Upside-downsizing: How easy is it for candidates to make the transition from large corporates to smaller scale businesses – and vice versa?

No matter the size of organisation, something Marketing Moves is regularly asked at briefing meetings, across the wider topic of technology marketing recruitment, is the following:

Can candidates make the transition from large corporate companies to smaller scale businesses – and vice versa?

For the smaller scale businesses or those at an early growth stage, their question revolves around whether marketers can adapt to having broader responsibilities, moving at a faster pace, needing to make more decisions with often limited budgets. For the simple reason that smaller businesses have less marketers, but often a larger marketing function to oversee.

For larger corporations, their interest centres on whether marketers coming from smaller companies can deal with the additional complexity, larger geographical spread of teams, matrix working and maintaining their level of interest / boredom in a bigger wheel.

What do you think? Please leave your comments in the box below this article!

To get the ball rolling. Marketing Moves Managing Director Melvin Day thinks the following:

“I think this is a very outdated view. Many large corporations now operate like smaller companies in terms of team size, budget and so on. True, you have a big brand behind you but you still need to be very flexible and adaptable. Back in the day, there were huge teams and many layers of management, so this was perhaps more relevant – but not in this day and age!

“My advice would be that you should never ignore people from the other ‘camp’ – ultimately it’ll come down to style, personality, drive and so on. That’s why we meet everyone we work with – it’s not so much how much marketing they know, it’s about us understanding them as an individual, then matching them to a particular company culture/style.”

Contact
To discuss in confidence how Melvin and Marketing Moves can support your organisation’s growth, please contact Melvin by any of the means below:

t. 01932 253352
e. mday@marketingmoves.com
li. linkedin.com/melvindayatmarketingmoves

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Pete Dixon
Pete Dixon
5 years ago

I’ve spent my life working for large corporates and finally got frustrated enough to take a pay cut and am now working for a much smaller outfit. Not such good perks, slightly less job security but the ability to get stuff done and make a difference is much improved.

But I tend to agree with Melvin when he says ‘ultimately it’ll come down to style, personality, drive’. It is a risk, it’s not right for everyone but it’s a decision I’m glad I made

Claire Macland
Claire Macland
5 years ago

Interesting topic — a few thoughts. When I first moved from a larger company to a small firm I was thrilled by the increased scope in my role and the ability to feel like you have responsibility for everything. It drives the need for multi-tasking and often a rapid ramp into the world of people management but if you are someone who is motivated by clarity of ownership and responsibility then this can work very well. The challenges include realising that there is no other team that you can turn to for help and, as is mentioned higher up in… Read more »

Thomas Bridge
Thomas Bridge
5 years ago

The thing I’ve always thought about this is that life changes, just as your career changes. So as much as you buy different cars and houses in your lifetime to suit your needs, you might want a different challenge at work. This might mean generally ramping up to get more exposure in your 20s and 30s, but when that first child comes maybe that’s the time to move into a bigger, slower marketing function. Generally, I’ve found that agile marketing makes you more than qualified for larger gigs, as long as you can handle all the politics and subtle nuances… Read more »

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