Good jobs are just like good men; they're not available on the market.
36Kr's "Career Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
Mi Lan has been looking for a job for over half a year.
Two years ago, she left a large e - commerce company and became a Xiaohongshu blogger. She diligently accumulated 30,000 followers.
Although the self - media life seems glamorous on the surface, there is an uncontrollable anxiety behind it: unpredictable platform rules, fluctuating traffic, and meager monetization.
She decided to go back to work. After all, a regular job offers a stable income, and her daily routine can get back on track.
She sent about 100 resumes on job - hunting platforms. However, her once - sought - after e - commerce operation background hardly attracted any attention.
36Kr's "Career Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
The responses she received were either for outsourced e - commerce positions or inquiries about becoming an insurance broker.
The positions she applied for remained the same, posted from before the Chinese New Year to after.
"Maybe, like good men, good jobs are not available on the market."
Mi Lan had to put aside her pride and asked her former colleagues in the large company for internal referrals. But after their enthusiastic responses, nothing came of it.
"Maybe it's because I took a long gap," or maybe "I'm almost 30," Mi Lan guessed. "Companies definitely prefer younger people and don't have to bear the cost of marriage and child - bearing."
Fortunately, she still has her self - media career as a fallback. She decided to take her time looking for a job and became more laid - back.
Wendy has been working at a leading company in the enterprise service sector for over a year.
The SaaS company has been losing money year after year. Eventually, her team was downsized by half, and she took over the work of the laid - off colleague, becoming an over - burdened employee with no pay raise.
Meanwhile, the working environment has become increasingly abnormal - strict attendance checks, a 100 - yuan fine for each late arrival; everyone is required to forward every new company tweet, and there is even a special department to compile a leaderboard of forwarding statistics...
36Kr's "Career Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
The depressing working environment, the high - intensity workload of "one person doing the work of N people," and the constant threat of layoffs are all torturing her.
Wendy, who used to love joking in the group, has become less talkative.
Her friends advised her to quit immediately, but facing the pain, she is more afraid of the unknown. She made an excuse, saying that she hopes to wait until she gets the "severance package" before leaving.
● Data from Liepin's "Q1 2025 Recruitment Research Report"
Mi Lan and Wendy's situations seem different, but from a macro perspective, they are actually similar.
They are both in declining industries. Whether it's e - commerce or enterprise services, the average profit margins are getting thinner. Companies in these industries are struggling to survive, leaving fewer opportunities and less room for personal development.
Recently, Mi Lan has been looking into opportunities in cross - border e - commerce. The domestic e - commerce market is highly saturated, but there is still a vast market overseas.
And with the encouragement of her friends, Wendy has written her resume and is ready to try her luck in the AI industry. "Joining a startup is also okay," she said.
In the current job market, while there is a "winter" like what Mi Lan is experiencing, there is also a "summer" in full swing.
For example, the AI industry that Wendy wants to join has started a talent war this spring. For instance, the "Deep Learning Researcher" position in DeepSeek's campus recruitment offers a yearly salary of up to 1.26 million yuan for fresh graduates, and even interns can earn 20,000 yuan per month.
36Kr's "Career Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
Although these high - paying positions seem to be for top - notch technical talents, as the AI infrastructure improves and more AI applications emerge, the demand will gradually expand to more business and functional positions. It's a rising - tide - lifts - all - boats situation.
In this year's government work report, it was clearly stated that it is necessary to "cultivate and expand emerging industries and future industries." Among them, low - altitude economy, biological manufacturing, embodied intelligence, 6G, artificial intelligence, intelligent connected new - energy vehicles, and intelligent manufacturing and other fields will gradually replace traditional industries and become high - demand areas for talent.
Industries change, and the economy has cycles.
Looking back at Japan's "employment ice age" in the past thirty years, the idea of "seeking stability" in one's career is a false proposition.
For our generation, it's very likely that we will enter multiple industries in our lifetime, and we won't stay in each company for too long.
Maintaining a positive and optimistic attitude and flexibly choosing career directions according to the flow of industry dividends is a basic skill that job - seekers need to master.
Based on this concept, at this time of rapid industry change, the 36Kr Career Bonus team has developed Career Elevator AI, a job - hunting assistance tool.
Career Elevator AI: Help You Find the Next DeepSeek
Two years ago, we developed the prototype of Career Elevator AI. Among them, we screened the "Top 500 Dividend Companies":
36Kr's "Career Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
Looking back now, the two hottest companies at present, DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics, were both included.
This year, it has been upgraded to "Career Elevator AI". In addition to adding AI capabilities to assist job - hunting, we have also expanded the scope of dividend companies included, including:
• All the startups reported by 36Kr in the past 14 years (those with good development and recruitment needs), approximately over 10,000;
• Companies that have won national honors, such as unicorns, latent unicorns, invisible champions, specialized and