Filling The Gap
China bolsters career services and rolls out support policies to help fresh graduates find jobs amid intense employment pressure
When Wang Yuanbin started to look for a job at the beginning of his final year at the Tianjin University of Science and Technology last fall, he had not imagined it would be such a daunting challenge to get an offer. “I have submitted dozens of resumes on online recruitment platforms. I had high expectations, but the reality is harsh,” the 23-year-old software engineering student told Chinafrica. “Finding a dream job is not easy this year as the domestic job market is encountering multiple pressures.”
Wang is one of the millions of graduates who enter the job market each year in July. This year, these young graduates are facing unprecedented challenges in finding a job. Many companies, including the tech firms, are either not hiring or downsizing due to the downward pressure on the economy, brought by the persistent COVID-19 pandemic and changing global landscape. Indeed, there are far more job seekers than openings.
The Chinese Government places high priority on employment as a way to ensure people’s livelihood. Given the pressure on the employment situation this year, authorities have pledged to improve career services for university graduates as they make efforts to stabilize the job market.
New challenges
According to the Ministry of Education, fresh graduates are facing a severely competitive labor market this year as their number is estimated to reach a record high of about 10.76 million, 1.67 million more than that of last year.
Data from Zhilian Recruitment, one of China’s biggest recruitment websites, show that the China Institute for Employment Research Index, which measures the degree of supply-demand gap in the labor market, has hit the lowest point since the pandemic began in 2020, with a reading of 0.71 for fresh graduates in the first three months of this year. That means there were 71 vacancies for every 100 job seekers.
Given the pressure on the employment situation this year, authorities have pledged to improve career services for university graduates as they make efforts to stabilize the job market.
The employment situation has been worsened by the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country. To effectively control the pandemic, local governments are implementing the dynamic ZERO-COVID-19 policy, which aims to stamp out every flare-up in the shortest possible time. It has resulted in lockdowns in some cities and disrupted offline recruitment activities. The overseas pandemic has also pushed many students studying abroad to return to China to look for jobs.
Besides the impact of the pandemic, China’s economy has been transitioning from the phase of rapid growth to a stage of higher-quality development, which will help the country transform its growth model, improve its economic structure and foster new impetus of growth. The resulting structural adjustments in industries may also have negative effect on youth employment in the short term.
Job hunting from home
To ease the pain of finding jobs amid the pandemic, the Ministry of Education, together with multiple recruitment agencies, launched the National 24365 Graduate Employment Service Platform to help graduates find jobs. The platform has offered more than 3.8 million job postings for graduates, according to Wang Hui, Director of the ministry’s Department of College Student Affairs.
Liu Xulong, a graduate from Capital Normal University in Beijing, was also stressed about the job situation; but thanks to the recruitment service platform, he has received several offers.
Liu said he could easily create a profile and list his preferred career options on the platform. “Searching jobs, receiving recommendations on positions, attending virtual job fairs and signing contracts online could all be accomplished from within the confines of home,” Liu told Chinafrica.
The platform offers career advice, profile assessment, job descriptions, facts about where previous graduates have found work, professional risk assessment, key industry career pointers, and advice about working for international organizations, joining the army, and the civil service.
Meanwhile, Chinese universities are making efforts to offer e-services for graduate employment.
For fresh graduates, job-hunting skills are essential to get a good job. At present, some universities are under lockdown due to the pandemic. How to help students improve their job-hunting skills while they are at home or in campus dormitories? Tongji University in Shanghai has set up an online job search skills improvement and training camp and organized simulated interview training. Since the launch of the activity, more than 20 professional trainers have guided over 200 students online.
The College of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Qingdao University of Technology invited outstanding alumni to recommend jobs to the 2022 graduates of the school through livestreaming.
In the livestreaming sessions, the seniors offered advice to reduce job-hunting difficulties.
Policy support
In the face of the increased employment pressure, Chinese authorities have pledged improved policy support for the fresh graduates.
On May 25, during a national teleconference on stabilizing the foundation of the economy, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for more measures to be taken to ensure economic growth and lower the unemployment rate in the second quarter. Earlier, favorable policies including tax and fee reduction for enterprises, and project application for graduates were introduced to help stimulate employment.
Local governments have also issued guidelines and action plans to boost employment. The Guangdong provincial government is supporting more graduates to get employed in the public sector. The province has provided a number of jobs through the implementation of various grassroots service plans.
In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, more public management and social service jobs have been created, half of which are for fresh graduates.
Some say it is a waste of talent and education resources for college graduates from well-known universities to work at grassroots levels, but Wang Wenlong, Deputy Director of Enrollment and Employment Department of Sichuan Agricultural University, suggests graduates should change their mindset and consider more choices.
“At present, China has entered a new stage of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and advancing the development of the country’s western regions. The prospects of job for college graduates are not limited to first- and second-tier cities,” he said, adding that the grassroots level could provide a broader space for young people to show their talents.