First job out of college? Prefer a small company

[marting]

Please consider small companies for a first job out of school. And the education you get at your first job is more important than the time you spend in college. Here's why I was fortunate to wind up in a small company.

I was burning the summer break away in the dorm and the school, knowing I wasn't heading off to grad school, would send be notes about companies looking for new hires. I kept tossing them until I was running out of bean and hamburger money. Then decided to look into one. It was a small business 5 miles away so within my scooter range. Interviewed and got hired somewhat to my surprise.

Turned out it was a small tech manufacturing company. And their needs were a perfect match with my engineering interests.

In a small company you quickly learn how your work impacts most every part of the business. From helping those on the factory floor to customer service, sales, and synergy with other projects. There is no way I would have had that exposure in a large company.

Initially, I was a junior engineer charged with cleaning up existing designs. Sometimes I was sent on tech calls when customers were having product issues. Invaluable experience that got me promoted and translated into design improvements that made it easier for the quality dept. to test/verify, clearer manufacturing processes, and simpler customer usage.

 

[W.D.Clinger]

For a real education, start a small company.

But it might be a good idea to hold off on that until you've paid off your student loans.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Please consider small companies for a first job out of school. And the education you get at your first job is more important than the time you spend in college. Here's why I was fortunate to wind up in a small company.

I was burning the summer break away in the dorm and the school, knowing I wasn't heading off to grad school, would send be notes about companies looking for new hires. I kept tossing them until I was running out of bean and hamburger money. Then decided to look into one. It was a small business 5 miles away so within my scooter range. Interviewed and got hired somewhat to my surprise.

Turned out it was a small tech manufacturing company. And their needs were a perfect match with my engineering interests.

In a small company you quickly learn how your work impacts most every part of the business. From helping those on the factory floor to customer service, sales, and synergy with other projects. There is no way I would have had that exposure in a large company.

Initially, I was a junior engineer charged with cleaning up existing designs. Sometimes I was sent on tech calls when customers were having product issues. Invaluable experience that got me promoted and translated into design improvements that made it easier for the quality dept. to test/verify, clearer manufacturing processes, and simpler customer usage.

There are good reasons to go with either a big or small company as a first job. At a big firm you will learn the ropes of the business and have a lot of support from the organization. If/When you go to a small firm make certain you have a mentor and are not left completely on your own to sink (or swim).

 

[Trebuchet]

I went from US Army to a small company, a medium company, another small company, a really big company, and then to retirement. Plusses and minuses to all of them.

 

[Puppycow]

I doubt too many people here are fresh out of college but I think it depends on the particular company. Big or small, some are good places to work, and others less so. I've been working at a particular Japanese company for the last 23 years or so. I wouldn't call it a big company, or a small one. Since I've been working it has probably grown from about 100 to 200 employees. Medium-sized is probably the best way to describe it. Family-owned mostly. The founder is still the president.

 

[Trebuchet]

I doubt too many people here are fresh out of college but I think it depends on the particular company. Big or small, some are good places to work, and others less so. I've been working at a particular Japanese company for the last 23 years or so. I wouldn't call it a big company, or a small one. Since I've been working it has probably grown from about 100 to 200 employees. Medium-sized is probably the best way to describe it. Family-owned mostly. The founder is still the president.

I'd actually call that a small company.

 

[wasapi]

I guess I lucked out. After majoring in Criminal Justice for a couple of years, with no solid plan, I met an attorney. We hit it off and he asked me to locate a witness and interview them in a criminal trial. It went well.

He referred me to a well-known San Fran PI, Richard Bowen, who hired me.

I dropped out of college. It is what worked for me.

 

[Brainster]

A big company can be best if you don't really know what you want to do. I would never have chosen my career as a teenager or even fresh out of college, because I had never really encountered finance other than opening a checking account. As it happened the company I applied to included a little math test and I scored strong enough that they decided that was where they could use me. Five years later I was arranging loans on 20-story office buildings (not that I was getting paid like that sounds).

 

[Donal]

For a real education, start a small company.

But it might be a good idea to hold off on that until you've paid off your student loans.

One of those HGTV house fixing hosts actually used his student loan to buy a multifamily and used it as a project for business school.

 

[Minoosh]

I went to work for a big, greedy company as a clerk and was happy about that. Partly because I knew I'd do OK once I got my foot in the door. Partly because I figured they must know how to stay in business.

Well, they're still in business but just barely. The stock became nearly worthless. The Internet pretty much killed them. Which was weird, because way back in the '80s they were working on a prototype for profitable online news delivery - and then dropped it for no apparent reason.

In some ways the company functioned as a small business. At my property there were fewer than 100 employees when I started, which was down to about 65 when we closed down. It was pretty much a meritocracy, which might be part of what the OP is getting at.