One thing’s for sure – a Corporate job may initially pay more than a Startup and comes with easy benefits, but there are a lot of career-defining and real reasons to take note if you are torn between choosing a startup or going with the conventional corporate path.

You’ve graduated or post graduated from a reputed college and you have a couple of job really good job offers on the table. You are in a situation that you have a choice to make. On one hand, you have high-paying entry level job at a reputable brand in your domain. On the other hand is a position at an early stage startup. You’ve read about them, seen their product, have confidence in their vision and like their approach, but aren’t sure you want to take the risk of working with a startup.

What do you choose – The Red Pill or The Blue Pill?

Here are few reasons why you should grab the opportunity and join a startup –

More Responsibilities

Working at a startup most likely means you will be part of a small team, people who will be taking decisions will be most likely in the single digits. Because the team is relatively small, employees will have unique talents and there is probably no one else in the company who has the same set of skills as you or comes to a solution in the same way you do. The core team is usually pretty much already in place, with directors of business development, website developer, marketing, and Sales head already on board.

This will push you to be more versatile, more reliable, efficient and more productive than any other colleague or project you would have undertaken. At a bigger corporate, you would not have been given the same opportunity initially and you would never be able to gain that experience which you have learned in a startup.

More Opportunities

We all know that startup jobs won’t pay that well as some of the bigger corporate and business jobs or industry giants pay. If you have done your graduation from a reputed college then you or your degree may be worth much more than a startup is capable of paying. Work atmosphere at a startup is totally different and opportunities and awards associated are also of another level. The experience will certainly outweigh the pay difference. You will know in a short span of time only that if you would have accepted an entry level position at a higher-paying and recognizable corporate you would not have gained that much experience and problem-solving skills.

More Variety

One of the major complaints you would hear from my friends and colleagues who have entered into a more-organized, corporate designation is that they are usually stuck with their primary task and don’t get the opportunity to branch out into other domains. Whether it’s strategizing, writing, planning, designing, filling out spreadsheets, or any other job. Working at a startup will give you the flexibility to try on a lot of different hats, some will be very weird that you didn’t think you would ever like to don. You will later feel a lot of comfortable in various domains and areas.

More Learning

People who are entrepreneurs have a long term vision and different approach to life, different mental and professional thinking than those who have never taken a risk and followed their heart and gone off to create something new of their own. By definition, entrepreneurs are people who see a problem and think of an innovative and original way of approaching it. Because of their innovative and problem solving nature, entrepreneurs are some of the best teachers and guides. Every successful startup has true innovators behind its success, and you’ll learn a lot from them.

More Recognition

More often than not, if you work with a corporate, there are chances that all of your hard work and efforts is going to be ignored by the seniors or your boss or someone else is going to snatch away the credit from you. However, with a startup it’s impossible not to give credit where credit is due or not to notice a job well done. If you do well, your small team will value and appreciate it instantly and the glory and praise is all yours. Similarly if you will avoid work or will commit a blunder you will not be able to hide it. This will keep you focused and alert at work. After all, everyone appreciates a recognition and especially when it comes from seniors and innovators.

For the reasons stated above we can simply conclude that working at a startup also means that you and your small team will be responsible for your organization’s success. With a startup, you got have a do-or-die attitude that gets you the taste of success and failure.

Doesn’t matter where you go at a later stage in your career but your beginning at startup will surely change your outlook, and especially if you intend to go off and start a company on your own. The skills you acquire from the start up experience will provide power to everything that you do.

We hope you choose the right pill! Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.