Choosing Between Big Corporates and Startups: Which HR Role Offers Better Growth for Newbies?

For a fresher or 1-2 year experienced HR candidate, what's a better opportunity? A recruiter or an HR executive role in big corporates with huge manpower, or as an HR Manager in small start-up companies? Please share your opinion with reasons.

Whether experienced for 1-2 years or with no experience, it's always the learnings that lead to the apex. You may not clearly imply that joining a bigger firm guarantees learning opportunities that need to be initiated.

Career Path Considerations

Can you justify being a Manager-HR for a small firm that serves a huge clientele or envision yourself as an executive in a large company? No matter what you choose to do for education and advancement, make that choice.

Key Areas in Human Resources

In the field of Human Resources, there are several key areas to focus on:

- Recruitments & Selections
- Compensation
- Payroll
- File Keeping: Personal files, confidential records
- Labor laws, disciplinary procedures, labor compliance
- New staff orientation, Employee Handbook, Safety & Health of employees, Career planning
- Employee Communication: Newsletters, Recognition programs, Performance appraisal
- Employee exit, Retirement Programs, and Employee Assisting programs, and many more...

You need to self-evaluate to gain knowledge in mapping an entire department where consistency demonstrates reliability—that is when you are successful. By now, I hope you know what to do.

Dear Sharmila, thank you for your valuable advice! I still have a question—don't you think that some proper guidance is required from an experienced manager?

Thanks,
Avantika

Challenges and Opportunities in Small Companies

Small companies, especially startups, face significant challenges as one must define and introduce HR policies and processes while simultaneously launching and implementing them. This task requires not only convincing management but also gaining employee appreciation for the necessity of these processes. It demands a creative drive, strong presentation and communication skills, persuasive abilities, willingness to adapt, a flexible approach to refining or modifying processes to suit the company's dynamics, and immense patience. If these attributes are part of your personality, you may excel as a one-person HR department in a small company.

Succeeding in this role, despite obstacles, can build the confidence needed to navigate HR in any setting, paving the way to transition to midsize or large companies.

The Importance of Personality and Attitude

Success hinges on your personality and attitude. Engage in introspection and make a decision. Following your inner voice can lead you to success.

Look at the job profile and opportunities for learning, but not at the size of the company. Your inclination to learn, grow, and lead should be the criteria in choosing the company. To extract a kilogram of gold, you need to mine a tonne of soil. Are you prepared for it? That's how you add value to your talent and skills and will be in a position to trade your skills to get what you want in your career. All the best.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
Mumbai

Choosing each role has its own characteristics. From my experience, I can advocate taking up the HR Manager role in a start-up company. The reason being, it depends on how you are going to approach it. If you have the zeal and urge to learn things in a challenging way that would enhance your profile, then it's most suited. You may either have half knowledge or no knowledge at all of your portfolio, thus being compelled to learn everything step by step. In the process, you might make errors and miss some, but it will undoubtedly help you master things and face any challenges at any level. Once you acquire a basic knowledge of all HR-related areas, especially legal provisions and procedures, you are halfway there. If you master IR/Human Relations & man-management, you'll be closer to perfection. Such opportunities are rare in large organizations where you may only be allocated a small portion of HR tasks from time to time. You should consider yourself fortunate to work in various roles, and through rotation, if you have to cover different areas, you'll gain valuable experience to become a Consultant after retirement.

On the other hand, a Recruiter/HR Executive will only handle a portion of the assignment during such periods. Unless you are rotated to other areas, you may not fully grasp the nuances of HR, especially legal issues.

It's like the saying goes, "it's all whether you'd like to be the head of a cat or just the tail of a tiger." You might be enticed by labeling the tail as "tiger's tail," but what truly matters is the "head," which is essential. The choice is yours.

Regards,
Kumar S.

Moreover, in a small company (with 10-15 employees), people have easy access to bosses for their issues, and there is a lot of interference and micromanagement. I am facing the issue of responsibility without authority as well. 