Stock isn't served up especially for you. Unless the company is recruiting you for top-level management and you engage your own attorney to help you secure hundreds of thousands of options, the stock option terms you will be offered are standard for most employees. They are not created on an individual basis. Instead, you become part of a company's established plan with a pre-determined ownership schedule. Of course, there may be some flexibility if you are a highly desirable new hire or you outperform your colleagues with some breakthrough.
Stock always involves risk.
Whether you go to a well-known company with millions of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange or you begin working for a new, privately held company, you're taking your chances. Nonetheless, don't bet the farm that being employed by larger companies makes you immune to stock option debacles. The stock drops 29 percent the next day. Of course, companies can re-price their options, but this is something that institutions really do not want to do. Keen competition for the area's local technology work force and the increasing numbers of start-up tech companies going public have given human resources managers a valuable playing card in the game of attracting tech talent.