Large company VS. Small company

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SiddMartin

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Wondering if any of you guys have worked for both the larger companys and a smaller company and which you prefer.

I am with a small company w/ maybe 20 lead guys in the field, it def. has its perks and I've never "felt like a number". Just looking for pros or cons on either one. I have been considering a move and just lookin for some insight. How does management treat you guys that work for the bigger companies?
 
SiddMartin said:
Wondering if any of you guys have worked for both the larger companys and a smaller company and which you prefer.

I am with a small company w/ maybe 20 lead guys in the field, it def. has its perks and I've never "felt like a number". Just looking for pros or cons on either one. I have been considering a move and just lookin for some insight. How does management treat you guys that work for the bigger companies?
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Sounds Like You are with a good company now, why would you want to leave?
 
jmsbrush said:
Sounds Like You are with a good company now, why would you want to leave?
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I'm not really sure. It's more or less that management has me pissed off right now and dragging their feet on bringing my pay rate up to where I feel it should be. We are going through some growing pains right now, (which is good - the growing part), but it seems that they are busy that they are neglecting things. I really don't plan on going anywhere, but this is the only company I've worked for and I've also heard that you have to "jump" to really make more money. I'd rather stay where I'm at as long as they pay me what I'm worth.
 
SiddMartin said:
I'm not really sure. It's more or less that management has me pissed off right now and dragging their feet on bringing my pay rate up to where I feel it should be. We are going through some growing pains right now, (which is good - the growing part), but it seems that they are busy that they are neglecting things. I really don't plan on going anywhere, but this is the only company I've worked for and I've also heard that you have to "jump" to really make more money. I'd rather stay where I'm at as long as they pay me what I'm worth.
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It could be they're experiencing a cash flow shortage right now, and need to watch every penny that goes out.
 
I called the shop one time asking if we could sit down and talk about were the company needs me to go and were I wanted to go in the company. They told yes we'll set something up. I called a few more times nothing happened. Well 4 months went by and they would not return my calls so I put my notice in. Then the owners son acts like he is peeing his pants because I am quiting and they need more guys. Employees are an investment. I would say 90% of the time you need to leave a company to get more money, but I would give them a chance.

Best of luck.

SiddMartin said:
I'm not really sure. It's more or less that management has me pissed off right now and dragging their feet on bringing my pay rate up to where I feel it should be. We are going through some growing pains right now, (which is good - the growing part), but it seems that they are busy that they are neglecting things. I really don't plan on going anywhere, but this is the only company I've worked for and I've also heard that you have to "jump" to really make more money. I'd rather stay where I'm at as long as they pay me what I'm worth.
Click to expand...
 
You have to realize that "large" and "small" are relative terms. The company I spent my first 7 years in the field with had a maximum of 13 guys total (including apprentices) and averaged about 7. When I went to work for a company that had ~50 guys I thought that was enormous.

You may get a lot of different opinions on this but the truth is that only you know the answer. It all depends on what you want out of the company that you work for. Obviously there will be more opportunity for advancement in a larger company, but you will be moving to a larger pond where more aggresive fish may lurk. In my experience jumping for money is generally not satisfying, and when you do it once it is the beginning of a pattern. At some point you will be looking for a job and the employer is going to have second thoughts about investing in an employee that has 8 different companies he has worked for in the past 10 years.

That doesn't mean I don't think you shouldn't seek the best position for yourself, just that there are other measures of a good employer besides $/hr. If you really don't enjoy where you are, and can make an informed decision about another company (and the larger ones are fairly easy to find out about) and you think it is a good match, than take a chance. If on the other hand you're just thinking that the grass must be greener somewhere else I would caution you.

As I said it depends on what you are looking for. When I worked for the company I mentioned earlier I knew that the entire time I worked for them I could have made more money somewhere else but the whole dynamic was worth it to me to sacrifice some money. I was pretty much left alone, and the two owners were good guys to work for. If I hadn't moved I probably would still be working for them. I recently went back to visit that area of the world and made it a point to have lunch with them.

Again, it all depends on what you are looking for.
 
I think most guys here are owners (maybe - maybe not) so you might get some management responses

I was a supplyhouse salesman for a long long time and got to see how a lot of shops do things (both right and wrong)

You might need to push a couple buttons or line something else up if you want to move up your pay.

The oldest * I wont say trick* thing to do is start a guy with no experience and push up his level of work and keep his pay down. Most shops make most of their money on guys who are on the low side of the curve.

best of luck
 
SiddMartin said:
Wondering if any of you guys have worked for both the larger companys and a smaller company and which you prefer.
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Do you want to be a hands on type of electrician ( stay close to the actual work) or do you want to run a big crew?

If you want to do hands on type of work then you are better off with a small company.

If you want to run a crew then you are better off with a bigger company.

If you can run a 100 man crew doing multi-million dollars jobs then you are worth more to a company than a guy that can only run a 10 man crew. The only reason a bigger company is better is that you will never run a big crew working for a small company, they just don't have that many employees or normally do the really big jobs.

If you are working for a large company then you can end up taking your tools off pretty fast and just being a supervisor or manager.

It's really a question of twisting wire nuts or doing paper work.

Being a master electrician will not help as much with a big company as the ability to supervise a crew. A good track record.
 
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growler said:
It's really a question of twisting wire nuts or doing paper work.
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This is a very important point. A lot of guys think that taking the tools off is the answer to what ails them. The reality is a lot of us got into the trades because the office life soes not suit who we are. Paper work sucks. There is no other way to say it. Also playing referee between different warring factions (both from outside and within your company) can really wear you down. As I said earlier it all depends on what you're looking for. I've met guys who have been in the field for 30+ years and wouldn't go inside for anything. I've met other guys who managed to get out of the field in as little as 2 years. It was the best match for each of them and they would not have been happy had they taken the others path.
 
Stay cool.

Stay cool.

SiddMartin said:
Wondering if any of you guys have worked for both the larger companys and a smaller company and which you prefer.

I am with a small company w/ maybe 20 lead guys in the field, it def. has its perks and I've never "felt like a number". Just looking for pros or cons on either one. I have been considering a move and just lookin for some insight. How does management treat you guys that work for the bigger companies?
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I have worked for both when i used to be a employee. I learned more with the smaller company then the larger company. With the smaller company i realized i was more of a value then with the larger company.

Being with a smaller company helped me learn so much more. The larger company is ok if you like to be out of the spotlight most of the time. Management in a large company notice you less regardless of what you running. Your more easily replaced then with a smaller company.

You have 20 lead guys in your company sounds like your already in a big company. A small company is considered to have only 15 or less electricians in it. My current company has 12 employees and i consider myself a small company but i choose this amount for my lifestyle.

I can't imagine having anymore employees in this frozen construction market. My advice to you is to stay put untill things clear up. I doubt if your going to have a advantage in complaints with todays construction market.
 
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