Students attend a career talk by MinSheng Securities at Tsinghua University, Tuesday. They join many others vying for the limited internship and job opportunities at the company. Photo: Alexis See Tho.
For Weichen Zhu, there isn’t much to be hopeful for in the job market.
China is in its slowest economic growth since the 2009 world financial crisis, and a growing number of college graduates every year leaves few options to someone like Zhu who had little work experience. Not graduating from a prestigious university added to his woes.
“I expected a high salary and an exciting work environment,” says Zhu, who graduated from Shanghai Institute of Technology last year. But the food science major’s ideals of the working world were crushed when he had to settle for a job in a small food factory doing menial tasks. “I found it so boring that I wanted to quit,” Zhu recalls.
Zhu is not the only graduate who finds it difficult landing a job in China’s competitive job market. According to a report from a Chinese education website, the number of college graduates in 2016 reached a record high of 7.65 million people, 160,000 more than the year before. As a result, many graduates find themselves unemployed even months after graduation.
A recent study by Peking University conducted through Ganji, one of the[if gte vml 1]><o:wrapblock><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"></v:path> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"></o:lock> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="officeArt_x0020_object" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left; margin-left:43.4pt;margin-top:47.85pt;width:327.15pt;height:291.4pt; z-index:251659264;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square; mso-wrap-distance-left:12pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:12pt; mso-wrap-distance-right:12pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:12pt; mso-position-horizontal:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:margin; mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:page' strokeweight="1pt"> <v:stroke miterlimit="4"></v:stroke> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\PC\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg" o:title=""></v:imagedata> <w:wrap type="topAndBottom" anchorx="margin" anchory="page"></w:wrap> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml] largest job recruitment website in China, reported that only 14.3 percent of college graduates in 2014 graduated with immediate employment, with most jobs in the engineering field.
Graphics: We asked ten recent graduates and college seniors on the primary difficulties they face in their job search. Among their top concerns are job mismatch, fierce peer competition, lack of work experience, and lack of “guanxi”, a Chinese phrase for relationships or network that can help secure a job.
Adjusting to the Job Market
Cindy, a senior student at Nankai University, a top university in China, understands Zhu’s plight well. A social work major, she realized that it is necessary for her to adjust to the market demand.
“Many students in my major think that social workers earn too little. So they are learning finance which is a hot subject now,” says Cindy. “Otherwise it’ll be difficult in job-seeking in the future.”
Students shuttling in between classes at Tsinghua University, one of China’s top universities. In 2016 alone, 7.65 million students graduated from college, 160,000 more than the year before. Photo: Alexis See Tho.
Graduates’ challenges aside, Bloomberg, who employs data scientists from China’s top universities sees a different problem in the job market. “Students don’t have a clear idea of their career path,” says Vivian Zhang, campus recruiter for Bloomberg China. “They are not aware that many of their peers are already familiar with the jobs they apply for.” Zhang attributes this problem to the lack of internship experience.
After job-hopping and taking up internships even after graduation, Zhu couldn’t agree more. After his last internship as a hotel booker, he now works as a research and development assistant at Unilever Shanghai. “After a few internships in different kinds of jobs, I have become more adept at my job and can use what I have learned from my work experiences,” says Zhu.
Team 9
Frank Guo
Alexis See Tho
Alena Radina