By Du Wenjuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-28 16:37

The end of summer is a hard time to look for jobs, especially for new university graduates. An E-business major from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, Wang Chaowen is determined to start off her career in the Chinese capital. But she's having a hard time getting started.

A university student reads information in front of a booth in a job fair in North China's Tianjin Municipality in this November 2006 file photo. [Xinhua]

The 23-year-old from Central China's Hunan Province, has been looking for an appropriate position for 10 months now. With a minor in finance, she prefers a job related to that field.

But the competition is fierce. "There are thousands of people fighting for one position I know of," she said quietly.

Wang is not alone. Most of the country's 4.95 million new graduates entered the job market this year, on top of the 1.24 million unemployed graduates from last year. According to statistics from government education organs, about seven new graduates in ten can find a job in recent three years, so there are more than 2.7 million graduates who are still out of employment.

A survey on graduates' employment in 2006 conducted by the Central Youth League and Institute of Public Policy Research of Peking University shows majors of agriculture, management and engineering are the three majors with highest employment rate among 16 universities in Beijing.

Though Wang declined jobs with monthly income below 3,000 yuan, an increasing number of graduates said they would not wait and start working at any job even if the pay isn't ideal.

According to a survey by HR website zhaopin.com on graduates' salary expectations in Beijing, about 48.2 percent of graduates with bachelor's degree expected their first job will pay between 1,001 yuan and 2,000 yuan per month, and about 52.1 percent of those with masters degrees expected their salary to be double that of those with undergraduate degrees.

However, companies are more interested in the potential of a job candidate than whether they have a master's or a bachelor's.

Less than half of the companies said they would give those with master's degrees a higher starting salary. On zhaopin.com, 67.8% of enterprises offer positions with the salary between 2,001 and 4,000 to graduates with bachelor's degree.

In the past, recruiters looked at where candidates graduated from. But nowadays, more enterprises are looking at an applicant's ability to take on responsibilities, and academic background in determining the salary.

"Though the starting salary may be low, the new comers' pay can usually double in one year if they perform well on the job." says Hao Jian, a human resources and career consultant with zhaopin.com. 

Hao suggested the ideal way for new comers is to set a direction first, but at the beginning, they should get a job.

The top three positions in demand in the market now are salespeople, technologists and service staff. "It's good for a graduate to work as a salesperson for his or her first job,"Hao suggested. "They can learn to acquire good communication skills an learn to work with people."

He blamed post-secondary institutions for not properly preparing graduates to enter the work force. Hao said the curriculum and what the students actually learn in school do not suit the market's needs.

While employers are most satisfied with the young people's creativity and learning ability, they need to learn more about is teamwork and communication skills, Hao explained.

One of the skills employers care about most is how new recruits communicate with colleagues, especially with those in higher positions, Hao said. However, most of the new graduates who were born after the 1980s lack the skills.

Hao says the Internet is the most popular way for companies to recruit people, as 87.1 percent of companies find employees online thanks to its convenience and low cost. But for new graduates, Hao suggests not putting too much energy into looking for jobs online.

"Online recruitment is mostly for midlevel or senior-level executive posts. New graduates need to think more about which companies they want to apply for, instead of sending out hundreds of resumes blindly over the Internet. That's why I think campus recruitment is more effective for them," Hao added.

(Nie Ligao and Ruan Yiting contributed to this story.)