Fertile Ground for Industry Growth and New Opportunities
Some industries are still maintaining growth, offering valuable opportunities for job seekers. In these industries, the emergence of new opportunities is more frequent. Although the peak of job-hunting has gradually receded, many job seekers are still tirelessly searching for their ideal positions, with people holding out hope for the high season, enduring a long wait.
The demand side changes are complex and subtle, with companies increasingly strict in talent evaluation, showing significantly less tolerance for timing during recruitment. After the 2024 recruitment season, many job seekers are still finding their way through difficult circumstances. In practice, the review of job offers for candidates may become complicated due to internal human resources stocktaking within companies, and some may lose the long-coveted job opportunities as a result.
Even during the traditional peak job-hunting periodââGolden March and Silver Aprilâ, some large recruitment platforms may temporarily suspend services due to surges in traffic, reflecting the intense competition in the job market.
The Evolution of Market Demand
Whether it’s internet giants or state-owned enterprises, the changes in the market and demand are gradually unfolding. For example, in a city like Shenzhen, one can often sense the competitive atmosphere cultivated by companies to attract talent. In some enterprises, such as Tencent’s internship recruitment programs, there is even a “barge-in interview zone” set up to allow more unfiltered job seekers the chance to attend interviews.
“Barge-in” refers to the practice where job seekers, without prior application or resume screening, directly bring their paper resumes to the interview venue for selection. During the rapid development period of the internet industry, “barge-in” is not just a way of job hunting but also a reflection of a corporate culture that seeks and embraces diverse talent.
Behind this unique recruitment philosophy lies the belief of enterprises in a bright future, willing to invest resources to explore the potential of job seekers, hoping to find real talent in the vast sea of people.
In this context, the role of “barge-in” is not only limited to the selection of technical talent but also an attempt to discover the unique creativity and potential of job seekers beyond the uniformity of resumes.
Thanks to “barge-in”, Chen Mo got a job at Tencent when he graduated with a second-class degree, and his status further transformed into an interviewer. By 2020, he began to notice changes: barge-in became increasingly rare in the recruitment process. As market competition intensified, large enterprises’ recruitment methods tended to become more traditional. “It’s not just that the number of job seekers directly participating in ‘barge-in’ has decreased, but many HRs are no longer familiar with the term ‘barge-in’,” Chen Mo said. “Essentially, the problem is the increase in competitors, and the number of positions has not grown accordinglyâsome have even decreased, leading to ‘barge-in’ being less effective than before.”
As a large number of graduates flock to the fixed quotas at internet companies, recruitment habits are also gradually being revised. Chen Mo further explained, “The key is no longer whether to open the ‘barge-in’ channel. Many companies have even started using AI technology to screen resumes.” However, when asked if the revival of “barge-in” indicates that the job market is warming up, the answer remains unclear. Insiders reveal that, according to information obtained by “Leopard Change,” the “barge-in zone” is currently only reinstated for recruiting summer interns and regular interns, while there is no “barge-in” process for recruiting the broader public.
In addition, the changes in the JD (job description, job description) are even more significant. A headhunter focusing on e-commerce and business fields told “Leopard Change” that overall, large companies’ demand for business positions remains the same, and the rumors about recruitment freezes are largely true. At the same time, by the end of March, ByteDance had news that they had completely locked the recruitment quota, although ByteDance itself did not provide a direct response.
By the year 2024, job mobility has thus become even more difficult, which is the first consensus reached by headhunters and job seekers. During the traditional job-seeking peak of “golden March and silver April,” when the labor market is active after the Lunar New Year, and companies settle and distribute annual bonuses, many employees usually look for new job opportunities after receiving the annual bonus, which also serves as a major bargaining chip in salary negotiations. However, according to the situation over the past few months, despite the continued anticipation of the year-end bonus by internet practitioners, the previous joy associated with bonus distribution no longer exists.
According to a source close to Baidu, the company has adjusted the proportion of base salary and annual bonuses, which has led to a further increase in the share of year-end bonuses based on company performance and individual performance evaluations in the salary structure. The generosity of large companies regarding annual bonuses is also gradually vanishing. Similarly, an internal source from Ant Group revealed that this year’s annual bonus is not optimistic, with employees rated at performance level 3.5 only receiving 1 to 2 monthsâ worth of salary as the bonus. The tightening of annual bonuses is gradually changing employees’ psychological expectations, and many who originally planned to resign after receiving their annual bonus have chosen to stay in their current positions upon observing market trends.
The aforementioned headhunter emphasized that internet giants are becoming increasingly precise in their JD requirements. In fact, since 2023, many frontline big companies have quietly changed the requirements for key business positions, requiring job seekers to have an in-depth understanding of the business areas they are responsible for. This year, headhunters have felt this demand growing stronger, noting that “many positions require job seekers to have direct and relevant work experience.”
In 2023 and beyond, many internet companies are beginning to re-examine their strategies for talent acquisition and team building. Once, whether for internal transfers or job-hopping, the similarity of business lines was often seen as a major advantage. However, the cost of cultivating teams has gradually become a vital element that must be managed with precision. Now businesses prefer to invest more resources in scouting talent, even to the point of headhunting directly from competitors to achieve a “precise landing,” rather than spending too much time and energy on training talent. Even though the internet giants no longer discuss cost reduction and efficiency improvement publicly, strategies for cutting redundant budgets and pursuing cost-effectiveness can still be seen throughout corporate structures.
For instance, Zhang Meng, a graduate with a master’s degree in liberal arts from a 985 university, found that the demand for operational mid-backend positions she is suited for is diminishing. Since 2024, she has frequently received feedback from HR indicating that this trend will not only continue but may also intensify. These hints have led her to start thinking about her future career planning. Nevertheless, not all business positions are facing cuts. Wang Yi from the automotive industry is an exception; she received interview invites from several car companies in April and secured a new position within a month, expecting to start her new career journey after the May Day holiday. Growth industries and business lines may be new opportunities for job seekers. Over the past year, some headhunters have observed that demand for international business lines remains robust, with large companies’ global ambitions still strong, indicating that this might be a new growth area.
However, large companies’ patience with employees’ age is diminishing, and the pursuit of youth is becoming more overt. In the past, work experience and seniority were considered equal, offering psychological security to many seasoned professionals. Nowadays, the vitality and creativity of young people have become the driving force behind the rapid growth of internet companies, and large factories have become more traditional and complex in organizational structure and operation, requiring quicker solutions. Headhunters have revealed that large internet companies often calculate the average age of their departments before hiring, and candidates with 1 to 3 years of work experience are usually preferred, ensuring the average age remains below 30 or 35 years.
When it comes to tolerance of time, it’s not just limited to age. Chen Mo noticed that for urgently needed positions, under the circumstance of a hiring freeze, there are very high expectations for a candidate’s start date, even as other positions may close their recruitment doors due to cautious consideration. Some companies have indicated that they prefer candidates who can start immediately. The requirement for a “rapid start” has now become the norm. As per the experience of job seeker Wang Ming, during the prime job-hunting season of “Golden March and Silver April,” two positions ready to extend offers required him to start within ten days. His personal circumstances made it difficult to meet such stringent demands, resulting in an abrupt halt to the process. This also reflects the dilemma many job seekers face: on the one hand, there are not many rapidly progressing opportunities in the market; on the other hand, companies exhibit an unaccepting attitude towards job seekers’ employment gaps.
While most people hope to secure a new job opportunity quickly, the practice of resigning before finding a new job, known as “naked resignation,” often raises alerts with recruiters. Recruiters tend to favor those who can provide sufficient handover time, while adopting a reserved attitude toward those who are urgently seeking employment after a “naked resignation”.
As spring arrives, Wang Ming chooses to admire the blooming flowers in Chaoyang Park, seeking comfort in the beauty of nature. However, unlike the blossoming vigor found in nature, the opportunities he longs for in the workplace have yet to arrive, filling him with anxiety.
With the end of the traditional recruitment peak season, “Golden March and Silver April” (referring to March and April when many companies have recruitment needs), a large number of job seekers are facing a crossroads of choices. Some continue to strive for the right job positions, while others are pondering whether to change strategies or may have to settle for compromise.
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