Around 80% of young adults experience a gap between their expectations before joining their first company, and the reality after they join. （This has been recently referred to in Japanese as a reality shock）. These were the results of a survey published by Persol Career.
The results were published on May 22 of this year. According to the survey, initially 79.3% of students job hunting thought that they “want to enjoy their work,” and 86.2% of them thought “I want to grow through my work.” However, among young adults who have been working for 1 to 3 years, 35.3% answered that they were enjoying their job, and 64.6% answered that they felt that they were growing through their job. Furthermore, only 5.8% of students answered that they always enjoyed their work. These results show a large gap between expectations and reality when young adults join the workforce.
The number of young adults who felt some kind of reality shock after joining a company was as high as 76.6%. The reasons for this include “salary and remuneration” at 37.4%, “the pace of promotion and advancement” at 31.9%, “the amount of discretion I’m given at work” at 31.5%, and “the level of achievement I can get from work” at 31.3%.
The reality shock felt by those who responded to the first question with “I’m not enjoying working” and “I don’t feel like I’m growing in my work,” as well as those who quit within 3 years, was large. It’s thought that this is a point to prevent reality shock, which will also prevent employees from quitting too soon and to encourage their growth after joining the company.
Regarding “company satisfaction,” directly after new employees receive an offer their satisfaction levels stay at the same level – around 70%. However, there was a large decrease in satisfaction after starting work for two groups – those who felt both a high and low degree of reality shock. The ratio of those satisfied with work until their 3rd year dropped to 1 in 5, while the percentage of those in their 1st to 3rd years who were satisfied was in the 10s. It’s clear that a large feeling of reality shock has an effect on some employees quitting within 3 years.
It’s said that in order to prevent reality shock, it’s important for young adults to have a better understanding of companies, and whether a company is a good fit, before they join. To better understand these things, there are 2 important points young adults can consider. The first is listening to a lot of people while job hunting, which will give a better awareness of the process. The next point is being aware of the importance of self-study and building human relationships. Regarding the 2nd point, having that awareness can lead to young adults deciding on what they want to do. If they take too much time deciding on what they want to do in the future, the negative effects of the reality shock and not knowing about a company or if it’s a good fit will be much more severe.
According to the survey, whether an employee feels a mismatch or not after joining a company depends on the research they do before joining, as well as understanding if the company is a good fit for them. Therefore, it’s good for candidates to keep these points in mind when finding work.
The survey was conducted by CAMP from Persol Career, as well as Persol Career’s Research Institute. It was conducted on the internet from February 22 to February 25, 2019, and it was aimed at 1,700 people.
jopus Editorial Dep.
