What Are Your Future Employees Thinking?

Guest Post by: Erin Kenney – Inovautus Marketing Intern

As a partner in a small professional service firm, you might be wondering how to attract the best and the brightest to join your team. Although you might not be able to offer lavish luncheons at a swanky restaurant, golf outings at Trump’s course or booze cruise networking events at happy hour, YOU have a secret weapon that larger companies do not.

It is not always about the name or size of the company that will get you great candidates; rather it’s what you have to offer. As a smaller firm, you have the ability to take a new candidate and mold them into what your company needs. This molding process can start long before they graduate from school.

In looking for an internship this summer, I took the steps that many of students take in my position. We go after those “Big” companies that many people are familiar with or have heard of. The companies that have large brand names, the companies that employ hundreds of people and the companies that deal with cases such as Bud Light, Nestle or Sony. It was all about the label. I emphasize “was” because in narrowing down my decision on where to pursue my internship path this summer, I started to realize that although a label might be recognizable, it may not be rewardable.

At Inovautus, a small company, I have been given more responsibility than what I would have been given at another job. While some may be hesitant towards gaining so much responsibility right off the bat, it has forced me to become more versatile, more reliable and more productive. With a smaller company, I am able to get a hands-on approach to the many different components that create the success of Inovautus. Rather than limiting your employee to one area, he or she will get a to try on many different hats resulting in more opportunities to grow.

At the end of the day, your employee’s performance level will be will be better within your firm. I feel (good) pressure to perform at a higher level knowing that my responsibilities will directly affect the company’s success. I have learned to push the limits and really use my innovative thinking because at the end of the day, I’m responsible for adding the value.

Whether you are an employer or an employee, internships with small companies can be a win-win for everyone involved.