Working at a small to mid size firm vs nationa/global company

[wj4]

Hey all,

Just want to get inputs from those who have worked at a small to medium size company vs a bigger one that has national or global presence. Both of the companies I have worked for are large. I have been offered a job by a smaller firm. There's about 500 employees across the USA at this smaller firm. I talked to the guy I would be reporting into and he seems really nice and knowledgable. I looked at the comments left under the firm on Indeed and it had a pretty high ranking. Folks are satisfied with the firm.

I'm a bit cautious about leaving to work for a smaller company since I'm so used to having everything locally, be it IT or HR.

I would appreciate any inputs, good or bad, that you gents have as well as any advices you can offer.

Thanks!

 

[otc]

How big are the offices? I've never worked for a megacorp, but 500 people's not small (especially if they are all white collar workers and are only spread into a few offices).

Once they've got 500 employees across the country (unless they are a rapidly expanding startup), they are probably going to have all of the HR and IT stuff pretty sorted. It won't be as rigid as a megacorp (probably a good thing), but its not like you are working for a 25 person company.

 

[wj4]



How big are the offices? I've never worked for a megacorp, but 500 people's not small (especially if they are all white collar workers and are only spread into a few offices).

Once they've got 500 employees across the country (unless they are a rapidly expanding startup), they are probably going to have all of the HR and IT stuff pretty sorted. It won't be as rigid as a megacorp (probably a good thing), but its not like you are working for a 25 person company.

Thanks for your reply.

I would be the only person based out of this site. I will be employed by the firm, but will have an office in the client's office, (the client being one of the biggest auto makers). The firm has presence throughout the USA, I would say at least 10-12 locations. Their corporate address is back in DC.

My first job out of college was for a mult-national company. My current job is for the largest clinical lab in the US. Everything is pretty standardized, which can be a good or bad thing I suppose..depending on how you look at it.

Would 500 be considered mid size? They're not a new company or anything, been around for about 50-60 years. I just thought it as small since I have over 2k employees in my region alone. I'm not an attorney or accountant or anything like that so I have never worked or thought about working for a smaller firm before. The opportunity presented itself, and it would look stellar under my resume. The boss for this position actually invited me to lunch this past Saturday and we clicked quite well.

H.R. would be back on the East Coast.

This may sound silly, but since it is a 'smaller' company, one of the first things that come to my mind is issues like not paying employees on time and such. Perhaps, I'm crazy for thinking this.

 

[Douglas]

No 500-person company is going to have regular problems making payroll on time. By the time you miss a paycheck, you're out of a job anyways. That can happen anywhere, from 500 employees to Fortune 500. You should always do your due diligence with any company to verify that the business is healthy.

500 employees is the Small Business Association's cut-off for defining a small company, and frankly that's fairly generous. 500 employee firms are generally considered midsize.

A 500-person company is generally going to have very regimented HR practices, comprehensive benefits, etc etc. That's not to say it can't be dysfunctional, but typically you're well past mom-and-pop stage at this point.

According to the feds, (https://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html) firms with 500+ employees comprise less than one-third of 1% of all employer businesses. Select company.

 

[archetypal_yuppie]



How big are the offices? I've never worked for a megacorp, but 500 people's not small (especially if they are all white collar workers and are only spread into a few offices).

Once they've got 500 employees across the country (unless they are a rapidly expanding startup), they are probably going to have all of the HR and IT stuff pretty sorted. It won't be as rigid as a megacorp (probably a good thing), but its not like you are working for a 25 person company.

So a 500 person company isn't gonna be as big-like as a bigger company, or as small-like as a smaller company? Oh.

According to the feds, (https://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html) firms with 500+ employees comprise less than one-third of 1% of all employer businesses. Select company.

But ~50% of people work at firms with 500+ employees (same source).