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Feixu Chen

The unlucky fifth: How Chinese students cope with a tough job market

MAY 22, 2024 | FEIXU CHEN


After her 9 a.m. class wrapped, Rose Lok rushed back to her dorm at a university in Suzhou, China. She quickly took a shower, put on makeup, and got dressed. She then took a cab to the train station and boarded a train to Shanghai. The sophomore majoring in economics was making her way to an internship interview at luxury jewelry maker Bulgari. Despite her efforts, she did not receive an offer.


"I sent out a dozen, sometimes even 20, email applications a day to various companies," Lok recounted as she described her summer intern application process, which began in March. 


"In one particularly hectic hour, I found myself juggling four or five interviews, including one for Bilibili's live broadcast intern position. As I was in the middle of that, three other companies reached out to me." 


Lok's persistence paid off in late April when she secured a marketing internship at a US sports goods brand, but not everyone has had her luck.


Chinese college students are facing an increasingly challenging job market. Once plentiful opportunities for fresh graduates are dwindling as companies scale back hiring due to economic pressures. Students are now exploring alternative career paths and side businesses to navigate the tough landscape, highlighting the need for more support and resources for young job seekers in China.


"Previously, some clients were specifically looking for fresh graduates, and then those with master's degrees from certain overseas colleges,” said Lina Tan, who owns a headhunting company that recruits for the microchip industry in Shanghai. “But then, this kind of position saw a drastic drop in demand last year. So far this year, the number is zero." 

Many AI-oriented startups in China have gone bankrupt over the past two years, and many other companies either can't get financing, face layoffs or are in danger of going out of business, according to Tan. 


Car company Tesla has recently cut jobs worldwide, including in China, one of its biggest markets. According to an internal memo obtained by Reuters, CEO Elon Musk told staff that the company is laying off more than 10% of its global workforce as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles. 


Mr. Tung is a fresh graduate with a Master's degree in engineering from a university in Zhejiang province. He recalled his experience with Tesla, which started with an info session. 


"We were told that Tesla received approximately 100,000 resumes during the fall recruitment, but [they chose] only about 100,” he recalled. 


Tung was lucky enough to be part of the one percent who got an offer. But soon, things took a nosedive. 


He was scheduled to start working after the Labor Day vacation in early May. In late April, Tung received a call from the HR team at Tesla telling him that they had to cancel the offer because of external factors. The timing could not have been worse – fresh graduates refer to March and April as the "golden time for job applications."


After his offer was withdrawn, Tung received compensation that was equivalent to one month’s salary. However, the loss of time can't be compensated. "By May, a lot of companies have ended their recruitment, so the opportunities coming in now are way lower quality. Also, the salary is far lower than Tesla’s."


According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the unemployment rate of those aged 16 to 24 has increased in recent years, reaching a high of 21.3 percent in July 2023, meaning that one in five young people could not find a job. 


The following month, the bureau suddenly stopped providing the youth unemployment data. The numbers finally returned in December 2023 and showed a drastic drop. 


The bureau announced in January 2024 that it would begin to "release the unemployment rate for 16-24 year-olds in the labor force, excluding students still in education." They then explained, "Measuring the unemployment rate by age group, excluding students enrolled in a school, is conducive to more accurately reflecting the employment and unemployment situation of young people entering society, providing them with more precise employment services and formulating more effective and targeted employment policies."


College students and fresh graduates are seeking other ways out. Graph by Feixu Chen, using Florish chart.


Yixuan Liu, a junior pursuing a journalism degree at Shanghai University, is now focusing on opportunities outside journalism. "In October of last year, Shanghai Media Group was recruiting at our university, they offered an estimated salary of around 6,000 to 8,000 RMB (between $800-$1,000) per month for journalists and some other positions.” Liu said, "I found it ridiculous. How are we going to survive in Shanghai with that much money?" 

Since then, Liu has focused on looking for internships at marketing, e-commerce, and live-streaming firms. “These opportunities make more money. I’m not from Shanghai, so I must consider all the possible costs.”


Tan, the headhunter, suggested that new graduates keep in touch with all of the companies that provide them offers, even if they have signed employment agreements required by the government.


"In fact, you could do a background check on the company. For example, [researching if] the company has a history of withdrawing offers,” she said. “Also [ask your contacts if they] know people who have worked for the company, preferably in the HR department, because they know how the company operates.” 


Lok, Liu, Tung are each still looking for new jobs or internships, hoping to survive the brutal market. “I just don’t want to be part of the unlucky fifth,” said Tung.


This article was published on the N3Con website as a part of the New.Now.Next Media Conference 2024 reporting mentorship program.

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