Niu Nana sets up a stall in Chengdu. Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
Li Jiayi shoots in New York. Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
28-year-old Niu Nana resigned naked for the 20th time not long ago, and moved into a small farm yard in Chengdu with two cats to start a stall life.
After 21 jobs in 12 years, 34-year-old Liu Zhi, who quit her job in August last year to pursue her longing freelance career, said, "There is no road in vain in life, every step counts." ”
This year is the 10th year of 33-year-old Luo Ou's work, from **, Internet, ** to medical care, after constantly changing jobs, he is determined to "deeply cultivate" his current position.
At present, many young people regard career experience as an integral part of their life experience, and they are looking for different career development directions and different life possibilities. However, employers often value the candidate's loyalty to the company and the depth of knowledge of the industry.
Have those young people who frequently changed jobs improved their career competitiveness after paying the time and cost of trial and error?Will they regret it?
Closer to love.
27-year-old Xiong Feiyun graduated from Soochow University in 2019 with a major in Chinese language and literature, and is now a Chinese teacher in a public primary school.
Xiong Feiyun concluded that the specific reasons for changing jobs every time are: not suitable for himself, unable to see future prospects, and not worth working for ......a long timeIn the eyes of her friends, she is a free, brave and fearless person who "quits when she is tired and uncomfortable, quits when she is PUA (mind-controlled behavior), and finds a job and goes to work quickly when she has no money to spend".
I wasn't that brave. Xiong Feiyun refers to "not daring to become a ** family directly". Because of her family's requirements for her "stable work", and because she was "not strong enough to take the road of her family", although she has a clear goal, she has been wandering "outside the final station of her career".
Xiong Feiyun sees every professional experience as an exploration. After graduating from university, Xiong Feiyun's first job was in charge of *** content in a real estate company. After a while, she found that her writing style did not suit the company's requirements, "'short, flat and fast' writing is not suitable for me, and I will not look for this kind of job in the future".
She is considering going to graduate school and "wants to learn Xi writing in a down-to-earth manner." But in order to support himself, Xiong Feiyun applied for a foreign trade salesman, responsible for platform development and maintenance of customers. However, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the business of the foreign trade company was unstable, and she decided to leave.
Xiong Feiyun summed up his professional experience in 4 words: they are all materials. "Even if you only probe in one industry and know a little about it, when you write **, you will find that you have more professional knowledge than others. ”
The 28-year-old also has clear career goals. Fast food waiter, architect, actor, film artist, space designer, curator, digital media artist, stills, photographer, editor, film producer, game company employee, scene writer, advertising director, film director, ......In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network, she cherished her 16 jobs.
A lot of things can only be done when emotions are high, and I always try new things. After graduating from RMIT University with a bachelor's degree in architectural design, Li Jiayi later discovered that she was interested in the film industry, so she always had a "clear main task" in her mind: to be an independent film director, screenwriter or actor.
In the face of the job she doesn't like, Li Jiayi's mentality will be "unbalanced" at the beginning, but after investing, she will still set high standards to challenge herself, increase her income and make progress at the same time, "I am a very desperate person, as long as I take the job, I can't waste this time, and I can't smash my own signboard."
She admitted that she joined the game company because the film industry was affected by the new crown epidemic. However, after joining the game company, she met many wonderful practitioners, such as a young man who specializes in writing storylines and is responsible for making game particle effects, for which she also has a doctorate in physics. She said, "Mentality is very important, if you can't change the status quo, you can't waste time all the time, you have to learn a skill that can make a living as soon as possible, you can still be anxious, the only way is to continue to do things." ”
Attend classes during the day, deal with two domestic remote jobs after class at 10 o'clock in the evening until 3 o'clock in the morning, get up at 8 o'clock in the morning and go to class again, if you still have time, try to write more scripts and watch more movies, this is the current schedule that Li Jiayi can't move, "I would rather let myself be tired and sleep less, but also let myself not be unhappy because I don't have a bottom in my heart."
She is well aware that "a lot of the work for me is some 'side quests', maybe I did it when I got a good opportunity, but most of it is related to or helpful 'main quests'".
Get a little closer to love. Li Jiayi was worried that she had no talent, and she was also worried that her limited life experience was not enough to make good movies, so she chose to go to Beijing Film Academy to study film advanced classes, make short films, write scripts, and be advertising directors.
In order to give himself more choices, Liu Zhi experienced different occupations as much as possible through a variety of ways: main business, side business, part-time job, active participation in volunteering, etc.
In her old employer, who has worked for 10 years, she feels that she is a "panacea"-like existence, "* extinguish the fire if there is one, and fill the pit if there is one". Thanks to this, Liu Zhi has rotated and changed positions within the company, and has worked in different directions such as copywriting creativity, customer service, administration, legal affairs, accounting, product development and technical support.
In 2021, in the 10th year of Liu Zhi's career, she tried her hand at media public relations, which allowed Liu Zhi to discover the direction of her career. When the company holds activities, Liu Zhi is responsible for inviting relevant **, talents, bloggers, etc., she likes the timely feedback brought by this job, there is no fixed assessment standard, and the autonomy is large.
In order to break through the bottleneck of the upcoming 35-year-old workplace, and in order to better balance work and life, Liu Zhi decided to quit his stable job for many years and started a freelance career based on industry consultant and media public relations.
In the interactive blog post area of Liu Zhi's social platform, many young people asked how to find a career they were interested in, and she replied: "Don't be afraid of anxiety and confusion, it's normal to have these emotional feelings, not everyone can find a job they like." The important thing is to do it, to act, and maybe one day the time will come. ”
What is stability.
When she was in college, Niu Nana set a flag and wanted to choose the career she really wanted by experiencing 100 different careers. "I didn't even think about 20 jobs to let me know what I wanted. ”
After graduating from Nanjing Normal University in 2018 with a major in psychology, Niu Nana traveled to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an, and Chengdu, and worked as a photography assistant, album typesetting, cashier, real estate sales, finance, and new ** operations, with a maximum of 9 months and a minimum of 6 days.
Niu Nana recalled that she thought that the monthly salary for photo album typesetting design could be six or seven thousand yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan, but she was told that the basic salary was only 2,000 yuan, "the salary is too low, and the pressure of living in Beijing is very high, and I feel that I need to work hard for a long time to get the salary I want, so I resigned."
In order to reduce the pressure of life, Niu Nana decided to find a job with food and accommodation, she went to work as a cashier in a catering company, but she found that the promotion space was very limited, "I can't do this all the time, I should still go and break through, so I quit."
In March this year, Niu Nana found a new job, and the probation period required a fixed explosion rate, customer responses, and orders. However, "the company's system suddenly changed, two days off became single leave, and overtime pay was not paid.
Niu Nana doesn't think it's difficult to find a job, "Except that the salary for a new job needs to be calculated from the probationary period, there is no other difference, why do I have to be in an unhappy company?"”
In this way, after 20 jobs, she "found that she was not fit for work".
Now, "after moving to the countryside, her heart has suddenly become wider." "It's not very hard to set up a stall, pull the boxes and take a taxi directly to the market, the wind doesn't blow or the rain doesn't get wet, you sit and do handicrafts, and you can make money by chatting with the stall owners and customers. She said that although she is physically tired from making handmade coffee jewelry, she has never felt tired in her heart when she is doing what she likes.
Her parents have been urging her to find a stable job again. "Maybe in the eyes of others I (life) is difficult, but I really don't feel it myself. In her opinion, going to the market to set up a stall on the weekend, making coffee jewelry at home in the middle of the week, operating social accounts, cutting **, and writing manuscripts is equivalent to "three days off and four days off", with a regular life and a monthly income of tens of thousands of yuan, "I am quite stable now".
She uses the labor she uses to do online promotion for her landlord in exchange for rent, and she no longer has to worry about the biggest expense of the month. When she is not out of the stall, Niu Nana will also work in her own small vegetable field, have dinner with neighbors, ride an electric car to the town, feel the sunrise and sunset, "my eyes are full of green and blue, and I live the life I dream of, which is very comfortable."
10 years ago, Niu Nana's high school classmates wrote down the goals of "working hard" and "being admitted to 211" on the class list, and she wrote "just be happy". 10 years later, on her social account, she edited this personal signature: "From now on, everything I do is what I like."
29-year-old Li Yi graduated from Hangzhou Dianzi University with a master's degree in information security, "in fact, every company is with a long-term development mentality", but sometimes "have to change jobs".
His first job was as an algorithm engineer, and he "worked on optimization programs every day in the hope of achieving something." However, he found it difficult to adapt to the transition from student to professional, "I felt that I didn't get any positive feedback on my efforts, and the leaders didn't have much patience to lead new people to grow."
Half a year later, Li Yi went to a start-up company to do back-end development, and met a group of like-minded colleagues, "everyone worked overtime together, tired and happy". To his regret, one and a half years later, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the company began to lay off employees, "our entire team was basically cut".
He also found a back-end development job, and due to the short working years, Li Yi felt that it was difficult to get in touch with the core business. He is well aware of the impact of frequent job hopping on himself, "The resume is not good-looking, and it will make the company think that I am impetuous." Now he is in a state of "having to stay", "even if he feels dissatisfied, he does not dare to make the decision to change jobs easily".
Mao Yufei, associate professor of the School of Labor Economics of Capital University of Economics and Economics and researcher of the China Employment Research Institute of Chinese University, analyzed that the frequent job change of young people is related to factors such as the economic environment, corporate culture and values, salary and benefits and personal expectations, the lack of challenging work content, and the difficulty of improving personal ability. New forms of employment, such as flexible employment, have also changed the outlook on employment among young people, who expect more income and freedom from job changes, and are more likely to pursue work-life balance.
In Mao Yufei's view, in the past, the public's definition of job stability often relied on the unit, as long as the unit did not go bankrupt, there would be a stable labor contract and income, on this basis, to achieve personal value and shine. Nowadays, many young people have a new understanding of "stability", and they must continue to improve their self-worth and industry competitiveness at work, and at the same time meet their own interests and needs, "no longer have to work in a unit for a lifetime, but more to strengthen themselves and adapt to the times".
Will you regret it?Do you regret changing jobs frequently?
Looking back on 10 years of work experience, 33-year-old Luo Ou gave his own answer: "Actually, I regret it, but I always regret it if I don't try." ”
After graduating in 2013, Luo Ou joined a company in Hunan, and was later dispatched to Dubai to be responsible for overseas project investment and operation. He built the department, led the team, and accumulated resources from scratch, from a specialist, a supervisor, a manager, to a director, and "the income rises to the boat".
The work is handy, but Luo Ou feels that there is a state of "boiling frogs in warm water", "I want new attempts and challenges". The local culture and climate have also made him feel no sense of belonging, and after getting married in 2018, he and his wife have been in a foreign country. So, when he was 30 years old, he made a decision: to leave his current position and return to China for development.
Luo Ou joined a leading e-commerce company in Hangzhou as an account manager. "Even across industries, I was able to get a good job offer, thanks to the foundation of my first job for six years. However, he found that the new work is fast-paced and intense, requiring strong self-motivation and learning Xi, and the resources accumulated abroad cannot be directly converted in China.
Luo Ou began to look for new opportunities while working. After 9 months of working in the second job, he left his job to join a central enterprise in Hunan, and the new job met his needs at that time in terms of geography, intensity, salary, etc., and was closer to his hometown to take care of the soon-to-be-born child.
However, one year later, Luo Ou found that his salary was difficult to support his family's expenses, and his room for promotion was limited. "In just two years, it seems that from juvenile ambition to mid-life crisis, this is the deepest lesson that the workplace has taught me. ”
After being introduced by a friend, he moved to a medical company in Shanghai as an assistant sales director. With the ability to learn and Xi brought by work experience, Luo Ou quickly adapted to the new industry in one month.
Luo Ou said frankly that the first two jobs after returning to China were in a state of trial and error of "rushing to the doctor when he was sick and making up for what he lacked", and now his self-positioning is gradually clear, "I will be more secure in making any decision, and I will become more and more cautious and calm with every step."
If I were given another chance, I would really consider doing my first job all the time. Luo Ou said that there would be higher salaries and higher positions. "If you don't return to China, you will always regret it, although you can earn money, but you will lack the fireworks of domestic family life. ”
Luo Ou suggested that young people who are in the confused period of constantly changing jobs should comprehensively examine their current personal situation as a bystander, "You can try and make mistakes but don't blindly try and make mistakes, you should turn the cost of trial and error into the 'filter' of your next job, and enhance your professional competitiveness is your confidence", and don't easily change industries when changing jobs.
Mao Yufei found that among young people who change jobs frequently, if they have a clear career goal and accumulate relevant experience and skills through changing jobs, they can continue to improve their career competitiveness. If there is no clear career plan, frequent job changes will reduce one's career competitiveness, and "it may get worse and worse".
In a short period of work, it is difficult for newcomers to have an in-depth understanding of the upstream and downstream of the industry, the operation model, the profit model and the future prospects. Mao Yufei believes that it is very important to have a stable job for two or three years, so that he can gradually become familiar with the industry and business, enhance his professional competitiveness, accumulate quantifiable work achievements, and gradually clarify his career goals.
Mao Yufei said that many employers value the continuity of job seekers' work resumes, which can reflect the job seekers' loyalty to the company and the depth of their understanding of the industry. Frequent job changes bring about intermittent periods of social security and wages, which will also affect the career development and living conditions of young people. He suggested that college students try different jobs through practical Xi and part-time experience during their time at school to reduce the cost Xi of trial and error, "because the cost of changing jobs is much higher than that of students changing jobs."
At the request of the interviewee, Liu Zhi, Luo Ou, and Xiong Feiyun are pseudonyms).
*: China Youth Daily.