3 Things You Should Know Before Joining A Multinational Corporation

Is joining a multinational corporation one of your goals? Would you like to travel to other offices as part of your job? Would you be happy to enjoy free meals at your office? If you said yes to all, read this before jumping into a +100k employee company.

Not everyone wants to join a large organisation. Some people would prefer to stay local and support their markets working on start-ups, small and medium companies. It's a mix of preference, timing and opportunity. 

Before joining Vodafone Business in Ireland, I used work for an Irish SaaS start-up with 13 people on board. It was a big jump. So if you want to go large and work with multinationals I'll tell you three things that I've learned and it will help you to succeed in this new environment.

Mind Your Pace

Working for an organisation as big as Vodafone means working with +100k employees around the globe. It wouldn't be realistic to say you will meet every single person, but you will be dealing with numerous people from different markets and teams. Because of that, the first golden rule is to mind your pace.

In a smaller company, you will either be the decision maker or have two degrees of separation from that person. Working with a larger team across different markets means that you will likely be working with more people on your projects, and the decision maker to sign everything off might not be within arms reach. You may feel that you have less control over the situation, but you will learn to work in a collaborative way and understand different perspectives.

In a startup, projects are often solved with agile sprints and scrum sessions within a week. Large companies, on the other hand, can take weeks or even a couple of months using the same methods. This doesn't mean less efficiency, but rather a greater complexity. Imagine if you had to create a traffic plan for a megacity such as Sao Paulo. It would take months, right?

Now, imagine if you had to create another traffic plan for your neighbourhood. A little quicker? Working for a multinational can be the same. Maintaining a steady and consistent work effort will go a long way to ensuring you don't burn out and get your project over the line.

Speak Loud & Proud To Be Recognised

The same way your decision makers will grow in number, your peers will be more numerous as well. This results in greater diversity and company culture. You will experience different languages, cultures and backgrounds. You definitely won't get bored!

But don't let the large headcount create the fear of becoming 'just a number', and don't think you're at a disadvantage to be recognised. Use this army of people in your favour and consider them as your allies. The strategy here is to use your Social Media channels to share updates about your projects and achievements to bring the spotlight directly to YOU. Self-branding is the key to get yourself seen, and your peers will be the force behind your reach through their likes, shares and comments on your content.

Also, join societies, engagement or diversity teams. Make sure you are involved with your company's activities and imprint part of your personality on its culture. If all this doesn't make you be seen (I doubt it!), at least you will have lots of fun.

Everyday You Will Learn Something New

The magic of joining the diverse and complex environment of a multinational company makes for endless opportunities to learn. Not only will you have access to formal e-learning platforms and workshops, but you will also learn from people that you work with. That new acronym will be sorted during a call, you will learn about a new digital tool on an email thread, or someone will just chat with you about a new agile method while you're pouring your coffee. 

Most importantly, you won't only gain knowledge about work and new skills, you will also improve your soft skills - or what I like to call: People Skills. You will learn about new ways of parenting, how to keep your plants alive, new tactics to step up your Fifa game, fan theories from Game Of Thrones, Ramadan, Chinese New Year and much more. You will learn about PEOPLE, and what matters to each of them. In the end, that's the richest knowledge you could ever gain.

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isislima