Overseas grads facing tougher job market

Number of offers preferring returnees decreasing in the past three years: report

Graduates returning from overseas studies are experiencing greater competition in finding jobs on the mainland.

According to a recent report by Zhaopin, an online recruitment platform, the number of job offers that prefer hiring graduates from overseas saw year-on-year negative growth of 25.4 percent in 2019, 23.5 percent in 2020 and 0.4 percent in 2021.

In fact, most of the surveyed returnees said that they did experience difficulties finding employment. According to the report, 64 percent of surveyed returnees said that the increasing number of returnees is the biggest challenge because it intensifies competition, especially in the already hyper-competitive job market, as the number of domestic college graduates is projected to reach 10.76 million this year.

"Returnees' higher salary expectations is also a big problem," said a former overseas study consultant surnamed Liu.

She said that most of the overseas students are raised in well-off families and have better living conditions when studying overseas.

"It's quite normal for them to earn monthly salaries of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan ($1,570 to $3,140) doing part-time jobs overseas. So it's quite tough for them to take jobs with beginning salaries around 4,000 or 5,000 yuan per month."

The higher employment requirements domestic companies and administrative departments set for returnees have also brought challenges to the group, who have gradually lost their advantages over domestic graduates.

For example, Shanghai's Minhang district released a civil servant recruitment notice in October last year, saying that overseas returnees or graduates should have degrees from the top 200 universities included in QS World University Rankings, or US News World Report Best Global Universities Rankings.

The returnees should have two or more years of study at these universities, according to Minhang's recruitment requirement.

Feng Lijuan, an expert from 51job, an online recruitment platform, said that though the overseas students are facing challenges finding jobs at domestic companies, they do maintain some advantages.

She said that the returnees usually have higher educational backgrounds－normally a master's degree－and hold a more active attitude to apply for jobs.

Yuan Jun, founder of Beijing Cainiao Wuyou Education Technology Co, which focuses on education consultancy services and technology development, said on his Douyin account that overseas students should have a reasonable plan for their studies and employment even before they start their overseas study.

He said that the number of returnees has been around 500,000 annually in the past few years while that number may exceed 700,000 due to the epidemic. Under such circumstances, it's of great importance for the returnees to choose the right majors and enrich internship experience to improve their competitiveness.

He said that it's also important to plan job applications in advance so as not to miss the recruitment period for domestic companies.