From Corporate to Small Business

Awhile back, I took the plunge and left the cushy atmosphere of a big corporate gig to pursue my career passion at a smaller firm. It’s been nearly six months and I wanted to share some things that I’ve learned when trying to transition. I think anyone who has gone through this type of career change can identify with my sentiments, and those looking to do so, it may help give you some perspective.

Personality Rules Them All

So much about working with others is the meshing of personalities. In a big corporate environment, the lack of such a reality is often cushioned by other colleagues, a purposeful HR structure, and even other executives that ‘know you’ and your work better. In a small business, especially one that has less than 25 employees, that all goes out the window. Many times, the owner is the HR person, the executive, and even the other colleagues. If you don’t get along with that person, you’re going to have long days. Many small businesses are run by people who have never worked for someone else or a corporation, so the perceived need of those buffering entities is lost. Be prepared to constantly weigh, day in and day out, the worth of putting in the energy to mesh with the owner’s personality.

Benefits

As young professionals, especially if you’re not married or do not have children, benefits is often the last thing we think of. We know the high price of healthcare, but more often, we don’t need to go to the doctor or dentist outside of maybe 5 times a year and don’t have enough medical expenses to claim on our tax returns. In corporate, we check the box that costs us the least amount in our paycheck and move on. With a small business, especially if you plan to stay with them long-term, try to get clarity on the benefits policy. As your life changes, the window for preparing yourself is often open only once and hidden in fine print. If you know the business you’re thinking about working for doesn’t offer anything substantial, look into individual health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield. If you’re married and you and your spouse have talked about children in the future, some of these individual options have maternity packages. While these packages won’t cover pregnancy until after you’ve been part of the plan for at least a year, it does beat having to pay out the nose for COBRA. Trust me on that one.

Who Pays Who?

I can’t stress this enough, but let’s revisit the ‘personality’ thing again. In corporate, when you have a suggestion about improving a product or changing office-place workflow, you bounce ideas off your colleagues, setup some time with your manager, maybe meet with a VP and HR person, and it gets a ‘yay’ or ‘nay’. Even if nothing changes, most of the better companies make their employees feel like that they have a stake in the company and have processes in place for one to feel like they got their due process. In a small business, the underlining philosophy, whether explicitly or implicitly stated, is ‘who pays who?’ Suggestions, questions, and disgruntled tendencies fall upon the ear of the person who started the company, whose life is the company, and who has a vision of how the company should operate. If the owner is paying your bills, they more than likely won’t be open to changing something they feel will work or has worked. It sounds closed-minded, but equate it to trying to talk to the Bob Parsons (CEO of Time Warner) and telling him the importance of a YBP channel in the family of television stations. It may be a good idea, but just be prepared to handle the receipt of deaf ears.

Also, don’t forget our YBP Giveaway! It ends on March 14th!