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Big company vs small company



Everett, I think, faces a problem that many job seekers have. You have your cover letter and resume ready and your interview skills are polished. Now all you have to do is meet the person who can hire you.

But…how do you meet that person?

Bigger is Not Always Better



Everett, you have expressed an interest in working for The Globe and Mail and Edmonton Journal. These are both fairly large employers. However, small organizations tend to be easier to find work with. Why is this? The chief reason is that there are fewer gatekeepers in small organizations.



Gatekeepers are people or obstacles that prevent you from seeing the person in a position to hire you. Large organizations usually have layers of bureaucracy to get around. Ironically, in a large organization, the HR department is possibly the ultimate gatekeeper, doling out interviews like Scrooge would pay wages. Large organizations also have more competition for their jobs. After all, large employers get all the press—no pun intended.



At small organizations the only person you need to contact is the boss. Sometimes you can walk directly into that person’s office and make your pitch. If you can find a small organization that’s still growing or happens to have an opening then, you may be able to persuade the boss to create an opening tailored to what you have to offer.



There are still some local newspapers despite the consolidation that has occurred in this industry. Use the university or public library search facilities to try to find out about these local papers, or browse a news stand that specializes in carrying papers for surrounding communities.



Also there are start-up Ezines on the web. Get a list of them online. And don't fail to ask your friends for any leads they might have on job opportunities, even it they're not with large organizations or not in the industry you're interested in. They may have friends or relatives in a position to help. Ultimately, even in this Internet era, your best leads will often come from or through people you know.



You can also click here for a list of our newspaper want ad links, which may have some papers you hadn’t considered. (Yes, that’s my shameless plug for the day). Try to use whatever leads you can develop to contact someone in a position to give you a job.



There are also many more small businesses than large businesses. The odds favor employment in smaller organizations.



Remember that companies, both big and small, are also hiring writers to create online content, both in written and audio format. After all, your dream job consists of having your views known. If that is your chief concern, why limit yourself to larger organizations or to traditional print formats? There's a whole new world for writers shaping up out there in cyberspace.



But I Want Big!



Despite this, you might want to look for work in a large organization anyway. You might prefer the working environment of a larger organization, and the chance to write or be heard by a larger base of users. So, how can you get past the gatekeepers at a large organization?


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