Big Pond, Small Pond: Jumping to a Company of a different size
It's common in career paths to come upon the "big pond small pond" challenge: The next good opportunity in your career is with a larger or smaller organization than your current one.
As recruiters, we'd work with candidates who carefully thought through this. Other candidates were reactive: they were tired of their job and the next opportunity looked cool. But other candidates that hadn't. They weren't ready to discuss our crucial concern: dealing with the change in company size.
Understanding the two situations, especially concerns that recruiting and hiring managers may have, is essential. Candidates need to be clear with themselves first, then with the potential new organization. Here's how to address each situation, the concerns, approaches, and critical messages to share. Here's the breakdown for each:
The Small Pond to Big Pond Jump
The critical concern: depth of skills and expertise. Often, someone from a smaller company did a lot of work across a broad area of responsibility. A typical description a candidate might make (that will raise eyebrows) is: "I'm a generalist." Being a generalist can be problematic because roles in larger organizations often seek specific expertise versus a broad portfolio of experience.
Approaches to address this:
Make sure you understand all the elements of the role – and be ready to share how much of it you have done – even in a smaller company.
As recruiters, we are not looking for a 100% experience match – 75% to 80% was our comfort zone. Prepare to explain what you do know and have done. For skills and functions new to you, explain how you will do them. Knowing that you have a process to address tackle new areas makes hiring managers and recruiters feel safer.
Stress that your small organization experience and owning more of the overall process helps you more easily work with teams in larger companies because you understand more of what they do. That's a strength to play up throughout the interview process!
The Key Message:
"I possess the expertise to do the key parts of this job now. My broad experience in my current (smaller pond) organization gives me a great understanding of the teams I would be working with and their needs. I'll contribute right away, communicate well with others and learn quickly."
The Big Pond to Small Pond Jump
The key concern: can a person from a larger organization with a more focused role, handle the broader needs in a "smaller pond" and with fewer resources? In a larger company, the work is more focused and there is a larger support system.
Approaches to address this:
If your experience in a large company involved projects that were small and didn't have big teams, bring those up. Discuss how you wore multiple hats and were hands-on if that was the case.
Share early career experiences in smaller companies that if you had them. Draw parallels from those experiences to this job.
Be clear that you are excited and not afraid to take on new duties, a broader portfolio – and roll up your sleeves.
The key messages:
if you have worked in a small organization in the past: "I bring the best of both big and small organizations, including best practices. I'm excited to carry more responsibility, and the idea of owning more of the process is something I am excited about and ready to assist. The depth in my current role will add good value plus my strong interest in the other aspects of the role."
if you've only worked in larger organizations: "I will bring best practices from my current role and am excited to carry more responsibility and own more of the process. Smaller teams and doing more tasks is something I have thought about, and I like the chance to build a deeper relationship with my team members than I have today."
Sum it Up
A candidate needs to address the concerns that the work is more targeted and focused in a larger company. The result is typically more broad multiple sets of activities and more significant ownership function or group in a small company. of a process
Candidates that you are prepared for this change – and can articulate it, stand a great chance to get the job.
