Workplace anxiety, how to cross the "35-year-old threshold"

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  In some companies, once employees reach the 35-year-old threshold, they can't help but worry about their future careers, and "35-year-old anxiety" will follow.

In fact, it is not so much the 35-year-old threshold, as the window of trial and error and adaptation has shortened.

If you haven't made any achievements or improved after more than 10 years, you may naturally face out.

How to resolve workplace anxiety and successfully overcome this hurdle?

  Since her 34th birthday, Xu Yao, who works for a cultural and creative company in Beijing, has begun to worry whether she will lose her current position within a year. "There are basically no people over 35 in the company."

  Xu Yao’s concern is also the concern of many employees, because the company’s external recruitment announcements are often "under 35", and there are few non-management employees over 35 in the company.

Once you reach the 35-year-old threshold, you can't help but worry about your future career, and "35-year-old anxiety" will follow.

The confusion of transformation

  "I am 35 years old this year. I am very afraid of leaving my current company and position, because once I leave, it will be difficult for me to find similar positions with the same salary." said Fan Xiaojun, who works in sales at a joint venture in Beijing. "There is a big company. The problem is that everyone’s work is very specific. In fact, you don’t know the overall picture of the entire business. After working for a few years, you are still engaged in very subtle transactional work, which cannot be used elsewhere."

  Because of this, Fan Xiaojun is confused about the future of his career.

However, affected by the epidemic this year, with the reduction of related businesses, the joint venture is cutting related positions. “Everyone is waiting for the knife to fall. I don’t know who will fall on it first. Understand that whoever is older is dangerous." What worries her even more is that due to the shrinking of the overall business, the sales contacts she has accumulated in this industry will not have much value for reuse once she leaves.

  Jiang Yu, who is also 35 years old, also faces the same problem as Fan Xiaojun, but his choice is to transfer, because he was an engineer before and has been engaged in technical work.

"Many technicians have a plan for their life, get a good technical level at around 35 years old, and then transition to a management post. You have a family and a career, and you really can’t fight a young man in your 20s, not to mention that the technology has been changing with each passing day. ."

  In order to transfer from a technical job to a management job, Jiang Yu, whose child is 4 years old, chose to study for a master of business administration on the weekend, which means that he sacrificed time with his children.

"Family pressure is high, and my wife has complaints, but there is no way." The MBA program includes professional courses such as finance and accounting. Jiang Yu, who has no foundation in economics, was confused.

Even with a degree, there will be many competitors for management positions in the company in the future.

  More importantly, "If you don't transform, once the technology is updated and you are eliminated, let alone life, mortgages will be a problem." Thinking of the development after the age of 35, Jiang Yu is not optimistic.

"Shi Yi Gong" has become a safe haven

  Jiang Yu's worries are well known to his wife.

Once a family was watching "Crayon Shin-chan", the 35-year-old father in the cartoon, "Ten Thousand Years Chief" Hiroshi Nohara worried that he would lose his job and could not afford the "32-year mortgage", his wife Miya and his son Xin may live on the streets.

Seeing this paragraph, Jiang Yu returned to the bedroom in a daze, and the couple was speechless for a long time.

  "In fact, sometimes, I feel that the generation of my parents is very happy and can work in the same unit for a lifetime." Xu Yao said that her parents had worked in large state-owned enterprises, and she was used to life in the corporate compound since she was a child. This kind of life can see her head at a glance. When she was in her 20s, she felt it was great to come out to see the world. She didn’t even have a Starbucks in her hometown, but when she was 35, she looked forward to a stable job.” Xu Yao’s parents always persuaded her to be before 35. Go home for exams, because many employers’ recruitment exams are restricted to “under 35”.

  According to the "Labor Law", "If a worker has worked in the same employer for more than 10 years and both parties agree to renew the labor contract, if the worker proposes to conclude a labor contract with no fixed period, he shall conclude a labor contract with no fixed period." .

But neither Jiang Yu, Fan Xiaojun nor Xu Yao could meet the conditions for signing an open-term labor contract because they had changed companies during their careers.

"Even if you don't change the company and you have been working for 10 years, the company has many ways. Either the contract is never signed for the 10th year, or the contract is signed during the 10 years." Some corporate human resources staff told reporters that in reality In China, many companies will adopt methods to circumvent the "10-year limit."

  Because of this, "going home for examination and editing" has become the choice of many people before the age of 35, so that there is a saying of "teacher and doctor", that is, entering the three stable units of school, hospital and government.

  The "test editor fever" is also affecting corporate recruitment.

Mr. Wang, who is engaged in training in a private enterprise, told reporters that the quality of the employees he recruited is declining year by year. “It used to be normal to recruit 211 colleges and universities, but now it’s a lot less, and you can’t keep it. With a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan, many people have gone back to their hometowns for a period of time to "test editors", some for teachers and some for civil servants.” Over time, Mr. Wang also neglected to train employees.

  Even in first-tier cities, "testing and editing" is still very hot.

In 2020, Shenzhen's civil service plan enrolled 1,069 people. The final winner was 133,724, with an average competition ratio of 132.5:1.

Real stability is one's own resources

  In fact, the overall age of our labor force has already passed the "35-year-old threshold."

According to the "China Human Capital Report 2020" issued by the Human Capital and Labor Economics Research Center of the Central University of Finance and Economics, between 1985 and 2018, the average age of the Chinese labor force rose from 32.23 to 38.39, including 38.37 in urban areas and 38.42 in rural areas.

  With the increase in years of education, the entry age of employees is also increasing.

The proportion of my country's population with a high school education and above in the labor force rose from 11.77% in 1985 to 39.78% in 2018.

The national average number of years of education increased from 6.24 years in 1985 to 10.36 years in 2018, of which 11.27 years in urban areas.

  "In the past, those who worked until 35 years old were middle-aged backbones with more than ten years of working experience, but now they are often nearly 30 years old, and many people are just getting used to it when they reach 35." In a high-tech company Mr. Feng, who is engaged in human resources work, told reporters, “In fact, it is not so much the 35-year-old threshold, but the window of trial and error and adaptation has been shortened. It used to be more than 10 years for an employee to grow to 35 years old. It's the '35-year-old threshold.' If you haven't made any achievements or improved in the past few years, you may be eliminated naturally."

  In the early 1990s, Mr. Pan, who resigned from the "iron rice bowl", began to change jobs in foreign companies and joint ventures, and has always been in a higher-level management position.

"The employment market is originally a two-way selection process. Many post-90s may find it difficult to understand the "siege" of our generation. They are assigned to a work unit and work for a lifetime. Do you like it, whether you are happy, or even if you are in the same city with your family. You have to keep working, and there is no choice. Once you are faced with a two-way choice of talent market, you must realize that the real "stability" is your own choice, your own capabilities, and your own resources, not the company itself. "In his view, resources are not limited to work itself, but also include contacts, entrepreneurship, and investment in home ownership.

  Zhao Ang