8 Reasons College Students Should Look for Jobs with Startups

By Uloop Editor on March 27, 2012

This post is a part of the East Coast Startup Series by Uloop’s Director of Student News.  To see all the posts in this series, click here.

Last week, I got the opportunity to visit and interview eight of the East Coast’s most interesting startups.  From large to small, almost all of these companies all have opportunities for students looking to join a startup team.  In today’s tough economy, students who have looked for jobs at the country’s largest firms may be finding more disappointment than success.  Fortunately, there are many good reasons to look for work with a startup rather than a mainstream market leader.  Here are 8 of them:

1. Work With Passion

Photo by Phillie Casablanca on flickr.com

If you’ve ever worked with a large company before, you know what the environment can be like.  Your fellow employees drone on day to day, working just hard enough to not get fired, and counting down the days until the precious, all-to-short weekend.  The environment at a startup?  Completely different.  You’ll likely be working right next door to the men and women who actually started the company.  When I walked into Shapeways, Boxee, and Rent the Runway‘s offices this week, I felt it immediately.  Employees were surrounded by their company’s products, working in an open, collaborative environment, and looking excited to be there.

2. Equity, Equity, Equity

While working for a startup may pay less up front, you’re pretty likely to get some equity in the company that you’re helping to build.  Equity is an ownership stake in the company that you can elect to sell later when the value of the company rises.  Depending on the age and prior success of the startup, the amount you get can vary greatly.  For example, if you join at day 1 before any external investment has been made, you will probably be able to get much more equity than if you join three years in with a third round of venture capital investment.  The risk is proportional to the reward though, so you have to judge your own risk tolerance.  You shouldn’t work for a startup solely because you want to get rich, but here’s something to think about: the average Facebook employee will get an estimated $2.4 million if they cash out after the company goes public.

3. You Can Make a Big Impact

If you’re working for a large company, they’ll probably give you several months of training and a few menial tasks to start your career.  Your performance will be judged every 6 to 12 months, and you’ll be moved into a leadership training program if they feel you are worthy.  In contrast, your work at a startup is limited by your drive to push the company to the next level.  Startup companies generally don’t have as many set rules and regulations, so you are free to suggest and implement new plans that could greatly improve the company.

4. Networking Opportunities

Startups need connections.  It’s likely that your company’s founders have met entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, journalists, and maybe celebrities along the way.  Brooke Moreland, the founder of Fashism.com, said that the best thing about interning with Fashism is the opportunity to meet with major players in the fashion industry.  As an employee, you’ll probably be encouraged to attend conferences and trade shows that no big employer would dream of sending you to when you first start out.  Take this as a huge perk and use these opportunities!  Networking is one of the most important long term investments you can make in your career, whether it’s with a startup or not.

5. Minimal Bureaucracy

Big employers will make you read and sign 20+ pages of legalese, pass a drug test, adhere to social networking policies, and maybe even ask for passwords to your Facebook account.  Besides the initial bureaucracy, you’ll probably spend half of your time working just filling out meaningless reports (darn TPS reports!).  Startups are rarely concerned with these details as they’re still young enough to care more about the big picture.  If you hate getting bogged down in paperwork and details that don’t relate to what you love to do, then working at a startup may be right up your alley.

6. Job Security

Lately, the news has been riddled with stories about large companies laying off workers who have spent 10, 20, or 30 years at their company.  The truth is that to a large corporation, you will almost always be a number in some accountant’s books.  Your CEO will likely have no connection with you personally, and you could get fired just because “it’s a tough economy.”  While startups do go under or fail quite often, your ambition in taking the job will likely get you a new job faster and higher up than it would being a pawn at some mega corporation.

7. Learn the Whole Business

When you’re young and don’t have a lot of “real-world” business experience, it’s tough to get a position that allows you to see how every department works on a macro scale.  While startups may have smaller departments for their major business functions, they still perform all the same functions.  You’ll probably work closely with team members who handle everything from marketing to logistics to engineering, allowing you to craft a more complete view of an operating (and hopefully successful!) business.  Of course, this will help you with number 8…

8. Prepare for Your Own Company

So what happens if the startup you work for fails?  What if it makes you super-rich?  It doesn’t matter because either way you will have the connections, experience, and knowledge to go out and start your own business (assuming you want to).  For anyone considering entrepreneurship, working for a startup is the only way to get anything remotely close to “on-the-job” training.  Soak up as much knowledge as you can and remember to keep your passion at the front of your mind!

Final Advice

As with any job, do your homework.  Working for a startup is a risk, just like taking any job is a risk.  You may think the company looks good, but the culture needs to mesh with yours if you want to be happy.  If you’re looking for jobs with a startup, don’t worry, the people from Koofers and Boxee provided me with lots of advice.  You’ll just have to wait for the next post to get it!

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