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Start Ups are Not For Everyone

Brittany Solomon • Feb 08, 2023

Start-ups are not for everyone, plain and simple. It requires a strong work ethic, keen attention to detail, and an ability to “roll with the punches”. In a short period of time, a startup will teach you more about your aspirations, your professional capacity for work, and your capabilities than you may have learned up until that point. Your perception of what is difficult or beneficial will shape the impact a start-up has on you.

 

Wearing Multiple Hats

Start-up environments allow you to “wear multiple hats”, meaning your roles and responsibilities will not always be linear and you may take on several different roles. “All other duties as assigned” (on your job description) comes into play as you may flip-flop from writing a blog post one day to completely revamping the organizational operations the next. Organization within a startup has a heavy emphasis on balancing multiple projects and strategically identifying ways to stay on track.

 

Growth Opportunity

Growing into and developing the position you want is an advantage within start-up organizations. For me, that became an operations role, however it has looked completely different for some of my colleagues who fell into Marketing and Finance roles with the same baseline responsibilities as me. Identifying our strengths and weaknesses, as we took on multiple tasks to help the organization grow and thrive enabled us each to craft the role that we want for ourselves.

 

Collaboration and Teamwork

We often fall into categories, introvert vs. extrovert, independent vs. collaborative, flexible vs. structured, etc. Each of these categories work well within start-ups and a small team allows for more collaboration and a direct line to supervisors. Growing your cross-departmental collaboration and teamwork experience enhances essential professional skills. Autonomy, which I discuss next, provides an opportunity for introverts and independent workers to thrive as well.

 

Autonomy

Within all organizations, everyone has roles and responsibilities that make the organization run effectively. In a start-up, you have a lot of autonomy within your role and ability to impact changes within the organization. Autonomy may result in the development of insights vital to the growth of the startup and will enable you to be a thought partner.

 

Impact and Mission Alignment

All organizations have a mission and vision statement, but start-ups, similarly to nonprofits, are usually very mission driven. At Diverse Talent, we live and breathe our mission every day, allowing us to have an impact both internally and externally in the community, and through the organizations and people we serve.

 

As a smaller organization, the ease of building a mission aligned team increases because the language used to talk about the organization is central to a majority of daily conversations as a team or with the community. When everyone acts as an advocate, everyone learns how to advocate for the community they serve.

 

Career Start

 

Working for a start-up will shape your career trajectory because it:

1.    Teaches you how to work in a fast-paced environment.

2.    Allows you to identify your personal and professional strengths and weaknesses.

3.    Showcases your true passion.

4.    Shows you how to be an advocate for an organization.

5.    Teaches you accountability, the value of teamwork and knowledge growth.

6.     Demonstrates what you do or do not desire within your next role.

 

My advice to you, if you are thinking about working for a start-up, figure out how to make your own impact and decide what that means to you. Going into it have an open mind, be ready for a challenge, and be willing to start something new. If any of those are difficult for you, a start-up may not be for you.

Mid-Year Business Update

By Greer Campbell • 04 Sep, 2024
The job market, quiet quitting, uprise of the digital age, and the decline of DEI? The professional world moves quickly, and it’s easy to get lost in the conundrum of new news. Here is your mid-year update. AI is Updating…Surprise Surprise Generative AI is updating their experience from transactional to a more personal approach. Individuals use of the internet will change, implementing 2-way conversation and solution focused models allowing users to get a more catered response. These updates will grant users a deeper understanding, and companies a more “human-like” vision of the brand. The New Future of Planning The concept of tradition has been molded, shifted, and completely torn apart in the past decade. Most of these shifts are seen as positive, yet some pose greater challenges than not. The rise of cost of living and cost of consummation has individuals adjusting their priorities. The global pandemic also threw a wrench in the ways of planning, pushing organizations to shift focus on fluidity and flexibility to ensure retention and growth. The Not So Quiet Quitting Quiet Quitting is a term that has been frequently thrown around since the pandemic. Commonly coined by social media, the act of quiet quitting refers to an employee doing the minimum requirements of their job, lacking effort, creativity, and excitement. According to a Gallup survey of workers taken in June 2022, quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce. This act can be avoided by managers and organizations through regular check ins, employee surveys, and attention to creating a work-life balance. Technology in 2024: Helpful or Overwhelming? Tech advances are happening so rapidly, many feel that it’s become almost impossible to keep up. The advancement of technology is meant to make life easier, however some feel it’s doing the opposite. In addition to user error, technology is also playing a major part in mental health deterioration and wellbeing. The battle for attention, the pull of creativity, and most importantly – the brain rot. Are we letting this go too far?

Interview Questions Your Team Should Avoid

By Greer Campbell • 04 Mar, 2024
Growing your organization requires the right team. Hiring the right team requires the right approach. Vetting and getting to know potential hires is key to building an effective culture. Interviewing candidates is your first chance to understanding applicants, their skill sets, their professional goals, and more. But just as you are vetting applicants, they are vetting you. The interview process allows applicants to gain a better understanding of your organization’s goals, culture, and needs. Setting the right example and perspective on your company begins with your interviews. One wrong or controversial question, and that could break a potential beneficial business relationship. See below for examples of questions to avoid asking candidates in interviews, and why. Are you planning to start a family soon/Are you planning to expand your family soon? While this seems like an obvious conflict, many companies are still asking this to potential employers. This makes the applicant feel like that would make or break their candidacy. Mothers and fathers in business want to feel support from their employer, an unspoken sense of support. Starting a family or having a family does not dictate a candidate’s professional abilities, therefore there is no reason to ask. What are your religious, political, and sexual stances? Again, these are personal attributes that do not affect a candidate’s ability to perform professionally, therefore can be seen as inappropriate and reason for termination of consideration for candidacy. Where are you originally from? While on the surface this may seem like an innocent question, it is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 making it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of national origin. If you ask, you could be accused of discriminating against them. You can, however, ask if the candidate will be able to report to the position location required by the job opening. How old are you? It is illegal to ask someone’s age, you are only allowed to confirm the candidate is of legal age to work full time, being 18 years old. What salary did you make at your previous role? Many states have implemented a salary transparency law, enforcing job postings and descriptions must portray the salary range for the position. Even if your state does not have this law, it is safe to avoid asking a person’s salary history. Instead, share the salary range and confirm the candidate’s expectations are within the range. As the market continues to be competitive and ever changing, engaging a 3 rd party service like Diverse Talent can greatly benefit in finding your organization’s right fit based on our industry expertise.
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