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
Job seekers and career changers don't always take account of company size, but they really should. It can make a major difference in success and satisfaction of your work experience.
Some people prefer small firms, with a heavy hands-on focus, which provides the opportunity for close, very personal working relationships. The opportunity to not only know your colleagues well, but possibly even to know them all well, constitutes a distinctive work environment. Plus, the ability to really see the fruit of your efforts is possible in a way it is not within large, more impersonal firms.
It is true of course that larger firms endeavor to nurture something of a team mentality within their sub units, precisely to recapture some of this sense of excitement and commitment. However, rarely can such efforts get around the fact that in a large company your team's accomplishments will be always dependent upon the efforts of other divisions or departments. You have no control over them and yet your contributions always rely upon them. Only small business can really provide that environment in which your team's successes and challenges are experienced so immediately and tangibly.
On the other hand, big companies offer advantages which the smaller ones simply cannot provide. Their greater size embodies more opportunity for organizational advancement, up the executive ladder, with all the benefits of increased responsibility, challenge and salary. Most large firms also offer options for more intensive specialization, should that be your preference. Yet, the same operational diversity of the large firm also allows you a better option to get out of a specialization which has grown stale for you, providing the option for lateral movement within the firm. This opens new career paths that don't cost you established seniority and tenure through changing employers.
As many large companies have geographically dispersed operations, they present the opportunity to travel and live in exotic locations, making your work a cultural adventure as well as a business one. Though there are certainly exceptions, generally, larger firms will be able to provide richer compensation and almost always will be able to provide better perks and 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 make the common mistake of dismissing those attracted to one form of structure or the other. As one sportscaster I know puts it, there's a reason they make both pepperoni and pineapple. Different people are better suited to different structures. The challenge is to figure out where you fit the best.
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.
On the other hand, if you feel suffocated by authority, are constantly seeking new challenges and love the thrill of relentlessly demanding work place improvisation, notwithstanding the security and stability that the more traditional, hierarchical firms often provide, you'd likely find the organizationally conservative culture to be claustrophobic. You need to be in a more fluid, flat structured work environment that provokes your creative spontaneity and encourages your 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
Job seekers and career changers don't always take account of company size, but they really should. It can make a major difference in success and satisfaction of your work experience.
Some people prefer small firms, with a heavy hands-on focus, which provides the opportunity for close, very personal working relationships. The opportunity to not only know your colleagues well, but possibly even to know them all well, constitutes a distinctive work environment. Plus, the ability to really see the fruit of your efforts is possible in a way it is not within large, more impersonal firms.
It is true of course that larger firms endeavor to nurture something of a team mentality within their sub units, precisely to recapture some of this sense of excitement and commitment. However, rarely can such efforts get around the fact that in a large company your team's accomplishments will be always dependent upon the efforts of other divisions or departments. You have no control over them and yet your contributions always rely upon them. Only small business can really provide that environment in which your team's successes and challenges are experienced so immediately and tangibly.
On the other hand, big companies offer advantages which the smaller ones simply cannot provide. Their greater size embodies more opportunity for organizational advancement, up the executive ladder, with all the benefits of increased responsibility, challenge and salary. Most large firms also offer options for more intensive specialization, should that be your preference. Yet, the same operational diversity of the large firm also allows you a better option to get out of a specialization which has grown stale for you, providing the option for lateral movement within the firm. This opens new career paths that don't cost you established seniority and tenure through changing employers.
As many large companies have geographically dispersed operations, they present the opportunity to travel and live in exotic locations, making your work a cultural adventure as well as a business one. Though there are certainly exceptions, generally, larger firms will be able to provide richer compensation and almost always will be able to provide better perks and 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 make the common mistake of dismissing those attracted to one form of structure or the other. As one sportscaster I know puts it, there's a reason they make both pepperoni and pineapple. Different people are better suited to different structures. The challenge is to figure out where you fit the best.
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.
On the other hand, if you feel suffocated by authority, are constantly seeking new challenges and love the thrill of relentlessly demanding work place improvisation, notwithstanding the security and stability that the more traditional, hierarchical firms often provide, you'd likely find the organizationally conservative culture to be claustrophobic. You need to be in a more fluid, flat structured work environment that provokes your creative spontaneity and encourages your 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 blog is a tremendous resource for job seekers and career changers. Also, for anyone considering a leave from work to pursue an MBA, his article "Is Getting an MBA the Right Decision for You" is a must read.
via oneofthebest
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