New Career Choices Create New Value

CHINA has added 158 new professions to its list ofrecognized occupations since 2022， and youngpeople have gradually accepted them as part of theircareer choice options. According to statistics fromthe Ministry of Education， the estimated number of universitygraduates across China for the year 2024 is expected to reach11.79 million. During this graduation season， there is a largenumber of new professions from which graduates can choose.

New Professions

Song Xiaoli in Tianjin studied medicine for her undergraduatedegree， but later failed to pass the graduate schoolentrance examination. To make things more challenging， anaged member of her family became sick in 2022， making lifefor her and her mother busy running back and forth betweenthe hospital and home. With her professional knowledge inmedicine， she is familiar with the process of seeking medicalhelp in the hospital， but noticed that many people who go tothe hospital are often quite confused about where to go to getthe help they need. At that moment， Song realized that shecould use her medical knowledge and experience to help improvethe experience and efficiency of patients and their familymembers in the hospital. As a result， she now works as ahospital escort accompanying patients throughout the wholeprocess of seeing a doctor.

More often than not， young people choose to try newemerging careers because they feel conventional jobs do notsuit their needs.

Liu Sai in Wuhan heard of the profession of life organizerwhen she was in college. After graduating， she went througha difficult time during which she failed the graduate schoolentrance examination twice and was laid off from two differentjobs. This caused her great emotional stress and confusion.In 2023， she worked as an e-commerce platform operator ina housekeeping service company. After some time， she realizedthat her real profession interest was being a life organizerrather than an operator.

A life organizer is a new profession that emerged in 2022，and according to China’s list of recognized occupations itis classified as a housekeeping attendant. So far， more than73，000 people in China have received training as professionallife organizers.

According to Liu， despite the fact that there is no clear standardin this industry， the threshold for junior life organizersis low. Their work includes helping people tidy up their houseand putting their things in order， while the work of senior lifeorganizers includes reorganizing the home space accordingto the needs of the customer. For professional companies， thebusiness scope also includes furnishing. At present， Liu is alreadyqualified as a senior life organizer.

Yi in Shanghai designed a board game because she was dis-satisfied with a foreign board game. \"It's apasta-themed board game and it was hardfor me to accept the game rules for makingnoodles. I also know how to make a lot ofdelicious noodles， so I decided to changethe rules of the board game，” Yi said as sherelated her first attempt at designing aboard game.

At first Yi’s end goal of redesigning theboard game was mainly to enjoy a goodtime with her friends. It was not until she resigned from herjob in 2022 that she considered working full-time as a boardgame designer with her partner. Now， they are running thefirst board game design shop in Shanghai.

According to China’s list of recognized occupations，board game designers are classified under the category ofprofessional design service providers， which is another newprofession that emerged in 2022. Yi admits that she starteddesigning board games from scratch without any previousbackground in art. \"Others may be afraid because they havezero background in art. However， after I took the first stepin designing board games， things turned out completelydifferent.”

Opportunities and Challenges

New professions come with their own challenges. An unsteadyincome and being misunderstood by people around arethe challenges that practitioners of new professions often face.On the other hand， they can set their pace of life and the senseof fulfillment the work gives them helps them see the value oftheir work and feel that they have more control over their ownlives.

According to Yi， each person can set their own work rhythmin board game designing， but the income is relatively unstable.Earnings from designing board games are based on projects，and payment for each project is received only after it is completed.As a result of the high cost of renting in Shanghai， sheworries every day that she might not be able to pay the rent ofher small shop.

Liu Sai said that the income of a life organizer is basedon the length of time you work. As a result， workers take fewbreaks during their work. The longest time she worked in thepast was for 12 hours straight.

“After building trust with customers， some of them tell methe password to their door and ask me to work there independently;others may give me a brief explanation in the morningafter I arrive at their home of what they want me to do， andthen leave me to complete the work，” saidLiu. For door-to-door services， it is difficultto distinguish between workdays and daysoff， and there may also be customers whocall on weekends.

The service industry is customer-centered，and this philosophy makes the workintensity of practitioners closely related tothe requirements of the customer. Unlike thetraditional service industry， this new professionfocuses more on customer segmentationand requires specific services to be provided on a case-bycasebasis. Although this is more demanding for practitioners，it brings them more income and a sense of achievement.

According to Liu， after the completion of the first sorting，they will also pay regular return visits to customers to seewhether the previous work met the customer’s expectations，and also observe whether customers have developed the habitof organizing and sorting. \"I have a female client who contactsme at the beginning of every season to tidy up her wardrobe.The last time I went to her house， I found that the content ofeach part of her wardrobe， such as dresses and summer pants，were all in the same order we had arranged them before，” saidLiu. At this time， Liu realized that this woman had been able"to develop good sorting habits and improve her quality of lifeunder Liu’s guidance.

Because of its newness， the profession itself has not yetbeen widely accepted. Liu said that although her parents supportedher in starting a business， they sometimes hope thatshe can find a stable job and get married as soon as possible.Song also mentioned that when she first started to escort patientsaround hospitals， her father also hoped that she wouldfind a stable job. Her father went to the hospital with her formore than a week and was relieved only after he made sureher work was safe.

For Yi， one thing about her career as a board game designerthat makes her feel really satisfied is that she does not have toset limits for herself. “For example， if something can't be donefor a while， I don't have to force myself to finish it within a certaintime period. I can put it aside for a while， and wait for aninspiration and a new idea，” said Yi.

Yi used to do brand planning in a company.At that time， she felt that whether itwas a big plan or a small idea， even if it couldbecome a hot topic in the current period， noone would remember it after some time andshe did not feel that she could get much selfimprovementfrom it. Yi believes that an importantreason why she finds value in boardgame designing is that she does it for herself.

Pursuing Something New

Whether it is a new profession such as a hospital escort orlife organizer， or a long-standing profession， being able to makeenough to support yourself is important. However， a growingnumber of young job seekers are now paying more attentionto whether the job can enhance their self-identity and whetherthe job content truly creates value. According to a survey conductedby China Youth Daily， 52.6 percent of fresh graduateswill consider whether they like the job content when choosinga job. In addition， 66.9 percent of the respondents believe thatthe new trend of new career choices is related to the importancegraduates place on realizing their self-worth.

Song once served a senior citizen who had undergone amajor surgery. Since it was inconvenient for the patient totravel to the hospital to do regular check-ups or get medicine，Song delivered a report of the patient's recovery progress tothe doctor. Because the patient had seen the doctor before， thedoctor already knew the medical background of the patient'scondition， and the role of the escort in this was recognized byboth the doctor and the patient. Song served the senior citizen"since April 2023 and witnessed the whole recovery process.During one follow-up check-up， the doctor said in front ofeveryone in the room， \"I've saved another person.\" Listening tothis statement， Song was very touched because she knew shehad played a crucial role in this process.

The emergence of new professions over the last few yearshas given fresh graduates more options to choose from. Afterbecoming a full-time life organizer， Liu opened her ownstudio in March 2024. Her reasons for starting up a businessare simple： the company she worked for previously could notmeet her needs of future personal development; and secondly，she already had the ability to independently handle the wholework process from taking orders and designing to projectimplementation. Even though she did not have a successful careerin the beginning， she had mastered such skills as operatinge-commerce， communication， collaboration， and marketingpromotion. Even the knowledge aboutjournalism and communication that shelearned while preparing for postgraduateentrance exams gave her tools to start herown business， helping promote her studioon social media platforms more professionallyand effectively. \"The so-called 'detours'actually count，\" Liu said.

Sometimes， to \"keep walking\" is thenorm. Choosing a beloved profession gives“work” a new connotation. Yi believes that real work is “doingthings spontaneously.\" She recalls that when she resignedfrom her previous job， she thought that it might be difficultto do board game designing full-time， but she was willing todo it anyway. \"It is fun to watch short videos online sitting in areclined position every day， but after watching you feel unsatisfied.The reason lies in the people themselves. I still want towork and create value，” said Yi. She believes that not pursuingKPIs （Key Performance Indicators） does not mean not working，but rather setting clearer goals， continuously accumulatingexperience， and creating the value that one recognizes.

\"I want to do something new， and in the process I create aproduct while learning and improving my ability. For me， theoriginal board game I completed is a testament to the phasedprocess. My work doesn’t always satisfy my clients， but I'malways improving， and the most satisfying work is always thenext project，” said Yi.