Working at Small vs. Large Company

Working for a large company, there are certainly days when the bureaucracy makes me want to vomit and head to the greener pastures of a smaller company. I am aware of some of the pros of a large company: - Name recognition, more stable, better pay / benefits Cons: - Bureaucracy, harder to see the results of your efforts, ect. Anyone care to share there thoughts on the matter?

excellent post. we all think about it from time to time. depends on what you want. stability in big companies vs more room for upside but more risk in a small co…working at a small co is basically a call option whereas working at a place like GE is about sleeping at night. you know you/GE will be around in 10 years, but most odds are that you will NEVER become CEO. also, i think work exp and age play a vital role. take me, imma 29, a bit short on work experience (b/c of getting 2 masters degrees in 7 years), so I would prefer stability at this point, while i tuck in exp under my belt. on the other hand, if i had 5-7 yrs exp, as well as my CFA, I would clearly opt more the smaller co – b/c if things dont work out, i have something to rest on and will most likely not be on the street picking berries for food. net net, depends on the circumstances, chief.

nice name, bro. a play on seinfeld?

:wink: you got it daj224 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > nice name, bro. a play on seinfeld?

I agree - that’s how I felt when I was looking for my first job out of undergrad. I wanted to work somewhere I know would be around 10 years down the road, and that people would recognize on my resume. That said, I think once I venture out into the job market after MBA/CFA I’ll probably be more willing to accept the risk/reward of a smaller company. Not to mention that I’m sick of the politics and brain-numbing policies of a large organization.

I work at a boutique small cap research firm but its definitely a different circumstance because my Dad founded it. For now its great for me but its a whole other set of pros/cons such as wanting to do your own thing, disappointing family, professional stigma sometimes associated with it.

I actually approached it from another view point…I am young and when I came to my small company I had very little experience and I specifically wanted a small company with the chance to grow (I came from an employer of 100K worldwide). I also have a few side bus. going on so I wanted the time and flexibility and didnt mind that maybe I took a slight bit less money (of course got options that are worth next to nothing). But in the end I think even my next move would be to stay within the realm of a smaller company. I just like the atmosphere better…

Good point. I interned at a small company and got to do a lot more than I would have in a comparable position where a work now. kevinf12 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I actually approached it from another view > point…I am young and when I came to my small > company I had very little experience and I > specifically wanted a small company with the > chance to grow (I came from an employer of 100K > worldwide).

I worked for a small real estate firm after graduation (2007) for 8 months and learned an incredible amount. Pay was garbage, but the upside was pretty good (if you can rise the ranks to partner in 10-20 years). However, I was laid off after 8 months. Now I’m at one of the nation’s largest real estate companies where the pay is extremely good for my experience level, benefits are fantastic, but I’m not acquiring knowledge at a particularly fast clip and I don’t work on deals as intimately as I did at the smaller firm. And upside here, well, sucks. The contrast is stark. However, the name and title are invaluable and job security is strong. I’m probably going to move on when the commercial market recovers in a year or 18 months.

There are some pros to the small company direction IF you can find a good shop. Currently at a small VC and previously at a 60,000 employee bank. Small shop pros: - no time spent on bureaucracy, previously at large bank 60%+ spent on silliness - wider scope of duties and and a sense of ownership - more reward if the place strikes it rich - quieter, less chaos, less idiots Cons: - less fat on staff and less room for error - less benefits

I agree with purealpha. Bureaucracy is obscene at my 5,000-employee firm. I’m so freakin’ sick of meetings about operations!

Interesting thread. I think small cos are rewarding if you have a good boss/supervisor who knows what he is doing. While it is nice to have KKR/Blackstone/GS…[name your BB here], you won’t necessarily get to be very close to the deal making. There are exceptions, of course, but in general if you are an analyst/associate you would spend the majority of your time making pitchbooks or doing a section of the model (not that you won’t spend the majority of the time at a small co or mid co doing this, but at a smaller firm you may actually do more than just running the pitchbook or model). I think that at the end of the day, experience trumps brand name. Of course, the best combo would be to have both. Perhaps a mid-size co is the best compromise. You get to work on mid size deals (companies that people have actually heard of) and be the point man for almost everything because of the very small deal teams. Joining a small co could be a fantastic experience if you are lucky enough to get on some deals that give you a very unique perspective and vision on how things are done. Maybe combine this with 1 or 2 years of a big co. Then go solo (ie: start your own firm).

i started working part-time before graduation last year, thus the small company let me have the flexibility of timings. The most important thing is that i got to learn a lot in one year and did many things a 2nd or 3rd year analyst would do in big companies. I got to interact with clients directly which in big companies no one would let a junior analyst do. However, now i got what i wanted from a small company at the start of my career, now i am certainly hungry to get into a big flashy company with a good financial package…

Half the people on my team spend ALL of their time in meetings…A little insane to think that your job is to go to meetings and read emails… kkent Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I agree with purealpha. Bureaucracy is obscene at > my 5,000-employee firm. I’m so freakin’ sick of > meetings about operations!

"Half the people on my team spend ALL of their time in meetings…A little insane to think that your job is to go to meetings and read emails… " I will say, this is one thing that at the company I am at (small in revenue and people…$600M and 1,000 people - manufacturing co) that still seems to be the case, just like at larger companies. Perhaps there is a little more freedom to decline since you are used to working with the CFO/CEO a lot, so it isnt like you feel you need the face time, but meetings and emails do consume a lot more of my day…and AF.

One additional benefit of working at a small firm is that you will have more interaction with the most senior people. I worked at a boutique for a while where I was basically interacting with people who had 15+ years of experience on a daily basis. At a larger firm there is more layers of management between you and the senior people.