Considering a Career Change? Have you Thought About Joining an SME?

For most successful professionals in Northern Ireland, making the next step in your career can seem an intimidating prospect. With several factors to consider including how it will impact your future development, one key consideration can be whether to move to a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) when you are currently in a larger organisation.

Although a smaller organisation may not have the draw of a recognised brand name, in joining a growing SME you will often experience the opportunity and scope whereby you can make a greater impact than in most larger firms. This can come from several areas:

• Building and nurturing closer relationships with customers, providing you with the opportunity to witness growth first hand and play a key role in their decision-making process.
• Greater flexibility in your day-to-day role, working across several or all business functions regularly. This can give you significant advantage in developing your career toward the Senior Manager/Director level at a faster pace, as you will have greater oversight and direction on what a successful business looks like.
• Become an influencer across the company and bring more of your personal preferences into your day to day work, SMEs often have flatter organisational structures which will facilitate this.
• Customise your own career path by expanding your responsibilities into new areas of the business, smaller companies can embrace entrepreneurial spirit.
• Decision-making in any area can be a more efficient process. Since smaller firms often don’t have, or need, the same amount of internal oversight and bureaucracy, you can be sure that faster turnarounds can take place on both major and minor decisions.
• Successful smaller businesses usually have a more unified workplace culture, so it’s worth exploring this area throughout the interview process to ensure a good fit going forward.

Even if you’re transitioning within the same industry, making a structural as well as cultural change can take time to get used to. Once you’re settled, you should regularly evaluate your comfort levels and performance in your new space. You will learn to understand your preferred working style and environment; for example, do you excel or perform at your best when working collaboratively? Are you flexible in terms of your job description and responsibilities?

The opportunities a growing SME can provide for your career development can truly help increase your skills and ensure you have confidence in more varied environments that a larger firm may find difficult to offer.

At MCS Group we can help provide you with the right support as to what career moves will fit best with your motivations. Through significant experience working across all sizes of companies we can help you gain greater confidence in making the right decision. To find out the latest roles throughout Northern Ireland or if you simply need further advice on your career, please contact a member of our team on 02890 235 456.