• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, November 1, 2017

This is the time of year when many of you are considering what you’re going to be doing next year.  As we edge toward the holidays, people become introspective, which sometimes leads to evaluating their career.  

There are lots of questions to ask yourself about what you want to be doing, but one of the most crucial is, what stage of company are you going to join? That stage influences the kind of work you’ll be doing and the company’s culture.

There are many stages in the growth of a company. You may think I’m talking about start-up vs. established, but actually the categories I want to address are growth versus harvest.

In the growth stage, the market share trajectory is up and towards the right, with companies adding people, increasing their customer base and investing in their future because those investments pay off in terms of acquisition and revenue.  

Harvest companies have a mature product that has already peaked in terms of hype and market share. They’re looking to either maintain a position in a competitive environment or to extract margin and profit before their business starts to decline.  

You could read the preceding paragraph as a judgment on which kinds of companies have a better culture. However, either one of them can be a good place to work, if the leadership team is aligned and acknowledges where they are in their life cycle.  

In fact, early-stage companies that are maturing can be a fantastic market opportunity, but have a horrible culture driven by ego and a competitive, berating spirit.  Harvest companies may be looking to push margin and simply extract value but that doesn’t mean their culture can’t be strong and positive.

Over the years I’ve seen amazing examples of both types of companies, large and small, in major cities or in rural or suburban communities.  They offer a wide range of benefits and different ways to recognize and reward employees.  

In evaluating a company, you need to determine how that company will help you meet your personal goals in the long run.

If you’re in this boat, I recommend the following actions to help you make the right choice.

-- Ask current employees what they think the stage of their company’s business is, and why. You’re looking for signs that the company is aligned on a single vision and that the employees are clear on what that is.

-- Ask what the culture is like and how it has changed in the last one, two, or three years. Their response will show you if they’re happy about it or not.

-- Who are the company’s competitors — and has that changed over the last two to three years?  It’s also helpful to hear whether other very mature companies are in that space yet, or not.  All that indicates what state of the business it is in.

These questions can help ferret out the culture and the overall level of excitement in the company — all important to you as you consider making a change.

Good luck this year and into the next, no matter what path you take!