New Graduates: Don’t Let The Market Choose Your First Job

One year ago, I finished my epic job hunt to discover the first step of my career. I spent four months meeting the smartest people I knew in order to decode the secret of job success, and all of them told me the same thing: join a hockey stick growth company.

‘Hockey Stick Growth’ is Silicon Valley vocabulary describing a company that is sure to succeed — a rocketship with product/market fit whose only goal is to grow as much as possible. Companies like Airbnb, Zenefits, and Uber are commonly seen as the best first jobs for ambitious new grads, as they offer only slightly more risk than safe gigs at giants like Google or Facebook, but a large probability of reward in the form of pre-IPO stock.

Joining such a company is objectively the best choice, for the guaranteed credibility, money, and optionality. But for the risky minded out there (like me), I’m here to say there’s another option. One where your desires matter more than the market’s, where you go wide before deep, and where learning matters more than credibility.

It’s the option I took, and here is why I think it was the right choice, despite what all those smart, successful (and correct!) people told me.

The Market Wants You To Play Hockey

The dozens of successful people I met told me to join a hockey stick growth company (HSGC) in their own way, but perhaps Andrew Chen put it best:

The Market is smarter than you, and knows HSGCs will succeed.

HSGCs lend your resume instant credibility no matter your position

The HSGC aura affords maximum optionality for your next career step.

You’ll make money, you’ll look good, and you can do whatever you want next. What’s not to like?

The argument for HSGCs is a valid one, but if you look closely, you’ll notice it’s the same argument for joining a well-established company. You get a successful brand stamp of approval and an assured chunk of money in return for choosing a safe option. The only difference is the HSGC option is slightly less secure.

In other words, the Market offers new graduates two choices — a cog in the moneymaking machine at BigTechCo, or a cog in the growth engine of a hockey stick growth company, with a better likelihood of moving up in the hierarchy. Both are great jobs, and both offer upside in the form of money and learning.

However, I took the third choice. I joined a tiny company in my chosen field; one which the Market hasn’t made up its mind about yet. It was the right choice for me, and here’s why it could be the right choice for you.

You Know You Better Than The Market

The market is an unfeeling reflection of the businesses inside it. It doesn’t know you. It doesn’t care about you at all.

Conventional wisdom tells you to become one with the market, to learn its way and then twist them to work for you — mainly by working for a hockey stick growth company. The Market knows HSGCs will succeed, and rewards their employees in the form of credibility, money, and optionality.

No matter who you are, the best choice is to join a hockey stick growth company, because it offers you guaranteed reward with little risk.. But that’s the problem with accepting conventional advice — it works for anyone, but that doesn’t mean it’ll work for you.

What works for anyone may not work for you. ‘One size fits all’ usually means ‘one size fits most’, and if you’re not square in the middle of the sizing bell curve, you’re going to be discouraged ordering such products. So why accept ‘one size fits all’ career advice?

You know what you want better than the Market does. And if you have any idea of what you want to do, you should do that, immediately and as much as possible, no matter what the Market thinks.

Your Career is The Product, and It’s More Important than the Market

I’m not saying you should quit everything and pursue that underwater basket weaving career you always dreamed of. The skills you develop in your career must be relevant to the Market’s desires, or you will struggle to earn an income.

However, your skills should also be relevant to your own desires. You will always be better at the things you enjoy intrinsically than those you do only for your boss, for money, or for the Market. Therefore you need to think of yourself like a product, and steer The Startup of You toward product market fit just like everyone else out there.

The world will tell you to start learning about the market from a safe place, at a HSGC or at BigTechCo. But the truth is you are not a product — you are a person, and spending time coming to terms with your own wants and needs will yield more than memorizing the vicissitudes of the fickle market. Know thyself first and foremost.

So, how does one balance one’s needs against that of the market? My best guess: become a T shaped person.

Develop T Shaped Skills Out, Then Down

A T-Shaped person is one who knows a little about a lot, but a lot about a little. They are okay at many things, but very good at a few things. The best of a generalist and a specialist with the downsides of neither.

Both big companies and growth stage companies turn new graduates into specialists. HSGCs are more flexible than the narrow box you’d be assigned at BigTechCo, but they still aren’t looking for a jack of all trades. They have specific needs they must meet in order to grow, and they hire to fit those needs alone. Same with the big guys — you’ll become at expert at one thing as you do it every day, but it’s unlikely your employer wants you to spend time on anything other than what they hired you for.

In contrast, at a small unknown company, you will spend time doing anything and everything. You’ll learn a little about a lot. I’ve dipped my fingers into just about every non technical part of my current company, but I’m not an expert at any one thing. This has allowed me to explore the world of professional marketing along with the company’s needs rather than nail me to a specific discipline right off the bat.

It’s all too common to see sub-year stays on new graduate resumes as they bounce around trying to find a role they enjoy after college. That could be a consequence of them not liking the specializations chosen for them, or of them choosing one they end up hating.

Find a company that’s relevant to your interests and the skills you enjoy, and build capital there. Then decide what to double down on next.

Learning Always Trumps Credibility

The conventional answer optimizes for credibility. Nobody knows what’s coming, so it’s best to look good no matter what. HSGCs balance the credibility of a brand name with the added learning a growing company boasts over BigTechCo. Yet by choosing a HSGC over a small company you’re still prioritizing credibility over learning, and that’s never a good idea.

People hire for skills, not for qualifications. Qualifications exist to measure skills. If you can demonstrate the right skills, employers will always prefer you over someone with qualifications but little execution. That’s exactly what you gain at a small company — execution skills at the expense of brand name credibility.

I’ve learned how to manage advertising spend, answer investor questions, craft a pitch deck, ask users for reviews, talk to reporters, file a patent, optimize an onboarding flow, booth a conference effectively, negotiate with partners, source deals, and even jerryrig an office projector using clamps as a result of my small company job. I doubt anyone at hockey stick growth companies can say the same, although I’d guess they’re way better at specifics like account management.

Does that make me more employable? Probably not to the big guys, but to similarly small companies, that’s demonstrated scrappiness, which may be more important than boxes checked. Time will tell, but I think I’ll do just fine.

Conclusion: Major in What You Love and Minor in Market Value

The real dichotomy here is not that of a big or growing company versus a small one. It’s not even safe versus risky. The real decision is whether you work for yourself or for the market. You can learn skills that you enjoy, or you can learn skills that people pay you for. In an ideal world, those skills are one and the same.

No career advice is one size fits all, and mine is no exception.There’s a good chance many roles at hockey stick growth/big companies will fulfill you. This piece is merely to reassure the principled and passionate new graduate that there are other options out there.

Caveat — This Worked For Me, But Results May Vary

I went the small route, and it worked for me. But I’m privileged to be from Palo Alto and entered the job market with summers of startup internships and entrepreneurial experience under my belt. What worked for me may not work for you — if you want to join a BigTechCo or a hockey stick growth company, DO IT! You know your needs better than the market; that’s the whole point of this post.

I published this those out there wondering if there is another choice, more entrepreneurial than the big or medium companies but less drastic that actually founding a company. I’m living proof that there is, but that doesn’t mean that it will be easy, or the best choice for you. Take the above into account and make your own informed choice, we trust you.

Likewise, if you’re a new graduate who went the BigTechCo or Hockey Stick Growth route, I’d love to hear about your experience. I’ve often wondered how the day to day life at a company like that compares to my own.