It's not so much that intel agents are required to retire at 35 - it's just that after about 35, your body starts slowing down and needing longer to recover from things (even with magic to help you along) - field agents tend to start needing to shift over to more desk-related roles at that point, because they're going to be spending a bit more time in between missions waiting for things to get back into condition. The same thing happens in other jobs as well - after 35, you start seeing the repetitive strain injuries (both physical and mental) show up as the body's recovery systems take longer to recover from the cumulative strain of each day's work. It's just that in very physical jobs, or jobs where you need to be at peak physical performance, like "intelligence agent" or "dirty tricks squad leader", you're going to see it hitting sooner and harder.
I think at least part of the whole "there's nothing else on Rufus' resume" thing could be explained away by the way Shinra appears to be pretty much the Sole Corporation On The Planet. Not just the biggest one - the ONLY one. It's pretty obvious there's no other corporations competing with them. (Actually, the surprising thing is Shinra is bothering to advertise at all - I'd presume they swallowed up their last competitor within the past decade or so, and the advertising remains as a result of sheer corporate inertia). The thing is, Shinra isn't just a corporation, it's also the One World Government (the only vestige of an alternative government we see anywhere is Godo Kisaragi over in Wutai, and I suspect the Wutai War was at least 50% about erasing any competition for the role of "governing body" as much as anything else). So when you stop thinking of Rufus as "corporate heir" and start thinking of him as "crown prince"... then things start to fall into place. He's never been Elon Musk. He's always been Prince Charles.
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I think at least part of the whole "there's nothing else on Rufus' resume" thing could be explained away by the way Shinra appears to be pretty much the Sole Corporation On The Planet. Not just the biggest one - the ONLY one. It's pretty obvious there's no other corporations competing with them. (Actually, the surprising thing is Shinra is bothering to advertise at all - I'd presume they swallowed up their last competitor within the past decade or so, and the advertising remains as a result of sheer corporate inertia). The thing is, Shinra isn't just a corporation, it's also the One World Government (the only vestige of an alternative government we see anywhere is Godo Kisaragi over in Wutai, and I suspect the Wutai War was at least 50% about erasing any competition for the role of "governing body" as much as anything else). So when you stop thinking of Rufus as "corporate heir" and start thinking of him as "crown prince"... then things start to fall into place. He's never been Elon Musk. He's always been Prince Charles.