(FORTUNE Small Business) – In 1998, when semiconductor maker CirrusLogic spun off Cradle Technologies, the spinoff's new CEO, Satish Gupta, inherited some good technology and a passel of corporate executives who'd never planned on working for a small business. His challenge: to create a workplace that made the suits feel at home without sacrificing the energy and informal collaboration of an upstart. "In startups employees tend to be Green Berets; in corporations, you have armies," says Gupta, a 23-year veteran of IBM who now leads Cradle's 56 tie- and non-tie wearing employees.

Gupta's situation isn't unique. A survey by Challenger Gray & Christmas found that 67% of job seekers, mostly ex-corporate men and women, found jobs at small companies in the fourth quarter of last year. Amid ongoing corporate layoffs and cutbacks, smaller companies are seeing an influx of applicants with blue-chip experience, says John A. Challenger, CEO of the Chicago-based outplacement firm.

Managing new hires accustomed to big company perks can be tricky for small business owners. Among the top problems: culture clash. Besides the anxieties of working for a smaller and sometimes less stable company, job titles often mean little. CEOs usually make their own copies, and a typical day isn't filled with interdepartmental meetings. Kathy Dawson, CEO of the Dawson Group, a human resources consulting firm with ten full-timers, says she uses the interview process to weed out folks who won't groove on her small company's amorphous environment. Candidates who seem to crave constant feedback or get hung up on "office hours" are red flags.

And because job titles can mean totally different things at big and small companies, Rick Gold, CEO of telecom-components maker Genoa in Fremont, Calif., tries to give corporate hires a high-visibility project in their field right away. Why? It helps the newcomer from a larger firm quickly understand that she may end up wearing several hats. It also helps the rest of the firm--sometimes suspicious of corporate outsiders--understand what the new hire's role will be. For example, Gold asked a new operations vice president who came to Genoa from a giant corporation to organize access to the company's small manufacturing facility. She had to work with all the units of the company that were vying for access, and prioritize projects--a task that entailed getting to know every part of the business quickly; at a big company a vice president might only work with one unit or one aspect of an operation. "It was trial by fire," Gold says. "It is a great way to define the role and see what needs to get done."

Still, small-company CEOs say the onus is on them to make sure corporate expats feel at home. To do so, Cradle's Gupta makes a conscious effort to not step on his managers' turf, knowing that executives from big companies might think he's trying to undermine their authority. "I have to be disciplined," admits Gupta, who has established a chain of command for assignments. If that kind of structured approach seems kind of, well, corporate, it's no accident: Gupta wants Cradle to grow--and what better way to get there than with employees who have big-company experience? --Stephanie N. Mehta