5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Joining a Corporation

There's no shortage of articles covering whether startups are really the right kinds of employers for you. It seems very few people ask the same kinds of questions about working for corporations. We should!

Working at a really large company can give you a sense of belonging, an identity, and perceived security in your employment.

Here's the thing, though: Corporations - really large companies - are more likely to be a poor choice of career than startups, not to mention that joining a corporation can represent a poor life choice. That's why before joining a corporation, you should ask yourself a series of questions.

Corporations - really large companies - are more likely to be a poor choice of career than startups

1: Am I Ready to NOT Come Up with Solutions?

Corporations have thought it all out. Planned it and business process re-engineered your role to perfection for you to do whatever you're hired to do, in the way that's right for the organization - not for you.

Someone else was hired to think interesting thoughts about how your job should be carried out. What you should do. Day in. Day out. This is what they call "The Grind", and it's not exhilarating or exciting - just exhausting.

2: Am I Ready to NOT Matter?

While Corporations will tell you you're a valued member of their team, do career planning, and provide you with a sense of security, the truth is that as if a corporation needs to shed staff, they will drop YOU without even blinking, regardless of your run with the company.

That you and the Corporation are on a mission together is an illusion. The Corporation is on a mission - you're just the fuel!

You're not on a mission together. The Corporation is on a mission - you're just the fuel!

3: Am I Ready to Learn Really Slowly?

In the Corporation everything is planned, and that's why budget will have been set aside for trainings you might be receiving throughout the fiscal year. In those trainings you'll learn stuff, most of which you'll have forgotten the day after the training.

Today continuous and fast learning is increasingly required to deliver value and secure your professional future. When all you do day in and day out has been neatly packaged into manageable pieces of work that you are the producer of, you won't learn. If you're not tested outside the processes that fall within your specific area of responsibility, you won't learn!

Your brain is a muscle! Muscles grow best when they're put to the test in all sorts of different ways, and the Corporation won't help you with that.

4: Am I Ready for the Politics?

Would you prefer to work in a meritocracy? Do you like the idea that your skills and what you've produced results in your career growth? Then the Corporation might not be for you.

Call it what you want: Politics, brown-nosing, or sucking up (dear child has many names), is wide-spread in large companies. The result is that how you play the rather ugly game of office politics impacts your career. Even if you don't play along, you'll be impacted. Either way, it's likely that individuals who least deserve to be promoted based on merit, will get promoted based on politics.

5: Am I a Risk Taker?

Working at the Corporation might seem like a safe bet. It might be what your parents thought would do you good. Taking a job at a really large company is risky business!

Jeopardizing your learning, your growth, your brain's development, and your personal well-being to go work for a corporation is a life choice that needs careful consideration before jumping into what might look like a safe bet.

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Where does all of this leave YOU? If you answered 'no' to most of the above questions, working at a large company might not be for you. Instead, you might be cut out for work with startups, and should pursue that with all your energy. At least in a startup you're more likely to learn, get recognized for your efforts, come up with your solutions, and develop fast and continuously.