this man is not calm

Chapter 368 Promotion
Since starting his own business after graduation, Jin Shang has seldom had private conversations with any employee alone. Generally speaking, Jinxi Culture adheres to the moral principles of fairness and openness, with clear rewards and punishments. It does not encourage the formation of cliques, nor does it engage in party-building, office bullying, and the like.

Startups that are still in their growth phase have a lot of redundant space and are extremely competitive externally.

Everyone has a bright future, so there is no need to exclude dissidents, attack colleagues, and seek promotion opportunities for yourself.

This also makes the relationship between colleagues relatively harmonious, and with the blessing of the "golden finger", everyone lives quite well.

However, the overall stability and positivity cannot conceal local imbalances. Jiang Long's circumstances are rather special, so he naturally bears extraordinary pressure.

At the beginning of the new year, Jiang Long was startled when he heard the boss's serious words, and responded seriously:
"Please go on..."

"Don't be nervous, it's a good thing..."

Jin Shang cleared his throat, stirred the coffee with a spoon, glanced at the dessert that was a bit too sweet, waved his hand, called the waiter, and served some tea.

Whether in the past life or this life, Xiao Jin likes drinking tea. He doesn't have much interest in coffee, but... he doesn't hate it either.

"The company has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with several universities in the capital. Starting from the second half of this year, within the framework, a series of industry-university-research cooperation will be carried out. Targeted training and recommendation of talents is one of them. For middle and senior management personnel, we can recommend them to study for a master's degree in business administration. You are on the list..."

“So an MBA?”

"Yes, the company pays for key executives to go for further studies. Those who have achieved success will be given priority for promotion. A part-time MBA usually takes three years, including a six-month internship. Of course, because it is one of the cooperation lists, many conditions can be negotiated. In addition to studying, we must try our best to ensure that it does not affect work."

"I can too?"

"Of course, your performance over the past year or so has been noticed by everyone in the company, and Director Wei has a good opinion of you. You have made an indelible contribution to the success of Jinxi Mall, so you must not underestimate yourself."

It has been three years since Jiang Long passively joined the Jinxi Culture family following the acquisition of Huixin Bookstore in the second half of the previous year. Although Jiang Long is not a founding member, he is also a senior predecessor.

Seeing the other person's face change and unable to control his expression, Jin Shang also expressed his understanding. He took a sip of tea and waited for the other person to calm down.

The workplace has not been easy in recent years. The economic situation has been up and down. I don’t know how many companies are struggling in such a difficult environment.

Jiang Long is a local whose hometown is in a small town in the far suburbs of Hanyang. Like most of his friends, he did not catch up with the good time of expansion of college enrollment, and he couldn't even get into a regular full-time high school. He could only go to a vocational high school and "build up" strength for a few years. After graduation, he went out to work and realized the hardships of adults fighting in the society.

In terms of hard work and endurance, Jiang Long claims that he is no less than others.

But he and other workers, as far as we can see, basically do the hardest work and get the lowest salary. After paying rent, water and electricity, and buying daily necessities, there is not much left at the end of each month.

Some of his co-workers felt hopeless, gave up on themselves and just lived from day to day, but Jiang Long did not. While others were going out to dance, club, travel and waste their time, he insisted on self-improvement, enrolled in correspondence courses, went to night school for extra lessons, and with great difficulty earned an on-the-job technical college degree. Later, he found an opportunity to successfully "upgrade from a technical college to a university degree."

With the diploma, Jiang Long felt a little more at ease. His years of hard work had paid off. After working for nearly 20 years, he finally made it to the positions of flagship store manager and regional manager.

Without any support and without any ability that is irreplaceable, it is not easy to reach this point through hard work alone.

When he wanted to go one step further and become a true senior management talent, Jiang Long realized that he had touched the "ceiling" at a higher level.

If his previous on-the-job degree was enough to widen the gap between him and ordinary employees, then to go further, it would not be just hard work, self-study and effort that could lead to a breakthrough. The necessary knowledge reserves, sufficient work experience, rich management skills, coupled with the appreciation of his superiors and just the right amount of luck, would allow him to truly step into another class.

After jumping from a store manager to a consultant and actual executor in charge of logistics construction for Jinxi Mall, the long-lost feeling of powerlessness came over me again. This time... the insurmountable gap made me even more desperate.

It would be fine if it was a genius like Wei Shuangping. Jiang Long knew his own limitations and could not be compared with her. However, the other colleagues he often dealt with were all strong men. Some had connections, some had abilities, some had resources, some had academic qualifications, and so on.

As for the diploma that he regarded as his proudest work, Jiang Long realized that it was not presentable at all. The color, format, issuing unit and degree of formality were completely different from those of others.

Don’t talk about discrimination or not, no one will really talk about it, but in actual actions, academic qualifications play a vital role.

There are so many job seekers, but relatively few people in charge of recruitment. They simply don't have time to look through resumes one by one and carefully find their bright spots. Not to mention human resources managers, most people are eliminated based on the school and major of their first undergraduate degree.

When he realized this, Jiang Long understood that he was lucky enough. It was already very good to be able to get to this point in the workplace. Continuing to force it might not be a good thing. Even if he was promoted to a higher position, he might not be able to handle the work assigned by his superiors.

Competition in the workplace is no joke. If Jiang Long is allowed to take charge on his own, it is still unknown whether he can convince others.

It is a bit tiring now, but the money is good and the company benefits are pretty good. After working hard for a few years, I can move to a bigger house, buy a new car, and then spend money to send my children to a good school. Placing hope on the next generation is a more realistic option.

When the book is used, it will be less regretful.

It is now difficult for Jiang Long to spare the time and energy to study systematically. He has elderly parents and young children to take care of, and he cannot neglect even a moment. It is impossible for him to gamble his and his family's future for an illusory and uncertain opportunity.

Take the self-funded MBA or other business school studies for example. The tuition fees are often 200,000 or 300,000 yuan, which is enough to buy a nice big house in the core area of ​​a first-tier city.

Anyway, Jiang Long will not bother himself with it anymore, as spending money may not bring good results.

But now, the surprise comes.

After several minutes, Jiang Long came back to his senses and smiled awkwardly:
"Sorry, I lost my temper."

"It's okay. This is a serious matter and we really need to think it through. You know, although our company is young, it is not an informal team. The company's rules and regulations and employee handbook are there, and everything is well documented. If you agree to cooperate, the company's arrangements for you will be completely different. You will definitely have to sign a supplementary agreement, and the corresponding subsidies and non-compete clauses will not be reduced."

"I understand this!"

After three years of study, I will definitely be valued in the company after I come back, which will definitely be completely different from my current situation of being neither up nor down.

"So... you mean..."

"I……"

Jiang Long, with his eyes flickering and a little nervous, was about to say something polite as usual. He glanced at the boss who was smiling but not saying anything, and suddenly an idea came to him. He said anxiously,
"Accepted." "Very good."

Jin Shang nodded with satisfaction.

The fact that the middle-aged man in front of me did not say any silly words like "think about it" or "discuss it with my family" is enough to prove that he has some quick wits and is not a "workaholic" with no potential. He must have some ability to have been able to work his way up to a middle-level management position from the grassroots level.

In a few months, Jiang Long will be 40 years old. At this age, he has reached the decline period. Generally speaking, if he has not successfully transformed after the age of 35, it will be extremely difficult to break through that ceiling.

When we talked privately, the boss directly threw out arguments like spending money on training, supplementary agreements, and non-competition clauses, which made it clear that he was very optimistic about me and was ready to promote me. If I'm still hesitant and don't know how to seize the opportunity at this time, I'm afraid there's something wrong with my brain.

Do you really think that there is no one else who can replace you in such a big company?

The work that Jiang Long is doing now is a bit hard-core and technical, and it’s not something that can be done by just anyone, but the threshold is not that high either.

The "Five Tiger Generals" Guan, Zhang, Zhao, Ma and Huang are not easy to find, Wei Yan and Jiang Wei are not always available, and as for Liao Hua, Wang Ping, Yan Yan, Shamoke and the like, with some training, one or two can still be picked out.

What's more, Jiang Long is not a great general at the moment, and Jin Shang doesn't expect him to bring any great surprises to Jinxi Mall. It is enough for him to take on more responsibilities and assist Wei Shuangping in doing his job.

As for whether he can go further in the future, or even become a real commander who can guard a region, it depends on future situations.

“Being able to grow with the company is what I hope for.”

Jiang Long said this sincerely.

When you are around 40 years old, after completing your MBA and signing a three to five-year non-compete agreement, you are almost 50 years old. If you can become the executive vice president of a first-level branch company before retirement, that would be amazing.

Signing the MBA training agreement at this time is actually a lifetime contract for Jiang Long. As long as he does not change jobs and works diligently, he can work steadily until retirement and spend his old age in dignity.

It should be noted that the current Jinxi Mall is not the makeshift team it was when it was first established. It directly and indirectly controls a huge business volume of nearly 3,000 people. The platform sales data are all controlled, and details cannot be disclosed at will. Major trend analysis must be submitted to the competent authorities for reference.

For example, the current surge in sales of maternal and infant products and the differences among regions are not only trade secrets but may also become an important basis for relevant control measures.

Local survey statistics have certain lags and sampling errors, but the amount of buying and selling on e-commerce platforms is clear at a glance.

Being an executive in a company that has a bright future, as you can see at first glance, is completely different from being in an ordinary company.

After talking to Jiang Long about his next plan, Jin Shang continued:

"It's settled. You should continue with your current work. In addition, you should train two or three assistants to share your pressure and provide assistance when you are unable to cope with your studies. As the company grows, you can no longer handle it by hard work alone. You should train more capable helpers and rely more on the strength of the team."

"Okay, I'll pay attention. There are indeed some very good young people. After some more experience, they can be of great use."

"Communicate more with Director Wei!"

After explaining this matter, Jin Shang lowered his voice slightly and said,

"When I get back, I will officially launch the IPO plan for Jinxi Video. Since we are preparing for the listing, we naturally have to give some benefits to the hard-working employees. At the end of this month or the beginning of next month, we will implement employee stock ownership. According to different job levels, everyone is eligible to purchase a certain amount of original shares. If you are trustworthy, you can raise money and prepare. In the middle of the year... at the latest in the third quarter, we will be able to list."

"That's great."

An opportunity to make quick money with basically zero risk. With the company currently operating well, there is no need to engage in any tricks like employee shareholding or disguised self-financing. It is not difficult for Jinxi Video to go public. It is just a matter of how high the price should be and how much financing should be raised.

At this time, employee stock ownership is actually a disguised form of welfare.

It’s hard to say whether all employees have it.

Jiang Long couldn't help but feel lucky that he was smart just now. If he really had to make excuses, maybe he would still be included in the shareholding plan. It would be hard to say how much he could buy and how much benefit he could get.

The listing of Jinxi Video may not necessarily make everyone financially independent, but it will definitely bring some benefits.

The two chatted for nearly an hour and said a lot.

Although we were familiar with each other before, we were not close enough and there was a layer of distance between us. Now that we plan to accept them as "our own", there are some things that we could not say before because we were not very close, but now we can talk about them.

Finally, Jin Shang assigned a task to Jiang Long, a local native.

"Director Wei may not have much time to come in person for this year's spring recruitment. There are many college graduates here, so I'd like to trouble you to bring them here to host the event. The human resources department of the head office will send someone to assist you. The recruitment brochure and talent plan will be sent to you soon. Please find someone to arrange it."

"Okay, this is easy to handle."

I can’t guarantee anything else, but after so many years, Jiang Long must have a lot of connections in Wuhan.

Jinxi Culture is a technology and culture company that is gaining popularity. It is not yet well-known nationwide, but its business scope is wide and it has attracted the attention of many people. It is hard to say how many graduates from prestigious universities it can recruit, but the more fresh graduates the better.

I don’t know if Wuhan’s total number of fresh graduates each year is second to none, but it is definitely in the top three. The number of top prestigious universities is not particularly large, but it is also among the best. There are also countless second- and third-tier undergraduate schools, higher vocational colleges, technical schools, etc.

Not only are there a large number of them, but they also cover a wide range of categories, including agriculture, geology, textiles, transportation, science and technology, literature, computers, electronics, semiconductors, shipping, construction, chemicals, etc.

Whether it is top-notch or not is still a matter of debate, but it is definitely large in quantity, varied and all-encompassing.

And this is exactly what today's culture needs...

(End of this chapter)