I recently received an offer from a regional office that just started few months ago, with no employees, with several projects coming through the pipe line. I would be employee #1. Considering the market condition in SF Bay Area, there are many opportunities for this new office to grow and a chance for me grow into a larger role. However, i am also concerned that I am making a risky move. The firm has multiple office around the state but this office is at really nascent stage and i am not sure what will happen if recession comes in near future. They seemed to do 80% public sector works and 20% private. Does anyone have insights on education sector in California and its outlook in future? Also, I would love to hear from you if you had similar experience working in newly found regional office.
Branch offices are notoriously impossible for branch managers…the managers, no matter who they are, are not plugged-in to the day-to-day of the home office…no real day-to-day dialog with owners/partners, can’t bend an ear at the coffee machine to get any empathy for things going on in “Poughkeepsie”….key relationships are long distance…so branches end up on spreadsheets and that’s all they measure…miss the numbers too often and the manager gets the axe, then the turnovers start affecting morale….can spiral and make them tough places to work.
For you the key is to know where the work will come from…who’s the rainmaker? If the parent office has legs and just has too much work they might be planning to feed overflow to the branch hoping the branch can, over time, take hold in its own region and wean itself off the home office and stand-alone…but then the long term question comes back to - who is the branch rainmaker? But if it’s fly-or sink it all comes down to evaluating the manager not the firm.
Short term it’s probably a good gig, if you need a gig….first in, home office isn’t going to jettison a startup in the short term…in some ways safer to evaluate at this point than coming in a few years from now wondering if you’re filler for turnover in a failing office.
Carrera you just described the first office I worked in perfectly. Only home base kept taking our projects saying, "you guys can't handle this yet." I think that office is still red ink on their spreadsheet.
To the OP the office I worked in like that, bring first in didn't do anything. They'd hire from outside to get the experience they wanted in the projects. Wouldn't look internally so being in the small office and starting early still just got me the scraps as a recent grad. Wash company car, pick up plans, clean company library and the occasional " hey a cool ones coming in we'll get you on it!" Then they'd hire people "with the required experience"
Thank you all for great insights. I was invited to their HQ and gained more insights to what they do and how they get works. So far, it seems jobs came through both HQ and the regional manager, who will be my boss. Hopefully, he will be the rain maker and I hope to become that person one day. They actually have several projects coming through the pipe line and wanted to grow the Nor Cal branch. From my conversation with them, I would be working from creating marketing collaterals/proposals, go on to interviews, SD to CA works. This job aligns with my 9 years of experience and hopefully stretch my capacity and skills even more. On the other side, I also agree with Starchitect Alpha - they might bring someone who has more relevant experience. My soon to be boss shared little bit of a road map for staffing. Besides me, he will have one senior person (20+ years of exp) to help with CA works. I would be the middle job captain/project designer role, then they will hire entry-level guys for me to train and manage, so hopefully, I won't have to do many menial tasks. I've done plenty of that when I was an intern.
Once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and I'll let you guys know how things go.
Working for a new satellite office.
Hi all,
I recently received an offer from a regional office that just started few months ago, with no employees, with several projects coming through the pipe line. I would be employee #1. Considering the market condition in SF Bay Area, there are many opportunities for this new office to grow and a chance for me grow into a larger role. However, i am also concerned that I am making a risky move. The firm has multiple office around the state but this office is at really nascent stage and i am not sure what will happen if recession comes in near future. They seemed to do 80% public sector works and 20% private. Does anyone have insights on education sector in California and its outlook in future? Also, I would love to hear from you if you had similar experience working in newly found regional office.
I would appreciate your thoughts,
Branch offices are notoriously impossible for branch managers…the managers, no matter who they are, are not plugged-in to the day-to-day of the home office…no real day-to-day dialog with owners/partners, can’t bend an ear at the coffee machine to get any empathy for things going on in “Poughkeepsie”….key relationships are long distance…so branches end up on spreadsheets and that’s all they measure…miss the numbers too often and the manager gets the axe, then the turnovers start affecting morale….can spiral and make them tough places to work.
For you the key is to know where the work will come from…who’s the rainmaker? If the parent office has legs and just has too much work they might be planning to feed overflow to the branch hoping the branch can, over time, take hold in its own region and wean itself off the home office and stand-alone…but then the long term question comes back to - who is the branch rainmaker? But if it’s fly-or sink it all comes down to evaluating the manager not the firm.
Short term it’s probably a good gig, if you need a gig….first in, home office isn’t going to jettison a startup in the short term…in some ways safer to evaluate at this point than coming in a few years from now wondering if you’re filler for turnover in a failing office.
Carrera you just described the first office I worked in perfectly. Only home base kept taking our projects saying, "you guys can't handle this yet." I think that office is still red ink on their spreadsheet.
To the OP the office I worked in like that, bring first in didn't do anything. They'd hire from outside to get the experience they wanted in the projects. Wouldn't look internally so being in the small office and starting early still just got me the scraps as a recent grad. Wash company car, pick up plans, clean company library and the occasional " hey a cool ones coming in we'll get you on it!" Then they'd hire people "with the required experience"
Hi all,
Thank you all for great insights. I was invited to their HQ and gained more insights to what they do and how they get works. So far, it seems jobs came through both HQ and the regional manager, who will be my boss. Hopefully, he will be the rain maker and I hope to become that person one day. They actually have several projects coming through the pipe line and wanted to grow the Nor Cal branch. From my conversation with them, I would be working from creating marketing collaterals/proposals, go on to interviews, SD to CA works. This job aligns with my 9 years of experience and hopefully stretch my capacity and skills even more. On the other side, I also agree with Starchitect Alpha - they might bring someone who has more relevant experience. My soon to be boss shared little bit of a road map for staffing. Besides me, he will have one senior person (20+ years of exp) to help with CA works. I would be the middle job captain/project designer role, then they will hire entry-level guys for me to train and manage, so hopefully, I won't have to do many menial tasks. I've done plenty of that when I was an intern.
Once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and I'll let you guys know how things go.
Sounds like an opportunity that has the possibility to have legs to me. Go get it.
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