Written by Jamie Murphy, Editorial Team, Graduate Prospects..
What do you want from a job? £35K plus? The status of working in a Times Top 100 company? A survey of 752 graduates of 2000 by The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development found that top of the list were career progression and job prospects. These may be items most readily associated with Blue Chip companies and the graduate training programmes for ‘graduate jobs’ that they advertise but whilst small businesses can’t compete with the high salaries offered by big companies they could offer equally competitive progression and prospects. Careers adviser at Oxford University, Emma Harrison, says: ‘Lots of graduates want early responsibility. They want to be part of something where their contribution will be noticed and a small business can provide that.' Dealing with small businesses is quite common for Emma at Oxford. Being in the London,- Oxford,- Reading triangle there are a lot of IT related small firms as well as science and research centres related to the university and a number of small publishing houses and not for profit organisations in the region. Whilst its difficult to generalise, there are a number of differences between small and large companies that may appeal to graduates. Most commonly those starting out in small companies find themselves with a variety of tasks, being given early responsibility and gaining very hands on experience. According to Emma, there are advantages in working in a company with relatively fewer people and a less hierarchical structure: ‘You may feel closer to what is going on in the organisation as a whole. You can gain a greater understanding of the roles of other people and be able to see how your input can in a large way contribute to the growth of the business, whereas with a large company you can feel like a small cog in a big wheel.’ Structured training schemes for graduates offered by large employers do offer a clear definition of job progression and many small companies don’t have the same resources to offer new employees. But the early responsibility and hands on aspect in many small companies can allow for progression on a much more individual level and in more professional businesses will be supplemented with formal training. This can have positive repercussions further into your career as Emma outlines: ‘Many people consider going for larger organisations as it provides a good name for their CV. But they may find that in a small organisation, rather than relying on just the name on a CV they can rely on what they have done, what they have achieved and what they are responsible for in that job and how they developed.’ Obviously not all small businesses are the same or offer the same prospects and with the biggest draw back of working in one being the lack of job security it’s important to look carefully at the organisation and its prospects for expansion. Emma says: ‘Graduates have to ask questions about how the role they are applying to will develop, how long they see them in that role, what roles previous recruits have moved into, what kind of training will they get and what skills they are going to be developing. They have to be sure that they will fit into the organisation and that the values and culture of the organisation are ones that they feel happy with.’ As careers adviser Emma has met graduates who have had varying experiences with small businesses. From those that joined dot-com firms a few years ago that when everything fallen flat found they were without a job and are looking for jobs again, to those with more positive outcomes: ‘Some people had joined companies when there were just a handful of people there and found themselves to be instrumental in helping the company to grow. These people have been very satisfied with their career and in some cases have done quite well out of it financially.’ Related topics
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