Employment prospects for senior health management majors

The employment prospects of the elderly health management major can be summed up as "clear needs, huge gaps, and obvious differentiation" - currently, there are more than 3 million corresponding job openings in China, and the starting salary of top positions can reach more than 15k, but the salary of basic positions at the grassroots level is generally 3-5k. Whether you can get a good offer depends on whether you have accumulated practical experience that can be put into practice, rather than just memorizing a lot of theory.

To be honest, I used to think that the corresponding positions in this profession were for blood pressure measurement in the community. It wasn’t until I accompanied my grandma to a nursing home near my home for an annual check-up last year that I discovered that this was not the case. The webmaster of the post station said that it took them more than half a year to recruit two employees who had graduated from the senior health management major. The remaining employees were either transferred from nursing to another field of public health. They all lacked a systematic understanding of the needs of the elderly. Take my grandma as an example. She has high blood pressure and knee arthritis. Before, other staff either told her to move less or walk more. Both opinions were extreme. A young girl who graduated from a college came over and did a comprehensive evaluation. She customized low-intensity joint rehabilitation exercises and a pressure-control diet plan. In three months, my grandma’s antihypertensive medication was reduced by half. The family specially sent a banner. The girl graduated only two years ago and is now the deputy director of the post.

Of course, there are also many people who badmouth this major. When I read Xiaohongshu, I often see students in this major complaining that after graduation, they went to a third- or fourth-tier public nursing home, where they received 3,200 a month, and they did such miscellaneous work as changing diapers for the elderly. After working there for three months, they ran away. This situation is indeed not an exception. To put it bluntly, the industry is still in the early stages of development, and the salary gap between positions at different levels is extremely wide. If you can only do non-threshold tasks such as measuring blood pressure and creating health records, your salary will definitely not rise. But if you can handle professional tasks such as non-drug intervention for dementia, case management of chronic diseases, and rehabilitation guidance for the disabled, you will not worry about finding a high-paying position. I have talked with the HR of a chain of high-end senior care communities before. They are currently recruiting for elderly health management positions. Those with more than half a year of practical experience will receive a direct salary increase of 3k. Those with health management certificates and dementia care special certificates will be given priority. For the 3 fresh graduates recruited last year, the minimum starting price is The salary is 12k, including food and accommodation. In addition to elderly care institutions, now JD Health, Alibaba Health's elderly health sector, and companies that make smart assistive devices for the elderly are all vying for professionals who understand the needs of the elderly. They are not "only caregivers" as everyone thinks.

To put it bluntly, this industry is now like the fitness industry that just became popular a few years ago. There are gyms everywhere, but the personal trainers who can get high salaries are always the ones who understand the profession, can communicate well, and can produce results. Those who are dawdling can only hand out flyers and get a basic salary. I went to a university to do research on this major, and they started arranging students to rotate in nursing institutions in their junior year. Some students were very smart. During the rotation, they also gave the elderly education on fraud prevention and taught them how to play Ba Duanjin. When they graduated, they had offers from three or four institutions, and the starting salary was more than 2,000 higher than those in the same major who had never practiced.

If you have already studied this major, really don’t sit in the dormitory and memorize textbooks every day. When you have time, go to the surrounding nursing homes and community stations to volunteer, interact more with the elderly, learn how to coax the stubborn old man to obey and take medicine, and how to communicate with anxious family members about the health problems of the elderly. These experiences are more useful than how many paper certificates you take. If you are still choosing a major and hesitating whether to apply, first think clearly about whether you can accept dealing with the elderly every day. After all, this job requires not only professional ability, but also patience and empathy. If you are annoyed when you see the elderly moving slowly, then there is really no need to join in the fun. Anyway, the big trend is here. There are more than 280 million people over 60 years old in China, and the demand for health management will only get bigger and bigger. If you are really willing to concentrate on building up your skills, you can really go far in this track.