Students get valuable hand in job-seeking skills

Students from non-elite universities in Shanghai will stand a better chance of landing jobs in the rapidly growing digital healthcare industry, after a project offering them intensive online and offline training and internship opportunities was launched in Shanghai on April 23.

Nearly 200 top flight students from five Shanghaibased universities, which have a competitive edge in medical health or internet technology, signed up to be involved in the project which is called Bright Start.

The project is being hosted by Non-profit Incubator —a cluster of several nonprofit incubators which support several intermediary charity agencies, various local governments and social workers — and is sponsored by investment bank JP Morgan.

More than half the students will work as interns at leading startups in the industry in various positions, including online customer services, information technology, marketing and sales. The internships will last for at least two months.

All the participants will have the access to online and offline training totaling 80 hours in three months. Influential leaders and veterans in the industry have been invited to share their work experiences online and in workshops. They will also talk about the background, current situation, actual cases and future trends in the industry, Lin said.

Subjects such as key job hunting skills— how to create resumes, presenting in interviews, general capabilities in the workplace and interpersonal skills —will be covered in the training as well.

Lin Zhe, business director of NPI, said there were many good reasons to support the students.

“It is more challenging for

We want to empower young people with specific training and internships.”

Lin Zhe,

business director at NPI

students from non-elite universities in the job market because they may have fewer resources and internship opportunities,” Lin said.

“But there is also ambitious talent with great potential in these universities.”

Lin added that digital healthcare — a sector that includes e-commerce in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, online services of hospitals, online health inquiries and management — has been growing rapidly in recent years to offer affordable and high quality medical services to more people in wider regions.

“We want to empower young people with specific training and internships, to strengthen their competitiveness in this promising field, making it a win-win for both the companies and the students,” she said.

Eight JP Morgan employees, who are also in the company’s volunteer leadership group, participated in the workshop as tutors of students.

Chen Sihao, a sophomore majoring in information management and information systems at Shanghai Polytechnic University, said he believed the experience was beneficial in broadening his understanding of the workplace at large.

Wu Jiaqing, president of JP Morgan Chase Bank (China), said: “If the project proves fruitful, we’ll surely continue it in the coming years and expand it to more cities.”