{"id":15969,"date":"2018-08-09T15:15:49","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T12:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bondora.com\/blog\/?p=15969"},"modified":"2018-08-09T15:15:49","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T12:15:49","slug":"five-common-myths-about-working-at-a-start-up-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/blog\/five-common-myths-about-working-at-a-start-up-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Five common myths about working at a start-up in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 \u2013 The pay is low<\/h2>\n

One of the biggest misconceptions of life working at a startup is that you\u2019ll have to accept lower pay. Especially related to Fintech\u2019s<\/a>, banks have promoted an image of lower pay and a lower quality of life if you were to leave their giant corporation. The truth is quite the contrary.<\/p>\n

In general, smaller companies are not subject to the difficulties imposed by company politics which the banking titans are notorious for. As a result, there is no need to create roles for \u201cbox-ticking\u201d. If you work in a large organization, you\u2019ll know for sure what we\u2019re talking about here. Teams, even whole departments, are created in banks to satisfy the agenda of executives who are completely out of touch with how the business works on the ground level.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t happen in (most) start-ups and scale-ups, simply because there\u2019s no room for people who are not directly making a measurable impact on the growth of the company. A significant benefit of this means there is more capital available to pay their employees extremely well.<\/p>\n

\"Startup<\/p>\n

2 \u2013 Your job isn\u2019t secure<\/h2>\n

We can bet there\u2019s plenty of objections you\u2019ve heard about job security before deciding to join a startup. Let\u2019s take a look at some of the most common ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company has only been active for a few years, it could go bankrupt at any time, and you could lose your job\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

A fair point and something you should think about before making the jump. Although, it\u2019s important to remember that because a company has been active for less than five years, it does not automatically make your job less secure than if you were elsewhere.<\/p>\n

A few things to consider to help you validate the longevity of the company. Take a look at their annual financial statements, are they making a profit? If not, can you see they are working towards it, and their financial positioning is improving year-on-year? This is a good sign that should give you confidence in the long-term future of your potential employer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have the protection of national union agencies, in case you are fired.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe not. But if your main concern (even before you start) is being fired \u2013 you should reflect on why you believe this may be a scenario you\u2019re likely to face. In a corporate Goliath, you are just a number. Nothing more. If there is a need for cost cutting in the business and your department is in the crosshairs \u2013 no matter how prolific your union agency is, there is nothing they can do to stop it.<\/p>\n

In general, if you\u2019re hard-working, passionate, skilled and take ownership, you will succeed in employment. What\u2019s more, your commitment and hard work are considerably more likely to be noticed and valued in a smaller organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you stay in your job for another few years, you\u2019ll probably get a promotion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The corporate ladder is an exceptionally long climb. And while it\u2019s true that you may move up one rank in a few years\u2019 time, are you striving for that because you want that job or because you want to move up the imaginary success ladder?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget to place value on you and your career before anything else. What if the start-up you\u2019re working for changes from a \u20ac10M valuation to a \u20ac1B valuation in the next five years? It happens, and you can have an instrumental impact on making that a reality because you\u2019ll work in a smaller team.<\/p>\n

\"Startup<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 Everyone is under 25<\/h2>\n

With all the stories of teenage entrepreneurs founding global companies, there is a common misconception that all the staff are babies. This also raises the question of how qualified they can be if they have a lack of experience.<\/p>\n

Age is never a determining factor on the skills of a person – what trumps all is their attitude, ability to learn, experience and natural talents. At Bondora<\/a>, our team ranges from mid-20\u2019s to 50\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 No personal development programs<\/h2>\n

Probably not, in the traditional sense. Banks are well-known for having long and mundane development programs which provide no tangible impact on the practical skills needed for present or future career progress. They can often be outdated, theoretical and repetitive.<\/p>\n

Instead, you have the opportunity to be thrown in at the deep end with a start-up. Since most offices are open plan, you\u2019ll sit near departments completely unrelated to your field of expertise and as a result, have the option to collaborate with them on projects. In an environment where you\u2019re constantly learning, you can apply these practical skills to your role and perhaps move into a different position that suits your strengths.<\/p>\n

\"startup<\/p>\n

5 \u2013 You work long hours<\/h2>\n

Work-life balance is a buzzword thrown around effortlessly in the corporate world. \u201cMake sure you come in no earlier than 9 am and leave no later than 5 pm\u201d, \u201cTake your vacation periodically to make sure you don\u2019t burn out\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t do any work at home\u201d. What if you could make your own decisions about how you manage your time?<\/p>\n

Most start-ups wouldn\u2019t blink an eye if you said you were working from home for a week. Once employees are given the freedom to manage their own time, including their working hours, job satisfaction goes through the roof. As long as you can take responsibility for your duties and tasks at hand, you\u2019ll have no problems with this. Of course, this relies on hiring the right people in the first place. Otherwise, no one would do any work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \u2013 The pay is low One of the biggest misconceptions of life working at a startup is that you\u2019ll have to accept lower pay. Especially related to Fintech\u2019s, banks have promoted an image of lower pay and a lower quality of life if you were to leave their giant corporation. The truth is quite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-financial-well-being"],"acf":[],"featured_image":null,"categories_names":["Financial Well-being"],"category_name":"Financial Well-being","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}