Employment prospects for senior health and management majors

The major of elderly health and management is currently a typical track with "serious mismatch of supply and demand". There is no problem of "unemployment upon graduation". The income ceiling and career freedom are very different. The upper limit is very high and the lower limit is indeed low. Whether the future is good or not depends on how you choose the track. It is not as absolute as the "hot" or "sinkhole" posted on the Internet.

I had a meal with the HR of the elderly care industry group under the Civil Affairs Department a while ago. She drank for three rounds before complaining: Last year, the school opened a recruitment for positions with a minimum salary of 8k for the elderly who can independently manage chronic disease management plans for the elderly and are familiar with the disability level assessment standards. It received more than 200 resumes, half of which were from nursing majors, and the other half were from fresh graduates in this major who could not even answer the basic indicators of sarcopenia screening. In the end, only two suitable candidates were hired. Don’t think she is exaggerating. There are now tens of thousands of long-term care insurance institutions across the country providing fixed-point services. The talent gap for comprehensive elderly health management has already exceeded one million. There are only tens of thousands of graduates of this major every year, which is not even enough to fill the needs of leading institutions.

Of course, don’t just listen to my boasts. I have also received many complaints from students in this major in the background: I was assigned to work as a nurse in a small private nursing home after graduation. I earned more than 3k a month and had to clean and feed the elderly every day. I didn’t use anything I learned. This is also true. This industry is extremely polarized right now, and there are indeed many positions that can deceive people. The essence is that you have chosen the wrong track.

I have a school girl who graduated last year and was admitted to a street-based elderly care service center in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou. She is treated as a professional and earns more than 80,000 yuan a year. She usually creates health files for the elderly in the area, connects with community hospitals to organize free clinics, and attends two days a week. She monitors heart rate and blood pressure for elderly people who live alone. She works from 9 to 5 with almost no overtime. On weekends, she can also take health science classes at a local university for senior citizens to earn extra money. She tells everyone that she has chosen the right major, which is much easier to get a job than those liberal arts majors that are squeezed out of the public examination.

If you are not willing to take a dead salary and go to the market-oriented mid-to-high-end track, the income ceiling will be much higher. Last time I visited Taikang Yanyuan in Beijing, I happened to bump into an alumnus who had just graduated two years ago. She was squatting on the ground in overalls and helping the elderly adjust the height of the rehabilitation equipment. She is now in charge of the health files of 27 elderly residents. She usually has to connect with the green channel of a tertiary hospital, customize personalized nutrition and rehabilitation plans for the elderly, and occasionally help family members with health risk education. Counting performance, she earns more than 15k per month. If she can be promoted to the director of the health management department, it is normal to earn 300,000 per year. There is also a classmate who graduated three years ago and is now working as a product manager for nutritional supplements for the elderly in Guangzhou. Last year, his annual salary including year-end bonus was 380,000. He said that companies are now scrambling for people who understand both the physiological and psychological characteristics of the elderly and the logic of health management. They are much more popular than pure Internet product managers.

Nowadays, many people are badmouthing this profession, saying that it is essentially "the service industry eats the youth." This view is actually correct - if you are dawdling around in school and don't even know the preliminary screening methods for depression in the elderly, and are unwilling to work hard to gain experience, then you can only work as a grassroots nursing worker that does not require technical skills, and you will earn hard-earned money. The core competitiveness of this major has never been the diploma, but whether you can really solve the health problems of the elderly: you can accurately predict the signs of emergency in high-risk elderly people, you can make appropriate non-drug intervention plans for the elderly with dementia, and you can persuade stubborn elderly people to change bad habits that affect their health. If you have these skills well, you will be in demand everywhere.

To be honest, the current national plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan for the elderly care service system is clearly going to spend money on this track. Whether it is the establishment of public elderly care system, or the market-oriented enterprises related to the silver economy, and even now insurance companies and real estate companies building elderly care communities, they are all rushing to grab this professional person. Of course, I have to remind you: this industry is still in the early stages of development, and the salary systems of many small organizations are indeed not standardized. When looking for a job, try to choose a formal head organization or public office, and don't be fooled into working as a cheap labor force.

In the final analysis, whether the prospects are good or not depends on what you want: if you want stability, the number of public examination and career editing positions in this major is increasing year by year, and the competition is much smaller than other majors; if you want to make money, go to the mid-to-high-end market track, as long as you are willing to settle down and accumulate experience, the income will not be much worse than the current Internet position; if you want to do scientific research, it is much easier to apply for funding for topics such as health intervention for the elderly and prevention of disability and dementia than other fields. There is no need to listen to one-sided praise or rejection on the Internet, the one that suits you is the best.