If you’re on the hunt for a new job, it’s crucial you think carefully about the kind of company you want to join in order to make sure the move has the biggest positive impact on your career development. Tom Mankin is the Digital Marketing Administrator at family-run shoe retailer Charles Clinkard, and in this article, he shares his thoughts on exactly what it’s like to work for a family business to help you decide if it would be the right choice for you.
Whether you’re on the hunt for your first job or you’re looking to move on to bigger and better things, it’s important that you choose the next business you work for carefully. One decision it’s important to make is whether you want to work for a family-run company. To help you make the choice, here’s my take on the matter as an employee of a family business.
One big benefit of working for a family-run business is that they tend to be more flexible than other companies, especially big corporations. When you join the right family business, you get the same privileges as you would if you were part of the family, with plenty of support and flexibility when it comes to changes in personal circumstances.
For example, I joined Charles Clinkard part-time as a student in 2011, and they were totally accommodating throughout my studies, reducing my workload during busy periods at university. If you’re planning on having children or going part-time in the near future, bear in mind that a family-run business is likely to be more accommodating than most.
Most family businesses are relatively small, making it easier to get noticed for your hard work. This is a big benefit over large corporations, where you may just be another number on a spreadsheet with most your hard work going unnoticed.
Family businesses also tend to have a culture of promoting from within, and with the right attitude, you can get on the fast track to career progression. This is especially the case in smaller family businesses, where you have plenty of scope to take on extra responsibilities and expand your job role.
Many people aren’t interested in joining a family business because they think the opportunities for career progression will be limited to those within the family. While this does tend to be true of the very top positions— if you’re hoping to become a managing director or CEO in the near future, a family business may not be for you — it isn’t the case with senior roles. These tend to be held by people who have worked their way up the ranks of the company over a long period, making it a very fruitful avenue for those at the beginning of their careers over the long-term.
One potential drawback of working for a family business is that you will miss out on gaining the experience and skills that can only come from working from a company that isn’t family-run. Of course, the same can be said of anyone who only ever works for one type of business, as you’ll gain unique skills from each. Whether frequently changing between businesses and careers suits you largely depends on your personality type, as well as the climate of the industry you choose to work in.
While there are both pros and cons of working for a family-run business, this is equally true of starting a career at a company that is not family-run. Hopefully, these thoughts from someone who works for a family company will help you decide your next career move.
