When we were kids (ah….those were the days….), school used to be our 2nd home. We eat there, study there, sleep there (yea, i used to sleep a lot in classes). But as we grow older (suddenly sound so sad), our 2nd home is no longer our school but our office. We eat (sandwiches? biscuits?), sleep (nap?), work and study there. We spend 8 hours a day in our office and sometimes more than the amount of time we spend at home.
That’s why it is quite important to choose the right company…it is just like choosing your life companion. Unless, of course, you are someone who job hops a lot. 
If that’s the case, you don’t need to find the right company. Any company which pays well, will suit you. OK OK, i am not encouraging anyone to do that. Job hopping is a very bad thing especially if your objective is to gain quick money. If you job hop because you want to try many different industries, then it’s not entirely a bad thing.
Anyway, there are 2 major factors that you might want to look into when you start to hunt for the right company:
- Core values - what are the core values of the company? Do they believe in the things you believe in as well? This is perhaps the most important thing that one should look at. If the company believes in slave driving and you prioritize work life balance….then it’ll only shorten you time working for the company. Also, it depends on whether the company provides the opportunity to learn. Does the company offer trainings or you are on your own? If it is on your own, does it actually fit what you want?
- Industry – some companies are involved in different industries…especially the big companies. In these companies, you get to learn about different industries/fields and maybe find the right one for you. However, most companies focus on 1 or 2 industries. If you want to learn about IT, no point to work for a company which only does publishing.
Other factors will be things like benefits, salary, location, opportunity to learn, etc etc. But i believe the 2 major factors are as stated above. Do take some time to read Cirnelle’s post “The kindess of a boss” which in my opinion, is a good post. She talked about the 2 different systems for a company – the Nanny or the Organized Chaos. 
Hope it helps.
15 comments
Comments feed for this article
August 13, 2007 at 12:11 am
JiNG
kekeke.. no office is better than the schools… wukakakaka.. even the best office also cant compare with the worst school.. i like school wei.. so sad i have to leave it d.. damn..
August 13, 2007 at 8:00 am
biblicalconservative
Alvin,
I second that Cirnelle is an excellent writer, very unique !
I really don’t believe in the ‘right company’ notion, like I don’t believe the ‘right husband’ or the perfect match kind of philosophy.
When I started off, I had a hard time deciding should I go horizontal or vertical. I will explain here. I was a computer programmer.
Horizontal : I will get myself familiar with all kind of industry be it retail, manufacture or banking. I will learn industry as I go.
Vertical : I will get into specialty eg. honeywell, IBM, McDonald Douglas in banking or specialized in JIT (just in time) in manufacturing sector.
Chinese called it ‘fate’, you start with your first job and one lead into another and you end up in the field you are in.
But, in more develop country, you have all the resources to plan what you really want. If you want to specialized in aurospace IT , you get resource and pursue into it and otherwise. And when you graduate you go find out what is the industry standard, which company pay out, what are the average, and all the resources that are available.
The many unknown of so called ‘fate’ in fact is not really a fate, it is what, how, why you pursue
:).
I don’t believe in the ‘right company’, I believe in how you make the best out of your situation, resources that are available, give and take. Just like a marriage, I don’t believe it a perfect couple , a perfect match. We live in a fallen world, we are all sinners. There are bound to be strength , weakness in each party. It is depend on how we manage it. Whether it is good , bad boss, company, it is entire up to us to make the situation or not.
My 1st year, I changed company every year. I learned different software, industry. I love it. That is my personally, I don’t like being tied down. Security is not my second name. I love unknown, I love challenge. For someone who parachuted, skilled , backpacked for a year, it is not my personality to stick to a “good” company where they bound me for the rest of my life with good mortgage rate, good health care, blar blar blar. The thing that lure me is what I can put my hand in a variety of industry sector, a variety of software. My spouse is entirely different from me, he works for the states, golden rice bowl, good benefit, secure retirement plan. Smooth sailing, that is him
.
It is a pity that a lot of Malaysian students do not take psy and history. I think M. government should make psy and history a mandatory subject for college freshman
:),esp. develop psy 
:).
My 2cents again
.
Jamy
August 13, 2007 at 8:02 am
biblicalconservative
Typo, My 1st 7 yrs, I changed company every year, sometimes 9mths, all in all, I changed 12 companies in 7yrs when I was in Aust.
August 13, 2007 at 8:03 am
biblicalconservative
ski, not skilled.
August 13, 2007 at 8:04 am
biblicalconservative
Alvin, it is jamy not john. I forget to switch him off
.
August 13, 2007 at 9:00 am
jamy
Alvin, Sorry to mess up your comment column. If you so choose, you can delete all the comments with John face in it. I need to clarify here.
I did talk about choosing a right company on your earlier post.
What I am trying to make a point here is it is very important that you choose a company that is more compatible to your personality. You will never find a right company on this planet called earth, when you find one, others will leave
because you might not be the right person for people who work around you 
.
I know it might be easier say than done in Malaysia society. When I was in Aust. there were a lot of more companies to choose from when I graduated. But when I went back to Malaysia, it was not so. I think now it is much better than say 17 years ago, Malaysia has developed a lot since then. And a lot of international companies have chosen Malaysian as its Asia base. However, in our times, it was not so, might be Sing has a little bit more than M. at that time. But, even if you gorang me into a ‘bak kuan’, I won’t even think of working in a pressure cooker island
, he he he.
But when I look back and also with a lot of people where I cross path, I sincerely believe career is only 10% of what is important for your retirement. Diversify is the key word. You work in a not perfect job (it is ok), but you must learn how to invest (it is your 2nd degree, invest). You must learn how to invest in different class of assets, you must invest in your family (time with parents, spouse, anak and friends, for me, my church families is my extended family).
I have a few people (older people) to compare in my life. My dad was in fishing business (it was a cash business), then he went to real estates, he earned a lot of money initially, he decided to throw his towel in his fishing biz and concentrated on his RE biz. When the RE market collapses, he also collapse for a while. If only he has retain his cash flow fish biz, he will have some cushion to weather that RE recession. He fall hard and he never did gain his glory day ever. Then my ex boss, he was very ganho in his textile industry, whatever profit he has , he reinvested in textile biz. Just one bad political move in Cambodia, he flipped ! I am not sure if he is in jail or where now. Someone who has his stocks listed in N.Y stock exchange. Then Dr. Lindsey, hubby grandp, he was an English professor. He was also a opera conductor, a book critics, an author and he loves to invest with whatever money he got from his teaching $. You see all these people all have a glory moment but Dr. Lindsey diversification $ went the longest way, now even the 3rd generation is enjoying his diversification fruits. !!!
So listen to me, career is only 10% , the other 90% is diversification. Learn early on different assets classes, even your 3rd generation will enjoy your diversification fruits like us.
Without Dr. Lindsey diversification strategy, I think I might like a lot of slave out there who will need to go in 9 to 5 , 5 days a week of slavery.
:).
August 13, 2007 at 11:13 am
Alvin
Jing: it depends on how you see it actually. if your company is doing something u reli reli like…. for example, you like to watch animation and you get paid by watching animation. isnt that better than doing repetitive school works?
August 13, 2007 at 11:21 am
Alvin
Jamy!! you gave me a shock when i woke up in the morning. LOL, so many comments. but well, it’s ok.
shld b grateful that you are willing to share your knowledge n experience here 
to b honest, the Malaysia now is only slightly better than the Malaysia you used to know 17 years ago. fresh graduates now will only have 3 options – to work for MNC (more benefits), small companies or startups (can learn more but maybe under chinaman boss) or start your own company (risky since you donno how the industry works).
Our country still has a very long way to go if we want to catch up with countries like US or Japan…or even China and Singapore. But 1 thing for sure, Malaysia is a slow cooker, not a pressure cooker.
I totally agree with you on the diversification thing. To me, it’s more important to do something i reli like at work than to actually do something that earns me a lot but not something i like. if u work only for money, then it will reli become 10% of your life. if possible, i want to make whatever i m working in, as 20% of my life. the rest will b for family, friends, charity and investment.
never ever put all ur eggs in a basket. u gain 100k from RE….good for u. but u shldnt reinvest everything back to RE. diversify a bit because if u put everything in the same area/industry, u wouldnt know when it will collapse. everything that goes up will eventually come down. it’s jz a matter of time.
invest wisely and your investment might actually bring u more $$ than your daytime job!
August 13, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Angeline
spot on jamy.. no company is 100% perfect. it is always some 60-70% fit, and the rest is just some tolerance.
i’ve not jumped jobs alot. In fact a lot of recruiters and interviewers have asked me why i stayed on so long with a company.
the reason? knowledge. of course, you can never learn enough.
the other reason? contribution and satisfaction. what can i contribute in order to gain satisfaction, i.e. monetary rewards or other benefits.
anyway, the older i get, the fussier i seem to be. lolz!!
the choice is ours to make. if we make the decision to join a small company but where we feel it is beneficial for our knowledge or career, why not? if you want to specialize your skills in a big mnc, why not?
in my most humble opinion, the term “company fit” is no longer relevant. it is culture fit. how much your own values fit with the current company culture you’re in.
i’m still learning.. ala my uni motto. (ancora impario).
August 13, 2007 at 4:43 pm
cirnelle
Hahahaha! It actually occured to me that Jamy married her twin-in-personality because I thought “John” wrote exactly like her.
August 13, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Alvin
Angie: that’s why it’s easier to hop around until u found a company which u feel u can blend in and not expecting the company to change for u. there’s no perfect match….you need to decide which company suits u most (or closest to your ‘right company’) and try to change urself a little in order to blend in.
Cirnelle: that’s what i thought too. ahaha
August 14, 2007 at 4:08 am
jamy
Aiya, this is because at the moment we only has one computer lah : “Cirnelle: that’s what i thought too. ahaha”
I mean we have about 7 computers at home (including laptop) but they are as old as my husband and I . They either too slow or full of bugs.
I hope we can get our wireless connection up asap. We just bought another new desktop. Hope we won’t have this problem soon
), ie twin personality 
:).
From my experience if you want to stay in a company for long time. These are some factors that you might consider :
1. One that has more or less the same value as me. for eg. if you are a Christian and the founder of the company is a Christian and the company statement stated no work on Sunday. Then you might find it fit with your value.
2. A company that like to groom you up. They have a career path for each employee, for eg. Shell, HSBC, Mircrosoft etc…
3. A company that allow continue learning, that provide continue certification courses for you to increase your field, eg the hospital I work now.
However, this fit into the category of people who are not over ambitious, who want to build Rome within 30days and who wanted to be their boss one day.
Having said that, for anyone of you serious blogger out there, you need to visit my post that I just written today.
3 blogs I wish I have known when I started blogging
http://www.seaykopitiam.com/2007/08/13/3-blogs-i-wish-i-have-known-when-i-started-blogging/
My advertisement for today is please stumble my post, ha ha ha ha.
Jamy
August 14, 2007 at 10:34 am
Alvin
Jamy!! need to pay money for advertising leh! hahaha, jkidding.
yeap, a “right” company shld b the one which has the same values as you do, a company which will help u plan ur career path (since most likely u will be blur when u first started working) and train u accordingly and also the company shld promotes learning. a company which tells u to go take so and so exam but don even bother to support that (financially + morally)…… it’s not what i would call a “right” company
August 14, 2007 at 9:19 pm
jamy
Alvin,
I can buy your a capucino lah, remember I open a kopitiam, ha ha ha. You are a nice guy
Jamy
August 14, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Alvin
aww, tat’s very nice of you to say i’m a nice guy (though i’m kinda used to it already since u’re not the first. ahhahaha. *perasan*). so the nxt time u come to msia, remember my capucino or whatever coffee (old town kopitiam also not bad).