Three years ago, 3.38 million teenagers went off to college, hoping that higher education would lead to a bright future.
These days, many of those students are cutting class to attend jobs fairs, which began Sunday in Tianjin and Dalian and will be opening in various cities across the country this week, with some 530,000 jobs on offer.
According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, students majoring in business management, electronics and information, economics, engineering, foreign languages, construction and architecture, medicine, law, transportation, and chemistry and pharmaceuticals have the best chance of landing a job.
Despite the ministry's upbeat announcement, the job prospects for this year's college graduates are, frankly, not too bright.
The world is suffering from a global credit crunch. It seems virtually no country will escape economic recession.
In the US alone, millions of families may lose their homes. Consumer spending has ground to a halt, meaning that there will be far less demand for products from China. Already, as orders decline and exports shrink, tens of thousands of enterprises have closed down, while many others have cut back their production and employment.
Last year, 34.2 percent of China's 3.5 million college graduates landed jobs with private businesses. How many such jobs will be available this year?
Some 350 businesses have listed about 30,000 positions on a job-placement website for university graduates. In the same period last year, 450 enterprises offered 50,000 jobs.
No wonder both the Internet and traditional media are filled with advice for worried job-seekers. Unfortunately, much of this advice raises unrealistically high hopes, hopes that in many cases are destined to be dashed.
Personally, I believe there is too much emphasis on starting salaries. In a recent online poll, only 3.81 percent of prospective college graduates said they did not care about starting salary, and less than 10 percent said they'd accept a starting salary of less than 1,500 yuan.
It has been suggested that the government set a minimum salary for college graduates. While I don't think college graduates should enjoy a special minimum salary, the state at least should compile accurate information about the job market and provide it to graduates in a timely manner.
Colleges and universities, too, must shoulder more responsibility for helping job-seekers. Institutions of higher learning should not forget the heady days three years ago, when they claimed their employment rate was somewhere around 99 percent.
Ultimately, however, the responsibility for their future rests on the graduates themselves. They must think hard about what they want to do and make realistic choices as they look for jobs.
Frankly, the attitude of some college graduates leaves a lot to be desired. Back in the 1980s, I remember one new tour guide telling a colleague that she couldn't care less whether the foreign tourists she was looking after caught a cold or not. Such attitudes are intolerable in any workplace.
Over the years, I've helped quite a number of talented young people join China Daily. They came with a clear interest in writing for a newspaper. Their first assignments were often not the challenging, important tasks they dreamed off, but they persevered. One young colleague of mine worked the night shift for three months for free, just to get a job.
Eventually, those who showed devotion, discipline, and creativity won the trust of the editors. They are the ones who have been steadfast in their work and have become good reporters and editors.
To get a good job, today's graduates have only themselves to depend on.
E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 11/20/2008 page8)
