Say goodbye to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and go to the "new front line"! Do these young people regret it?
The 2020 epidemic has changed the choices of many people, and VanceInfo is one of them.
She stayed in Beijing after finishing her undergraduate and master's degree in the UK. She was engaged in a market brand. She worked for an e-commerce platform and a content information platform that had been successfully listed in the United States, but chose to leave last year.
"There have been changes in work, coupled with the 2020 epidemic, I decided to return to Nanjing altogether." Vance told China Business News that she is currently working for a startup company in the field of co-working.
"The life I want is not necessarily available in Guangzhou and Shenzhen." After returning from Australia, Xiaodan, who has settled in Chengdu, told the CBN reporter.
Although the first-tier cities are still where many young people dream of the future, new first-tier cities are emerging. As many Internet technology companies sink into new first-tier and even second-tier cities, job opportunities are increasing, and resources such as medical care, education, transportation, and housing are constantly increasing. Perfection gives young people more possibilities.
Recently, many recruitment platforms and workplace platforms, including BOSS direct recruitment and Maimai, have released reports on the trend of talent flow, stating that the talent attraction of new first-tier cities continues in the flow of talent and competition.
In 2020, the average talent turnover rate of the new first-tier cities relative to the first-tier cities is 1.20, the highest level since the “talent war” started in 2017, and the net inflow of talent has increased by 12.1% from 2019.
Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Beijing rank in the top five in the ranking of net talent inflows by city in 2020.
It is worth noting that in addition to the above cities, Changsha, Guiyang, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Jinan, Foshan, Suzhou, Sanya, Hefei and other “non-first-tier cities” have become the employment choices for many working professionals.
The rise of the new front line, more choices
According to Vance, the co-working company she works for was previously under global management, but is already seeking localized transformation and establishing China’s own management team and system. There are regional office locations in the new first-tier Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Hangzhou. The Nanjing regional headquarters will report to the Shanghai headquarters.
"Currently, the company's development prospects are good. Customers include some Fortune 500 companies, Starbucks, Dicos, etc., as well as big manufacturers such as Bytedance."
VanceInfo believes that Nanjing has many opportunities to engage in Internet technology-related industries. Alibaba, ByteDance, JD.com, and Xiaomi all have regional offices in Nanjing. Nanjing is also the headquarters of Suning, and there are also a large number of foreign companies operating here.
The development of the new front line has increased employment opportunities and reduced the cost of living.
In the last few years, because of the large number of talents in first-tier cities, most of the major Internet companies have taken root in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
However, in first-tier cities, land is tight and living costs are too high. For the long-term development of the company and employee welfare, in recent years, major Internet companies and technology companies have begun to move many businesses to new first- and second-tier cities.
Yuwen, who has worked hard in the game industry in Shenzhen for many years, finally made the decision before the Spring Festival—to go to Chengdu for development. “The fast pace makes Shenzhen more like a working city.”
When choosing to leave, Yuwen considered multiple cities, namely Wuhan, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou, and finally chose Chengdu.
"Wages in Chengdu are not high, but the game atmosphere is relatively good, the industry prospects are bright, and there are many foreign game companies, making games hard, it also helps personal improvement." His favorite companies are Ubisoft and Tencent.
Tencent has established many business units in Chengdu, including WXG (WeChat Business Group), CSIG (Cloud and Smart Industry Business Group), PCG (Platform and Content Business Group), IEG (Interactive Entertainment Business Group), etc. Among them, the game business is comparative An important part.
Chengdu’s IEG Tianmei Game Studio has incubated the “Tiantian” series of products, and the long-term “Glory of the King”.
And Ubisoft (ubisoft) is a multinational company headquartered in France, which has successfully developed "Assassin's Creed."
In addition, there are also many local game companies in Chengdu, including Xunyou and Tianxiang Interactive.
Not only in the field of games, but with the accelerated development of the new economy, a large number of Internet technology companies have landed in Chengdu.
As early as ten years ago, Chengdu was already one of Intel’s largest packaging and testing centers in the world, and attracted Internet giants including Alibaba to settle down. In recent years, the pace of giants getting together in Chengdu has been accelerating. Not long ago, including Tencent, Many giants, including NetEase and ByteDance, have signed contracts with Chengdu to accelerate their deployment in Chengdu. Didi also invested 10 billion yuan to set up a Western Innovation Center in Chengdu High-tech Zone last year.
First-tier Internet technology companies began to move to new first-tier, second- and third-tier cities, bringing a lot of career opportunities to these cities.
In addition, the new frontline Internet entrepreneurship is also in full swing, giving the local job market more vitality.
Ren Hang previously started a self-media business in Beijing. A year ago, he chose to move the company to Chengdu. The reason for leaving was: "There are too many opportunities, frequent job-hopping, and the turnover rate is too high." He likes Chengdu’s food and Chengdu’s cuisine. The advantage lies in the rent, "office building rent is cheap, and at the same price as Beijing, I can rent a spacious and bright office space in the center of Chengdu."
It can be said that the more cost-effective rent of the new front line has attracted many companies to move or start businesses, which is undoubtedly a positive addition to the attractiveness of urban talents.
There are more and more opportunities for the new front line, and at the same time housing prices are within the range, talents are beginning to flow into the new front line.
Xiaodan mentioned to a reporter from China Business News that her previous plan was "the first choice to go to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou when returning to China", but then she chose Chengdu. "The development of Chengdu is too fast. A few years ago, it was the same. When I came back, it changed. So, there are many opportunities." Of course, she added, "The most realistic factor is that it is impossible to afford a house in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou by myself. I don't want my parents to spend their savings to buy a house for themselves."
Yang Lu, who had worked for Tencent in Shenzhen for three years and was in charge of a certain product business, chose to go to Changsha because of the unreachable housing prices. “On the one hand, she is close to home and on the other hand, it is easy to buy a house”.
Changsha is known as the provincial capital housing price depression. Although low housing prices are not the most important reason for "attracting people," it is a real reason for "retaining people."
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How about the new frontline?
In the discussion of Zhihu related topics, many respondents mentioned the problems of the new first-tier and second-tier cities, but the flaws are not covered up, and the majority of people do not regret it.
For example, the respondent Bai Shang returned to Chengdu from Beijing. He believes that compared with Beijing, there is indeed a certain gap in job opportunities and development in Chengdu.
But "survival in Beijing is living in Chengdu". Although life in Chengdu may not be as glamorous as imagined, it is still quite good. "The actual amount of money that can be saved is far more than before.... After more than a year of regular life, Gao Uric acid and severe fatty liver are gone."
The answerer Zpuzzle's view is, "If you have a little requirement for the quality of life and you can make sure that you live well in the capital city, then there is nothing to regret leaving Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as long as you can figure out some things."
"There are many possibilities for the new front line, but it can only be compared with its own past or other second and third lines. It cannot be compared with the first line. There is still a gap." VanceInfo, who returned to Nanjing, told China Business News.
But she believes that returning to life in second-tier cities will be more comfortable and she will have a lot more time. Although the opportunities will certainly not be as many as in Beijing, the platform will be smaller and the ceiling will be lowered.
Although the new first-line has a regional branch of a large factory, most of the new first-line positions are about business, and most of them are expansion, local promotion, and sales positions.
"The industry I work in is something that can't be quantified. The resources accumulated in the front line cannot be used in the new front line, so there will be limitations." Vance said about returning to Nanjing before working in an Internet company. "Nanjing also has Douyin. , Toutiao, Xingfuli and other projects, but the region and headquarters are completely different. The business here needs to be expanded and pushed locally. The work content is to meet some KOLs (key opinion leaders) every day, and see local companies, partners, and institutions "VanceInfo believes that the biggest problem is that the company has not replaced the corresponding resources. There are too many unknowns. It just hopes that others will take the traffic express, so it consumes its own resources and contacts.
"Later the business team was integrated and it was clear that it needed to do the sales part, and VanceInfo left directly.
For the current work, VanceInfo is quite satisfied.
“Foreign companies are more flexible and have a lot of room for their own operations. They can do some brand promotion and channel grafting, and they can use their previous experience in Beijing.” Generally speaking, VanceInfo believes that living and working in Nanjing is more cost-effective. Gao chose, "I will pay less in my life, and I will be able to develop. Nanjing is good for eating, drinking and having fun." But it was too early to come back. "It is better to stay in Beijing for ten years and then return to Nanjing. "
Ren Hang, who went to start a business in Chengdu, also encountered problems. He thinks the city’s atmosphere is too laid-back. “Even if there are various incentives and bonus systems, employees will not stay and work overtime and leave when they arrive.”
For entrepreneurs, this may not be a good thing.
Ren Hang's monthly salary for employees has reached 10,000, and there is performance sharing, and talents are retained, but how to make this team have a sense of mission and contribute to the company is what he is currently worried about.
(Xiaodan, Wensi, Yang Lu, Yuwen, and Ren Hang in the text are all pseudonyms)
Author: Liu Jia intern LIU Xiao-jie