How to join a 'bigger' employer

[Ifti]

The place I worked for outsourced it's IT to a bigger company last year and I was transferred across to the bigger company.
I was happy, thinking it would mean more training and more career opportunities.

How wrong I was.

Pay has been frozen.
All the training I was promised has gone down the drain.
You don't feel involved in the company at all. Decisions are made and you just have to obey them.
Echo the above in regards to being an employee number and nothing more.
I'm vey demotivated right now, if it wasn't for the fact I get good pay for the work, and 29 days annual leave (and that's only because of my previous contract which was subject to a TUPE transfer, which the bigger company doesn't really like but can't do anything about) I would seriously be looking at leaving this place and going into contracting.

The only thing that puts me off of contracting is the fear that I will have large gaps between contracts. With a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed, I can't be in that situation.

At the moment, I'm playing the lottery and hoping for a breakthrough!

[keith]

I worked for BT for 19years and as prev mentioned I wouldn't recommend them as future employers, recently went back as a contractor and left after a few months as the contracting company and bt were both rude term for female bits Most big companies now use agencies to sort the wheat from the chaff so its worth registering with one that specialises in the field you want to work in. I currently work self employed for a small company and it has draw backs no holiday or sick pay but when I am finished thats it home no sitting about waiting until 5pm and then tax is favourable.  Unfortunately big companies use this climate for all sorts BS I have heard of some weird strings attached to jobs. self employed/contracting will be the future big co's dont want staff

[phil1975]

I worked for a small company for 12 years (12 employee's) till we got taken over by a larger company (over 100 employee's) in 2011 and I hate it Its all politics, managers and your not in my department you don't exist!

Possibly if we hadn't been taken over and I had chosen to work for this company I might not feel this way, as previously said beware of "the grass is always greener...."

[rdfcpete]

Thanks all for the useful replies.

Interesting around the consensus and feedback on the bigger companies.
I guess after 8 years of having extra roles dumped on me for no more salary and zero upwards or sideways opportunities, I was hoping the situation would be slightly different at a larger and good employer. Obviously it depends on which one in particular as mentioned.

Any reliable friends always seem to paint the picture of bigger companies ensuring your future skills and experience with more interest through formal training.
As Mike (tony_danza) says, that kind of 'push you on because you want to learn' won't be present in smaller businesses, particularly in time of decline or recession. I don't think I've had £10k of formal training invested in me in the last 5 years, let alone last one or two. This was also part of my thinking.

I work for a massive UK bank, and the same BS still goes on. Mid year and end of year reviews are a con. Everyone is rated according to a "curve" and even if nobody in my team of 10 (in IT Service Delivery) deserve a low performance rating, at least 2 people "have" to get it. Which affects everything including your bonus and payrise.

Benefits are good though. 4% of your salary to spend on what you like, some tax free, some ni free, some free from both. I take Cycle2Work as it suits me.

However, due to the state of the economy and massive headcount reductions. In the 5 years i have worked here, there have been 0 promotion opportunities in my department. Due to a rather large merger, all our payscales were restructured. Now i would need 2 promotion grades to even get a sniff of a half decent payrise, yet if i moved to the wider business, i could get a job with about 5% of the responsibility for more money and a better pay grade.

Personally, i look after 300 servers including systems of Citrix, VMWare, Fibre channel SAN, all server patching. But i am paid the wage of someone working on level 2 desktop support.

This is the big thing stopping me moving to another company at present. I get good overtime on a monthly basis and im On-call 1 in every 5 weeks for 24 hour support. It helps me bring home another £10k a year on top of my salary.

This is more or less where I'm at, at the moment Luke (in terms of software support & experience) too and am looking to move into a second line support role or something similar to that.
Sounds like you've got a neat setup there.

The other big thing generally is a lot of older working people I speak to are advising not to jump ship at the moment and not to do it until the economy picks up - this obviously could be more than five, possibly ten + years away.

Is it a calculated risk to think about changing employment to a stable and profitable business given the 'condition of the market'?

Thanks again 

[andrewparker]

Training within a small company has to be justified. They need to know that paying for it will have some return for their business, not just for the individual. I'd say it's far more difficult to take a proactive role and to make a difference in a larger company. The pay off for better pay, and more benefits is that you aren't loved as much. I'd also imagine grievances with a small employer are far easy to resolve. I'd think they'd place far more importance in keeping hold of good staff.

[rdfcpete]

Training within a small company has to be justified. They need to know that paying for it will have some return for their business, not just for the individual. I'd say it's far more difficult to take a proactive role and to make a difference in a larger company. The pay off for better pay, and more benefits is that you aren't loved as much. I'd also imagine grievances with a small employer are far easy to resolve. I'd think they'd place far more importance in keeping hold of good staff.

Agree with the first few bits.

Highlighted section - Hmm, I wish that were true AP. Unfortunately at all the small businesses I've worked at, we've lost some very good people due to mismanagement, bad micro management or poor project management that has meant people have headed for the door. A lot of that, I've found in my experience, is because the one or two persons in the senior management position/at the top (MD, Tech Dir etc...) bypass or ignore process too frequently thus rendering them out of touch with a lot of operational activities and the reality at ground level, perhaps just like a big organisation. However, there's no board of directors making a collective decision with a small outfit, just one or two owners often following only their own experience what they think is best. Too many classic examples of that unfortunately where it's not always for the right outcome.

You're normally loved more in a small(er) business, yep I agree - but, that's usually because you'll be doing 2 or 2.5 peoples jobs (cost saving, over utilisation of skills to benefit the business, not necessarily the individual) where the feedback from friends on the other hand is in your bigger places is that there's a hierarchical structure and stronger personnel process to protect you much more from being in that position.

That may be inaccurate in a lot of situations for bigger corps, but I've found it in every small outfit I've ever worked for or with. On the other hand, it's job security in essence. Works both ways I suppose.

[andrewparker]

I think you need to find a better small employer!

[Tamiyoman]

I do agree with what Tony danza said about larger employees offering training, LloydsTSB put me through most (all bar one) of my qualifications and it was the high level of training and qualifications that got me head hunted to go working offshore  , was a good couple of years and great life experience (as well as high earnings), but after 2 years I was missing friends/family, any single chaps/ladies that get the opportunity I would recommend it to them as there is more money to be made offshore dealing with high net worth clients (lots of them are arrogant pr...ks but they will listen if you know your stuff!).

Good luck with whatever you decide

[Deako]

Dont get me wrong, the company i worked for previously would never have put me through the training that i have had since i joined Lloyds too. But the politics are an absolute nightmare.

On the upside, i have had 7 hours overtime this weekend just doing simple stuff by renaming a load of mailboxes. It could have been scripted (if the data capture had been better), but i like my overtime! ;)

[rdfcpete]

Fellas,

Bit of an old one now I appreciate but which are the better job websites to be checking?

I've shortlisted
- reed.co.uk
- jobsite.co.uk
- fish4jobs.co.uk
- totaljobs

Any other apps or sites I should focus on for jobs in IT and/or business support?

Thanks.

[Gazza747]

indeed.co.uk

[Degudodger]

www.jobserve.co.uk
www.jobsearch.co.uk