The choice between leaving and remaining in the mid-career of those in their 30s

─With a focus on the transformation process of career prospects─

Abstract

In this paper, mixed methods research is used to empirically examine the process of changing career prospects in those in their 30s and the circumstances and factors leading to the resulting decision to leave or remain in the workforce. After grouping retirees and enrolled employees into “excellent” and “general” groups from personnel micro data in a quantitative study for a large telecommunications company, we conducted interviews with selected subjects from the four groups in a qualitative study and analyzed the results. The results of the analysis showed that the perception of getting promoted, which was emphasized by all groups when they first joined the company, changed after working for a certain period of time, and the points emphasized by the four groups differed. For example, it was found that the retirees from the excellent group changed jobs and opened their prospects not in terms of faster promotions, but for reasons other than promotions, such as degree of career autonomy and freedom of career choice. These results suggest that when managing employees, companies need to rethink the subjects by not only generation, but also by evaluation, and change the way they relate to them.