Recently, Xu Shan, CEO of Lagou.com, said on the social platform that "a large factory was laid off and asked for a 30% salary increase when looking for a job, which is simply spoiled by the industry." In his view, Internet wages are much higher than other industries, not because of strong personal ability, but because a large amount of capital has been invested, and now the dividends of the Internet industry have reached the top, and the Internet high wage bubble is about to burst.
As soon as this remark came out, many netizens joined the discussion. Some people believe that although Xu Shan's words are ugly, they are the truth, and high wages in the Internet industry do not mean that they are capable. "There will always be one or two products of the era in a particular era, and in the past few years, the Internet and online education have stood on the cusp of the storm and enjoyed the industry dividend."
Some people fiercely oppose this statement, some people believe that "the Internet is originally based on technology, technology is developed by people, and large expenditures must be on the salaries of personnel", and some people shout: "The Internet industry is under pressure, heavy tasks, and many emergencies, and people take 996 in exchange."
However, many job seekers from internet giants did encounter similar problems in recent interviews. As is customary, they expect a 30% increase in salary if they change jobs and a tie if they are poor. But in practice, employers who are not big factories are mostly unacceptable to their salary requirements. Employees who leave the big factory feel uncomfortable not only wallets, but also mentality.
Over the past few years, the Internet industry has indeed attracted a large number of talents with high salaries, and has also won its own rapid development. Today, the high salaries of large factories still exist, but there are not many seats left. For job seekers, it is reasonable to get a high salary in the past, and whether it can be sustained in the future depends on the market's bids.
Leaving the big factory, Qianqian, an Internet education practitioner before the start of the salary cut, has suffered from the gap from a large factory to a small company in the past year.
In the five years before the "double reduction", Qianqian worked in the Internet industry, and the first half of the market position in an education enterprise, the annual salary was almost 300,000 yuan. In 2020, she jumped ship to another top online education company, raising her salary by 30%, with an annual salary of nearly 400,000. But the "double subtraction" came, and her entire business was laid off.
In the second half of 2021, she began looking for a job. Her initial thought was that at least not a pay cut. Because of this insistence, the job was three months long, "at that time, the whole person was going to be scrapped, the state was getting worse and worse, and the more I didn't work, the less I wanted to work." ”
Later, Qianqian reluctantly accepted a job with an annual salary of about 300,000 yuan, and found that in addition to the decline in wages, the overall welfare contraction was even more serious. "For example, my previous company has given six insurances and one gold, not only the social security provident fund, etc. are paid up, but also a commercial insurance, which can reimburse a large part of the medical expenses other than medical insurance." The new company's social security and provident fund are paid according to a relatively low standard, and the previous meal allowances, phone subsidies, transportation subsidies, afternoon tea, overtime adjustment or overtime pay are gone, and there are no various benefits during the New Year's Holiday, but the overtime work is still overtime. ”
In Internet companies, most of the meals have canteens, overtime taxis can also be reimbursed, and most of the money earned can be saved. The gap between one mile and one outside is not small.
Recently, Qianqian left her job again and was looking for a new job. Her feeling is that the job search environment is much worse than in previous years. She changed jobs in the Internet industry before, the salary is easy to negotiate, and she also has to look at the research and development strength and development prospects of alternative companies. But now, the overall number of jobs has plummeted, and even if some companies have marked a salary that is not low, it is difficult to succeed after the interview. Today, she can barely accept a salary reduction of less than 20% on top of her 300,000 annual salary.
Ordinary employees of large factories face a gap in treatment, and it is equally difficult to mix to the middle level.
Yu Feng entered the workplace from 2008, his first job was in Ali, when he first turned positive, he was 5,000 yuan a month, and his monthly salary was less than 10,000 yuan when he left after two or three years. In his career, he jumped jobs once every two or three years on average, and his subsequent job hopping increases were very large. The monthly salary of the second job is 20,000 yuan, which is doubled, plus the year-end bonus of 300,000-400,000. In the third job, Yu Feng's annual salary reached about 600,000. Jumping ship again, working for about 7 years, he earns an annual salary of millions.
He recalled that at that time, there was a shortage of talent in the industry, and the resume was basically available to the offers of several head manufacturers. But recently changing jobs, his biggest feeling is that Maxima is often there, Bole is not often there, and it is not so easy to find someone who can appreciate himself.
Two or three months have passed, and he has not yet found a suitable position. "Changing jobs, I don't accept a salary cut in the absolute sense, which means that I have a problem with my ability." However, the company or business has great potential or has options. The lower limit he currently expects is a million, after all, his income is close to 2 million when he is at the highest, "it can be reduced, but there is also a bottom line, I want to respect your company, but I also have to respect my professional background and ability." ”
Over the past few years, the high salaries of big factories are not false rumors.
Li Liwei, who graduated from graduate school in 2016, told Deep Burn that he had drifted north for six years and his salary had increased by 529%. He graduated from an ordinary university majoring in finance and economics, the first job cost 8,000 yuan a month, and in 2018 he became a team leader, with a monthly salary of 12,000 yuan, a double salary at the end of the year, and an annual salary of more than 100,000 yuan. In 2019, the monthly salary rose to 18,000, plus the annual salary of the year-end bonus to 270,000.
The sharp rise in wages began with a job hopping. In 2021, Li Liwei jumped into a large Internet company with a monthly salary of 29,000 yuan, and the year-end bonus was a 3-month salary, with an annual salary of 435,000. In 2022, he changed jobs again, and this time the salary increase was not as easy as before. "The intuitive feeling is that the job position is more than half of the previous one, but there are not many jobs to interview, there are fewer to get offers, and the salary increase is not the previous range, and I finally took a slight increase, with an annual salary of about 550,000."
Nowadays, annual salary increases and job-hopping salary increases seem to be ineffective in Internet people.
Is it because of the industry or the individual who gets a high salary? Several job seekers, when interviewing non-Internet manufacturers, generally encounter a problem, that is, employers feel that their salary requirements are too high. In other words, the interviewer feels they are not worth the money.
Qianqian once met an interviewer who spoke very bluntly. She and the interview business director have been talking very well, when talking about salary, Qianqian put forward the expectation of a monthly salary of 25,000 yuan, the other party said with a surprised face, "The education industry is like this, do you want such a high salary?" Qianqian responded that she felt that salary did not have much to do with the industry, and it depended on personal ability. Later, this work was not followed.
In recent years, Qianqian has often been subjected to such torture. Many employers feel that people in the Internet industry take high salaries because of the industry, not because of how different the individual is.
Internet analyst Ge Jia also believes that it is normal to get high salaries in large factories, but it does not mean that these employees are worth that money, but because of the characteristics of the industry. "Because of the market and industry dividends, the Internet manufacturers have excess profit margins in the past ten years, then they must have corresponding distribution, peer competition is fierce, and they may not be able to recruit talents without giving high salaries."
He mentioned that doing specific work in large factories can get 30,000 yuan a monthly salary, jump out of the Internet circle, change small companies or change industries, many companies do not recognize, these employers believe that the extra part is caused by industry differences, not individuals. This results in a huge difference in psychological expectations between the two sides, employers feel that you want too outrageous, job seekers feel that the company is too picky.
Headhunter Lu Haitian has been in contact with the technical operation of a large factory, graduated from 985 colleges and universities, and worked in a head factory for more than two years, with an annual salary of about 400,000. Recently, when I changed jobs, I looked for a number of headhunters, including Lu Haitian, and finally found that non-head giants could not afford to open this salary for him. "After all, he only has more than two years of work experience, and he thinks that he can achieve higher income and create more value on other platforms, which is obviously a lack of self-awareness."
Qianqian believes that there are indeed some people in the Internet industry who have high salaries but mediocre abilities, but it does not mean that everyone is like this, "Some people are taking inflated prices, because he is taking advantage of the industry's east wind, in the bubble period, talents and mixed days have come in." ”
Yu Feng did not agree with such a view at all. In his view, the big factory is not a fool, the salary of the Internet company is calculated, how much output value the company creates, how many people can be recruited on average, have been carefully calculated. In the stage of rapid development of the Internet, high salaries are normal, because these employees have jointly created this industry.
He added that some of the employees recruited by large factories with high salaries may not be so suitable, but the elimination mechanism of large factories is far more complex and precise than that of ordinary small companies. Each department has a budget, work indicators, relatively scientific methods to verify the results, and internal mechanisms to dynamically adjust.
"Previously, because of the growth of the industry, changing jobs and raising salaries by 30% was inertia of thinking. As for whether it is still reasonable or not, it is not the job seeker who unilaterally decides, the job seeker can make a request, the enterprise can evaluate, and it can also correct the deviation, but there is no need to attack and denigrate the job seeker. Yu Feng said.
He also pointed out that the people who raised such questions, whether employers or employees, may not have done a good job of basic information research. Because of the formal process of recruitment, the enterprise budget is determined, and the resume will be screened for the first time, and the two sides whose needs do not match will most likely not meet.
Many people also mentioned that getting a high salary from a large factory is also a corresponding price. For example, entering the big factory generally needs 211, 985 or master's, doctoral, returnee, or before being a senior expert in a certain field. Li Liwei also gave an example that 996 was proposed and implemented by Internet companies; Programmers are ridiculed for having less hair, also because of the huge pressure they have taken on; Many traditional industries can work until retirement, and the Internet industry has age discrimination at the age of 35.
"In every era, there are a group of people who have eaten the dividends of enterprise development or economic development itself, and have obtained a much higher income than the average, such as buying a house in the early years, speculating in stocks, etc. Comparing the average wage of society with an industry with the most vigorous development momentum is itself unreasonable. Li Liwei said.
The high salaries of large factories are market behavior, but they do not necessarily continue to have different views on the question of whether high salaries of large factories are habitual to young people. However, people with different positions have reached a consensus that the big factory is indeed highly paid, and this high salary has its causes.
Lu Haitian mentioned that the average annual salary of the Internet industry is much higher than the average annual salary of the private sector in mainland cities and towns, and entering the Internet industry means that the income starting point is higher.
"The reason is that over the past many years, the Internet industry has been pulled by capital, and Internet companies are one of the few companies that do not pursue profitability in the short term, which leads to their efficiency, development, and growth first, in this case, many companies will not control the salary structure, but will work harder to recruit talents, so as to achieve performance growth."
According to the past practice, most of the fresh graduates who enter the big factory can start with an annual salary of 200,000-250,000, and after three years, they will be promoted to a higher level, and the salary will be increased by 30%-50%, which may rise to three or four hundred thousand, and the more excellent students may be promoted to another level after five years.
However, in Lu Haitian's view, even if it is an annual income of 300,000 yuan, it is also selected and is the result of market pricing. It is normal logic for job seekers to change jobs according to the original base number.
But problems are also accumulating. Lu Haitian mentioned that in recent years, the cumulative number of practitioners in China's TMT industry has reached tens of millions, which is three or four times that of many developed countries. Moreover, in recent years, about seven or eight million college students in China have graduated every year, and a large part of them have flowed to Internet-related industries, which invisibly increases the risk of labor surplus.
With the internal and external difficulties in the Internet industry, enterprises have begun to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The capacity of the Internet industry has shrunk, and people who leave the Internet have encountered the cognitive gap described above when applying for jobs.
In today's situation, it is not that the Internet can no longer afford to pay high salaries, but that the Internet is not so easy to give everyone high salaries. Companies will become more rational, rating their workforce according to their needs and giving them salaries. The Internet will tend to roll inwards and jobs will become increasingly scarce.
In the past, the mentality of many people was that the price of the house would always rise and the income would always surge. The general mentality of Internet industry practitioners is that they will increase their salaries every year or change jobs. But then, more and more people will find that when changing jobs, their incomes do not increase but fall. In fact, it's just a return to normal now.
Giving high salaries is a market behavior, but whether high salaries correspond to the high value of employees, Lu Haitian believes that the two cannot be completely equated, "Capital sometimes overestimates a thing, and the last chicken feathers." However, what is overvalued will eventually face the day when value returns. If there is a bubble in the salaries of Internet people before, one day it will return to where it should be. Job seekers' salaries, like the prices of all commodities, are determined by value and are influenced by supply and demand. ”
Lu Haitian judged that in the future, the scale of the Internet industry will shrink, salary increases and promotions will become more and more difficult, enough excellent people, in the Internet industry can still get high salaries, the industry will gradually become like the financial industry.
As for job seekers, Ge Jia mentioned that some of the cognitions accumulated from the experience of previous generations are now not applicable and need to be repositioned. Now the Internet industry is to cancel meal subsidies, afternoon tea, and start to lay off employees, after the money that should not be spent stopped, the next step is also possible to reduce wages. "The Internet industry has used technological advantages to obtain a long period of excess profits, this period is going to pass, and then it is going to go in the direction of average profits, and enterprises must reduce costs and operate safely." As a practitioner, you can only recognize reality. ”
For other industries, it is necessary to be fair to see the problem, to recognize the gap between industries, large factories were willing to give high salaries before, young people in the original inertia to ask for salary increases is also the common sentiment of people, recruitment is originally a two-way choice process.
What is certain is that high salaries in the Internet industry are a matter of the past and the present, but the future may not be sustainable.
Qianqian's suggestion is to recognize your own strength, look at the external environment, and set a standard line for yourself. "For the next job, I still want to choose a big factory, if I really can't do it, I will retreat to the second place, find a traditional industry or a smaller company, and reduce the salary."
*At the request of the interviewees, Qianqian, Li Liwei and Yu Feng are pseudonyms.