Starting your career as a fresh graduate with a startup company is great, and there are good reasons to do so. Still, changing paths and switching to a large corporation is common for many employees.
If you are about to switch from a small startup to a large corporation, this article is for you. The following four aspects will strike you immediately as different in a large corporation when you come from a startup company.
Large corporations cannot match a small startup’s speed
Speed is one of the main difference you notice after switching jobs. During your first weeks in a large corporation, you will feel like you have landed in a parallel universe. In this universe, the atmosphere is filled with glue instead of air. Everything happens so slowly. Most things take much longer then you are used to from your time in the startup.
Even the hiring process usually takes a lot more time in a large company. Moreover, you will notice the slower speed with other processes in your daily work, too.
Quick decisions are hard to come by in large corporations
Coming from a small startup you are used to getting decisions on pressing issues in a matter of hours or even minutes. You just ask the boss. He or she is often the founder of the startup. Do not expect this to be the same in a large corporation.
The decision making process is slower and more tedious in a larger company. Often you will have to wait weeks for a committee meeting to get a decision.
In a corporation you have to make an effort to get know people
In a large company, you have to make an effort to get to know your colleagues and learn what they are doing.
In the small startup you worked for, you used to know everyone on a very personal level. Even the head of the startup was accessible on a daily basis to everyone. You interacted with him or her probably daily. You and your colleagues bonded during long working days, while working towards tight deadlines. You grew to be a team naturally while tweaking prototypes and solving problems. No team building exercise was necessary anymore! Oftentimes your colleagues felt like family.
You can get this sense of connection in a large corporation, too. In contrast to before, you need to do something for it. You need to put in some effort. If you transitioned to a large company recently, you have to make a conscious effort getting to know as many as your colleagues as you can. Learn about their roles and tasks in the company. The good news is this can be fun, and almost all will be more than happy to talk to you about their work or even show it to you.
Positions in startups and large corporations are not comparable
Let’s face it, being the head of department xyz in a small startup is not the same as being the head of the same department in a large corporation. Both are challenging roles but they are simply not comparable by any means.
The position you held in a small startup is not the same in a large corporation. Even if the job title is the same, both those jobs do include very different tasks. What’s more, in a large corporation, jobs are much more specialized and division of labor is much more pronounced.