I haven’t been blogging lately. This is because I’ve been busy talking to partners, fixing processes and interviewing people for Taxumo.
And in the course of talking to different people who want to be part of Taxumo, I’ve come to realize that some people are such a great fit for working in a startup and others would be a great addition to the corporate world. Just to clarify, each one of these environments and both are pretty amazing. I should know! I’ve tried both.
I’ve worked for corporations for about a decade. I also started the very first legit (with government papers and all) business way back in 2009. This makes the duration of time I’ve spent with startups equal to how long my corporate experience has been.
This article is not to make you choose one over the other. I believe that some people thrive and succeed in a corporate environment and others make it big in the Startup world. Some are genuinely just gifted to thrive in both.
What this article is to show you the best of both worlds. It’s meant to help you choose where you think you would find fulfilment and a sense of purpose.
Let’s start with the benefits of being employed in a big corporation.
Established Structure
When you join a large corporation, they would probably have been there for a decade or more than a decade already. In a corporation, there are more established ways of doing things. If you are the type of person who would want a more “plug and play” kind of environment, then joining a huge company may a more favorable choice.
Stable Pay
Being employed will definitely give you a stable income. If you’d like to know what you’ll definitely be earning next month, join a more established company. You’ll also probably have the other benefits like SSS, Philhealth, Pagibig and probably other allowances and an HMO card, too. Come to work, clock in and out and you’ll definitely be given all of these.
Career Path
Since structure has been established, a well thought of organization plan is also in place when you join a corporation. They know exactly what your role is and what your responsibilities are. They know exactly which positions they need to fill. They also have a structure for promotions if you want to have a bright career ahead of you. You know exactly which positions you could aim and aspire for in the years to come.
For startups, there are also numerous benefits. Here are a few benefits that you could enjoy.
Opportunity to Test Jobs and Learn
If you are the type of person that loves testing new things out, you will have access to jobs that you’re completely unqualified for in a startup! haha! Yup! If you’ve been aiming to be that social media manager that you’ve heard about or that growth hacker that you’ve read about, this is your chance to dive in and learn how to become one.
In a start up, everything is new. Processes are new, and most of the people around you are learning as they go along. Each day will be a day of absorbing tons of new information. Everyone moves quickly and uses the new information that they learn to help get the team to a common goal.
Road to Starting your own Business
If you plan to start your business in the future, joining a startup is one of the best things that you can do. You learn while observing the startup founders in action. Since most startups have a flat organization, there will be a lot of chances to interact with the founders. You will also quickly learn about different aspects of the business, and this will prove useful when you start your own thing in the future.
Control over the things that you need to Do
Since there is not much of structures and processes that are set, you have the freedom to use your talents to improve a lot of things and to invent products and processes along the way. Heck, you can even choose your own title sometimes. Job descriptions are there, but oftentimes, each “team member” moves out of this boxed description to help a teammate in need. A marketing officer can suddenly help operations one day. A processor can easily be a sales representative given a certain scenario when they are faced with a client.
Everyone works toward a achieving a certain goal and since the organization is still not that deep, everyone can be a leader of a team if one wants to be one in the future. Work hours are very flexible, but founders often demand to see results faster. With this work arrangement, people who are more proactive and hate being micro-managed thrive in this kind of environment.
So these are just some of the things that I have observed. So where do you think you would thrive? In which environment? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to add some benefits to either scenarios, too!
