The Brand of The Company You Join Matters, Too

One of the most undervalued criteria people use when making a decision about a job offer (or two or three) is the brand of the firm you will be working for.

Yet that brand can make it easier or harder for you to find your next job when it comes time to look for one again . . . and despite everyone’s best intentions, you will probably look for another job again.

Let me show you how brand can influence decisions in your every day left and then show you how it affects employers’ decisions.

When you go to a store to buy a detergent, do you pick up the different brands tat are available, examine the list of ingredients, and come to a conclusion and say, “Huh. The chemical combination in this package should make my wash cleaner and brighter than this one.”

No. You make the decision based upon price, whether you have a coupon, whether your Mom used to use this brand . . . anything other than whether your laundry will be cleaner based upon the chemical combination in one package vs. another.

When a hiring manager is looking at resumes, choosing between candidates or deciding how much to extend the offer for, they are often influenced by the brand of the employer.

Consulting firms hire from their preferred competitors.

Hedge funds are influenced by the schools you attended and your grades.

If I say to you Google, Microsoft or Apple vs. “Three Men in a Garage Bank” or Small StartUp No One Has heard of,” you will probably prefer hiring someone from the companies you know and not the ones you don’t.

This doesn’t mean not to join the startup no one has heard of. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple were once seen that way and now things are a little different, wouldn’t you agree? Just like things are a little different when we mention the names of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and many many other firms that lost their way and eventually went out of business.

So don’t ignore your potential employer’s brand when making your decision. After all, no one else is.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2013