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Old 23-08-2021, 08:09 PM
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Have been through SME, start-up and MNC before, just sharing my 2 cents.

TL;DR - Cliche answer, but it all boils down to what you want to build out of your career and also where you are in your life stage (note that this is age agnostic). Each type of company set up will offer you a different set of experience, environment, pay, career progression etc.

Following are from personal experience, I'm in the finance industry, so am speaking mostly from that angle

Start-up
- fast paced
- potentially better pay if you are a product/marketing/strategy/tech person, even if you are fresh grad
- more flexibility to voice your suggestions, or have some sort of input in company decision making, depending on how big/small your start-up is
- having financial backers (institutional players), means that your C-level people need to deliver results in a shorter time frame, that comes down to you directly, since it's all about "flat hierarchy" nowadays. this circles back to the fast-paced attribute. You may get roped in on meetings on weekends, or burn the midnight oil to firefight some issue that comes up at the other side of the world (if your start-up has overseas offices)
- you need to be flexible in your mindset, what was discussed today may be launched by a competitor tomorrow, essentially making some of your ideas obsolete
- ESOPs
- usually ppl elect to go for start-up if they are young, or they want a new career challenge. For the latter, it can be people from MNCs/SMEs who've had senior positions, but are looking to build companies from the ground up

SME (either local or foreign)
- I believe there are important differences between local and foreign SMEs, I have only been with the latter, so can only speak from that perspective
- decently size (maybe 50 - 100 employees), means there is some level of structure (legacy or new, it depends)
- you may have some level of input on company level decision making if you stay long enough, think 5 - 10 years
- ESOPs, maybe after staying a few years


MNCs
- currently with one now, but not gonna explain much as most folks here have a good handle on the pros and cons about MNCs here, a few things off the top of my head:
- structured, which can be a good or bad thing. Clear progression for some roles, while some are specialized
- good brand name (if your MNC is well-known), looks good on resume
- potentially better pay, if your skills/function is aligned with the MNC's strategic direction, or is important in maintaining day-to-day activities
- however, I don't think you get much opportunity to rotate between departments/verticals, as that is the nature of MNCs. Unless you're in a grad programme, then maybe. Even then, the 3 - 6 month rotation may not provide you with enough insight into the function as a whole, that's how big some MNCs are
- good bonus if you're front office (think 8 - 12 months if you're bringing in the meat, or if your team did a good deal), mid or back office, may get a share in the bonus if MNC does really well, otherwise from what I see, it ranges between 0.5 months to 3 months max.

Cheers
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