Do big corporate companies prefer recruits from other big companies?

[isthishowtheydoit]

My Parrtner has lots of experience in what he does but no matter which of the big corporate jobs he's sees and applies for, he's never successful. He is really driven and is known to be fantastic in his area of specialty. He's currently in a 'C' level
Job for a small but well known company but really wants the chance to break into more Secure corporate world. If you work in a big tech firm what would your advice be?

Make sure he understands the full benefits package for roles he considers and not just the basic salary. Not trying to teach you to suck eggs but with large organisations the benefits can often add 10s of 1000s onto the total remuneration.

Another thing he could consider is applying to some of the large consultancies. This would give him exposure to working on projects for major corporations but almost certainly with lower entry requirements. He could then use that experience to increase his chances of direct employment.

I realise you're speaking on his behalf @isthishowtheydoit so I hope these are your words rather than his. But 'plodding on' (red flag using this phrase) doing what isn't working for him (and most likely won't work) is the last thing he should be doing. He needs to think about alternative approaches. If he's not capable of doing that, he isn't a fit for a corporate Tech role anyway. There's been lots of good advice on this thread.

You haven't explained why he wants to move?

C level in a small company isn’t going to be C Level at a big company. He needs to work his way up to that.

How small is small? In big tech 97k would not be a lot for a senior manager. I don't see their salaries but I'd expect senior managers in my company to be on 500k+ - big tech is big! I'm wondering if he's shooting too high even with those roles. And then the issues with him being used to running the show will come into play. To put it in context, I've seen people move from C-level to barely manager level in my org but I really doubt they're taking paycuts.

Plus the issue of the lack of jobs at the moment.

I second the recommendation of an intermediary step to a larger company but not big tech. Try to get a senior manager role in a bigger company, but not one of the massive ones. He can then probably move to a manager role in big tech in a few years, and work his way up or stay in the medium sized company and work his way up there to C-level.

A C-level or even senior manager in a small company just won’t be on the same level as senior roles in a large company. There’s a huge difference. If that’s what he wants to work up to then he’s likely going to have to take a less senior role in a large company and work his way up, but at his current level that is likely to mean a pay cut. Ideally he would have done this a while ago whilst he was more junior as there so much experience he would need to gain at a large company before becoming senior. He needs to figure what it is he really wants to do.

For context, I work in a very large company and exec staff and senior managers at small companies often come into roles here at middle management level. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they just don’t have the experience and leave after a year.