Recently, one of M’s friend was about to graduate. He had been looking for a job and he came to M for advice.

最近，M的一位朋友即将毕业，正在找工作，来咨询M的意见。

This friend of M’s now works as an intern¹ in a public institution. This institution deals with international trades and provides a lot opportunities of international communication. And they pay the employees nicely.

M的这位朋友目前在一家事业单位实习，这是一家参与国际贸易的机构，有很多国际交流的机会，而且待遇也不错。

Besides, it has a feature that most public institutions share: leisure.

另外，它也有着大多数事业单位的特征：轻松。

The jobs are nine-to-five and you rarely work overtime² there. You can say that it’s many people’s dream workplace.

这里朝九晚五，几乎不用加班，可以说是很多人梦寐以求的工作场所了。

And the most thrilling part is that the institution wants this friend of M’s to become a regular employee. They offered him to stay.

而且，更难得的是，这个机构希望M的这位朋友转正，主动提出想留用他。

But what’s astonishing is that this friend turned them off.

然而，令人吃惊的是，M的这位朋友竟然谢绝了。

And this is why he came to M.

而这也是他来找M的原因。

He was afraid that he would lose his competitiveness in such a secured environment.

他害怕自己在这样一个稳定的环境中会失去竞争力。

He was afraid that he would become the frog.

他害怕自己成为那只温水中的青蛙。

He thought he should find a place with fiercer competition and acquire abilities there.

他觉得自己应该到竞争更激烈的地方去积累能力。

And for the payment part, though what the institution offered is way higher than what most fresh graduates can get, but he had heard about the surprisingly high starting salary that BAT pay their employees.

至于薪酬这一块，虽然这里给出的条件远高于大多数毕业生的薪资，但是他曾经听说过BAT这些巨头那高得令人乍舌的起薪；

So he confidently thought that he could certainly find a better job.

所以，他觉得自己一定还能找到更好的出路。

However, he does not have any other offer at hand.

然而，他手上其实还并没有其他的offer。

This beautiful future is just his imagination so far.

这些美好的未来都还只是他的想象。

M was nearly scared to death when he heard this.

M听到之后吓出了一身冷汗。

He was originally planing to persuade this friend to stay there.

他本来是想劝这位朋友留在那里的。

But fortunately, there are still several months left before the friend’s internship³ ends. And anyway, it was the institution which proposed the job in the first place. So there is still a chance for him to turn back.

不过还好，这位朋友的实习期还有几个月，而且毕竟是机构要留他，之后还有回头的机会。

Yes, if you examine all those success books and industry legends, you would find a lot of successful cases which were born under great risks.

的确，放眼各种成功学书籍和行业传奇，有很多成功案例都是在巨大的风险中产生的。

The spirit of adventure seems to have become something worshiped by the whole society.

冒险精神似乎成了一种被整个社会推崇的品质。

On the other hand, a stable job is usually despised by people. They think it shows a person’s lack of ambition and even lack of merits.

相反，稳定的工作则常常被人看不起，人们觉得这样的人没志向，甚至没本事。

But all these successful cases born under great risks are just like the thought that you grow faster in severe competition. They are both survivor⁴ bias⁵.

然而，那些巨大风险中出现的成功案例，其实和“激烈的竞争中成长更快”一样，是一种幸存者偏误。

The ones who can show up in front of you and tell you this are the minority who survived. Most of the others have already died and disappeared. They don’t have the chance to come and warn you.

那些能出现在你面前跟你讲这些的人，都只是那少数几个幸存下来的人，而绝大多数人已经死不见了，根本没有机会来警告你。

Yes, this is the current job market. Many young people who came to the first-tier cities ended up in devastating⁶ failures.

对，这就是现在的职场，很多在北上广深创业公司打拼的年轻人，其实失败得血本无归。

And you won’t know these people’s stories.

而这些人的故事，你是看不见的。