By Joel Eliach
For The Diamondback
As students at this university consider different jobs and internships, their minds might fill with conflicting ideas. They might wonder whether it’s better to shoot for the top and try to join a big company or if it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond.
Annie Weinschenk, an industry development specialist at the University Career Center & The President’s Promise, said the right company size depends on the type of individual interviewing for the position.
“I would say be open to both [large and small organizations]. It’s going to depend on who the person is searching,” Weinschenk said. “Experience as many different types of interviews and settings that you can.”
Larger companies tend to offer more structure and name recognition, she said, while smaller organizations often have less competitive hiring and give a wider range of responsibilities to interns.
Sophomore Swati Patel, who is enrolled in letters and sciences, said that she wants to intern at a large hospital to prepare for a premed track and that she is interested in learning about trauma care.
“If the hospital is bigger, you’ll get more emergency cases, and there’s more opportunity to learn,” she said.
Averi Millet, a freshman community health major, said challenges could come with working for a larger organization.
“It’s more intimidating, I feel like, and you have to work extra hard because every day somebody’s doing something great, and you’re trying to do something great so you can be noticed,” she said.
Millet said she would eventually like to work at a large organization like Johns Hopkins Hospital but would like to first start out somewhere smaller to learn from any potential mistakes. That way, she said, she hopes she will be ready to make her best impression when she starts with a larger organization.
“I want to be the best I can be before I show them who I am and what I can provide.” she said.
But senior kinesiology major Joseph Louis said he prefers working in a larger organization because there is less of a risk that it could go out of business.
He added that larger organizations seem to offer more opportunities for getting promoted and moving up, establishing connections and reaching the success you want.
Kelly Fernandez, a senior electrical engineering major, said she likes the social opportunities and financial resources available at larger organizations but is overall more interested in company culture than size.
She prefers “whatever company … has a goal of changing society and a certain aspect of society and wants to improve it, and is really passionate and dedicated towards that goal [and] wants to work towards it and not just making a profit,” she said.
Drawing from her own experience, Weinschenk added that she would advise students to consider both types of organizations.
“Keep an open mind to large and small organizations, as they both offer different and amazing things and opportunities — and that was something I didn’t do,” she said.
