Did you recently finish your graduation and looking for your first job? Are you employed and not happy with the company you are working for? Are you confused in selecting the right company? You are at the right place. Here, we will see some of the key attributes you need to look to assess the reputation and solidness of a company.
First thing you need to be aware of, before we start, is that there are many lemming or sheep minded people in our city. Many job seekers are blindly following their fellows without knowing the wiser (as they did while choosing academic courses like B.Tech, MBA, MCA etc.). Like sheep or lemmings, which have strong instinct to follow the one in front of them, many of our graduates are simply queuing up to join big companies.
Those are all herd mentalities that lemmings/sheep are known for. They fear to stand out and assess the reputation and solidness of the company. They just want to join a big company because many others are joining. They don’t assess the risk involved in it like sheep or lemmings which follow the herd to slaughter house or fall off the cliff.
If you follow them, you are more likely to suffer. You need to personally assess the reputation and solidness of the company before approaching it. Here are some key attributes to assess and determine the reputation and solidness of a company.
Are they professional?
Does the company maintain professional standards of work and reflect good standards? This is not same as good branding/promotion or propaganda of the company. Does the company have the competence in their area? Does it care for the customer? Is it an aspiration to maintaining good standards of work? Typically such companies are systematic. This is not same as hierarchical or bureaucratic systematic means to do repetitive work in an efficient, quick and smooth way.
Are they meritocratic?
What do they appreciate? Are they lenient only? Do they value something other than money? Is a meritocratic person allowed to grow or will they hinder if they do not belong to certain caste. A good company will see the performance, not the qualification or caste. Though qualification is required to consider the candidate for the job, it is the performance that good companies look for in the candidates. Is there a respect for a person with qualification/ competence?
What do they stand for?
Are they scientifically/rationally run? Do they encourage and give freedom or do they run it like a village headman? Are they respected or rejected by client? Are their clients because of genuine capability or because of political influence, bureaucratic connections, money or power? Do good people associate or stay away from this company? Do they do their product/service in a superior way? Remember, a brand is built by doing difficult things well.
Can you build your competence? Is it a competent organization?
In order to build competence you need to work in a competent organization. Competent organizations are like an ant colonies. They are organized and do real work whereas many companies are like butterflies, they look good, but are only beautified caterpillars who destroy trees.
Success goes to an organization that is competent. Working in such companies builds your abilities, self-belief by overcoming challenges. When you choose a big name organization and get above average result with below average work due to organization’s name. Such experience is not valued later or respected by industry peers/superiors. This ultimately destroys your career.
How does this role help in performing at a bigger role? Is this experience a good way to grow to a bigger role? Many offshore companies offer jobs that are meaningless chores with same task being done repeatedly. Without connections to the big picture such jobs will not build any superior competence with experience to be able to handle the responsibilities after a few years. Actually, some of these jobs become a handicap to career growth.
Reputation of the company is not familiarity but the reputation among knowledgeable circle. Reputation should come with the performance of the company. Reputation and solidness is not the company physical infrastructure but the good culture and the competence. You should select the company which will add to your long term career not present job. Company should have loyalty that they have built with their customers.
What is their standing in the industry?
Are they respected? Admired? Do they do top quality work? Do they have top quality expertise?
What is the success ratio? Do they do difficult things well? Company should have top quality work, top quality expertise, and good success ratio. Does the company do difficult things well?
The answers to the above questions will help you assess the solidness of the company. These are the important attributes you need to consider to be among the small number of people who do well in their career.
You may also like to read:
- Big Companies that Have Failed – Big Companies Not Best Places to Start or Grow Your Career
- Conglomerates that Have Failed – Career Planning Lessons
- It’s Stupidity to Look for a Platform to Grow in Career
A small effort from your end can really be helpful to somebody!