Big vs. Small…Which is more intimidating?

I have worked for a big company for the past four years now (over 2,000 employees) and at first, it was intimidating. There are so many people all around and it seems as if no one is paying you any mind. You’re the newbie on the block. Making friends can become difficult, but once you start meeting people within your training and getting to know the people around your designated space, that’s when the shell starts to break. Then a new heard of newbie’s comes in and it’s really not so bad.

Yeah, well that doesn’t necessarily always happen with small companies. My internship is at Jako Enterprises, LTD, the company that created all of the KicksUSA’s and the sneaker boutique, UBIQ. And can I tell you how nervous I was when I first started? However, the environment there is like no other, everyone is like a family. Even the owner will come around throughout the day and give his rounds of hug’s and hello’s. It is truly an experience like no other. The corporate office houses maybe 80 employees at most. When you walk in you see cubicles to the left, to the right there and offices for some of the executives, VPs, and HR, but once you go down the hallway and into the next room there is a huge common space where everyone who works on building the stores sits. Almost everyone sits next to each other grouped in their specified areas – e-commerce, graphic design, Marketing (my department). It can be a bit overwhelming to come into a new place where everyone is like family. You’re like the cousin who just married in – everyone looks at you and says, “Hi” for the first couple of days. But once you’re there so much people start to get to know you, they work on projects with you, and then you start to feel like a part of the family.

I feel very fortunate to have been offered this opportunity with Jako. It has definitely widened my spectrum of what I can do and made me more social.