I am an engineering grad, have 2 job offers- 1) on-campus: telecom/wireless company(MNC) 2) off-campus: startup (more than 6 months old), a wireless technology company which offers better package and the profileI want. Which one would be better? Would joining the second one be safe in the long run?

Depends on what you actually want. If you want to learn more then join the startup else the larger firm. Not that you won't learn anything at the larger company... But yes it won't be as much as the startup... But startups has its own drawbacks as well.

The answer depends more on your personal interest and opinion than the nature and work in a MNC/Startup. I can only highlight what each one has. Startup: 1) Enormous learning opportunities 2) Good pay and benefits if its well funded. 3) Informal culture 4) Chance to innovate and move up the ladder sooner. 5) Heavy responsibilities. Sometimes less work life balance because of that. 6) Need to be a self starer. Little or no professional training. 7) Sometimes everything is a chaos. 8) Huge risk if no proper funding or company can not make a market. MNC: 1) Mediocre learning. 2) Big hierarchy so moving up the ladder takes years. 3) Work is narrowed to very few, skill oriented responsibilties. 4) Learn corporate ethics and organization structure. 5) Work and function in a structured way with a streamlined process . Everything is kept under control. 6) Brand value. Social value. Market value. 7) Formal/ Informal culture. 8) Learn from scratch again. Good on job training and learning facilities. 9) Very less risk of company going bankrupt. Even if it does, mostly would be acquired by another MNC. So less fear of losing job. Write down all your priorities. Look at all the points above and match them with you priorities. All the best!! Cheers!!!

If you really want to be a good coder and multi skilled across different technologies/plats  with no/less importance to brand and work life balance --- start-up is your destination!!! Else is the case , MNC is the one, And you may get some of the above in MNC based on situations like business criticality, mentor assignment etc etc!!!!

As a fresher, learning opportunities will be enormous in a start-up in contrast to an MNC where you will be doing some mundane work (or no work) atleast for the first one or two years. But by joining a start-up, you might get a hit on the branding of your resume as start-ups are lesser known. But even these kind of trends are changing now a days in India and recruiters look more for skills rather than a brand. Lastly, MNCs will inculcate better corporate etiquettes within you and you might get better mentorship in an MNC. (but it depends) Finally, my 2 cents goes for joining the start-up. Cheers !!

When you are starting your career, it is better to join an MNC for several reasons : * On your resume, it will outshine that of a startup. * You learn to work with systems, procedures and processes. * You will get a lot of training. * You already have a better package and profile that you want.  (So what else do you want? On the other hand, you have to realize that more than 90% of start ups end in failure within 5 years (if they survive that long) So choose wisely.