniority and tenure.
Another benefit of large firms, especially for those with a little of the explorer in them, is the opportunity for travel and residence abroad. So many large companies now are geographically dispersed in their operations that there are frequent opportunities for you and your family to experience life in a very difficult culture. This is the learning experience of a lifetime for your kids. And most large firms provide a wide range of support services for the family of relocating employees, including language training, schooling and orientation counselling. And of course we mustn't forget the bottom line. In general, large companies provide richer salaries and better benefits.
Structure Matters
Size of a firm though isn't the only thing that matters; you should be giving consideration to the organizational structure of a firm for whom you're considering working. How will your personal disposition fit with the structural operations of a given work experience? It can have a big impact on our success and satisfaction at work The extremes go from the regimented, tightly rule bound, hierarchy that prides itself on the precision of job description and responsibility, along with a rigorously practiced chain of command, at one end of the spectrum.
At the other end are those companies, such as the video game producer Valve, that emphasize fluid, adaptive working relationships, relying upon employee initiative and innovation. In those at the very far end of the spectrum, there may not even be chain of command hierarchy, relying instead upon a culture of collegial supervision and informal 360 degree accountability.
Don't be misled into passing moral judgments on those attracted to one form of structure or the other. The reason that both exist is because different people thrive better in different environments. You have to figure out which is right for you.
Do you thrive best when your tasks are clearly delineated? Do you dislike being sideswiped by problems which you had no idea would be part of your responsibility? Do you feel anxious at the prospect of vague instructions or unclear expectations? If that's a fair description of how you function at work, you're not going to thrive in the more fluid environment of the flatter hierarchies. You'd likely only find those work environments to be stressful. No number of basketball courts and massages are going to compensate for working in an environment in which you are unable to feel satisfied or successful.
The inverse set of considerations, though, are equally true: those who feel inhibited by authority, inspired by new challenges and revel in the roughshod work world of endless improvisation are not going to thrive in a button down firm of clearly delineated and firmly enforced processes and responsibilities. The increased security and stability that they may offer, likely isn't worth the price of the organizationally conservative culture. Such people will find their satisfaction and greatest success in the more fluid, flat structured organization, where they will be provoked into creative spontaneity adaptation. These are the companies most likely to encourage and reward such people's boundary defying style of intellectual curiosity.
Again, there's no right and wrong or good and bad here. There's only what works for you. The different kinds of companies possess different qualities. Your work success and satisfaction depends upon a thoughtful and realistic alignment of those qualities with your own dispositions. Hopefully this quick review has given you food for thought that will pay off in a more rewarding work experience.
About the Author:
Thomas Ryerson's work at the Best Companies to Work For site is an invaluable resource for job hunters and career changers. Also, for those considering a leave from work to undertake an MBA, his piece "Is Getting an MBA the Right Decision for You" is required reading.
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