Category Opinion and View

At Beijing Job Fair, China’s Millennials Fret About Their Future

Beads of sweat roll down Yang’s face as he nervously fingers the stack of résumés in his hand. On a Sunday morning in mid-July, he and several hundred other recent college graduates—plus a smattering of anxious parents—swarm recruitment stands inside Beijing Worker’s Gymnasium at one of several mid-summer job fairs in China’s capital; the air feels hotter and muggier inside than out.

Yang, who gave only his family name, strolls quickly past white stalls for insurance companies, real estate firms, and the Beijing Auspicious Culture Communications Co. Posters outside each one describe the basic requirements for telemarketers, HR managers, and event planners, but Yang isn’t interested. He graduated from Beijing Technology and Business University this spring with a degree in international business, and still hopes to find a job with a multinational company in that field. He estimates half his peers from the Class of 2013 are still seeking employment—all well aware that China’s state media have already repeatedly dubbed this year the “hardest job-hunting season for college graduates.”

Over the past decade China’s government has pushed for rapid expansion of higher education; the country’s leaders aim to upgrade the labor force and tilt the economy away from low-wage manufacturing. This year, 6.99 million students graduated from universities in China, up 190,000 from last year. There are nearly four times as many graduates in 2013 as there were 10 years ago. But the demand for young professionals in China hasn’t risen nearly as quickly. One government study from last winter indicated that the unemployment rate among 21- to 25-year-old college graduates was 16 percent, four times the official urban unemployment rate.

This spring, China’s economy slowed to an apparent 20-year low; GDP growth in the second quarter slipped to an estimated 7.5 percent. Hiring seems to have slackened as well. The Ministry of Education surveyed 500 large Chinese firms in February about their recruitment plans. The ministry estimates that 15 percent fewer positions will be offered to new graduates this year than last, as Xinhua reported.

Ms. Cai, a wiry woman in her 50s wearing a prim green blouse and brown dress pants, also strolls around Sunday’s job fair—unbeknownst to her daughter, a recent graduate in finance. But Cai feels compelled to help, or try to help, her only child’s prospects, to the bemusement of some recruiters. She is busy collecting pamphlets at one stall when gray-haired Mr. Zhang walks by; he is a father making the rounds, with his son’s résumés in hand.

Yang, the international business major, says he is hoping for a starting monthly salary of 3,000 renminbi ($487). Another job-seeker, who studied software, said 2,500 renminbi ($405) would be OK. That figure is comparable to the average monthly wage of migrant factory workers, which the government-led All-China Federation of Trade Unions calculates as 2,290 renminbi ($372) in 2012. The low salary expectations are also indicative of how an apparent oversupply of college graduates in China has torpedoed their value in the marketplace.

Even with job fairs packed, it’s still common to hear recruiters in China complain they can’t find suitable candidates. Mr. Gao, a bespectacled recruiter for a high-end clothing distributor, stands beside a poster of the company’s founder shaking hands with President Xi Jinping. (Judging from the waistline, it appears to be a much younger Xi.) Gao is looking for sales reps and has collected dozens of résumés in a few hours, but he laments the caliber and attitude of applicants. The most essential factor in the hiring process is not the student’s major, but his or her “capacity”—or willingness to work hard and learn new skills. “China has many talented people, but it is hard to find persistent ones,” he says.

A frequent refrain among recruiters is that China’s educational system ingrains rote memorization, not problem solving, which creates better test-takers than office workers. In a 2013 survey (PDF) of American businesses operating in China, respondents told the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai that the “shortage of qualified employees” and “shortage of qualified managers” ranked as their third and fourth greatest concerns, respectively (following only worries about rising labor costs and a Chinese economic slowdown).

One booth at the Beijing job fair is advertising positions for translators and logistics managers in Africa; right now it isn’t drawing a crowd. However, Ms. Pan, a petite recruiter fanning herself with a brochure featuring a map of Africa, isn’t too worried. “Each year most of our recruits come in the late summer and fall,” she says, “after graduates get very desperate and feel they have no more options.”

What Chinese graduates should do in this tough job market

A record seven million students are expected to graduate from mainland Chinese universities this year, up 2.8 per cent from last year. But with the employment market tightening and competition rising, how are they all going to find jobs?

It should be easy; Chinese students have to be the most diligent bunch of students in the world. From secondary to post-graduate school, they spend every spare minute nose-in-book, cramming for the next test, completing endless hours of homework and taking extra classes at the weekend. A little boy of a friend of mine is six years old. He’s allowed to watch 30 minutes of television a week and play with his friends for an hour. The rest of his time is spent either studying or doing extra activities, such as practising Chinese calligraphy and English, using the abacus, playing tennis and swimming. Surely all of this should lead to a well-rounded student, or could it be a question of quantity exceeding quality?

Let’s examine a few of the reasons why graduates are finding it more difficult to find work. The Chinese economy’s growth is slowing, which would tighten the job market. And often graduate recruitment is the first area to be cut. The Ministry of Education has reported that 15 per cent fewer jobs are on offer for new hires this year than in 2012, according to a survey of 500 leading firms. This causes more competition for the fewer jobs that are available.

While a decade of rapid expansion in China ’s higher education sector has brought many benefits, it has also brought unrealistic expectations from students and an economy that cannot absorb so many graduates into well-paid jobs. This is not limited to undergraduates. A recent survey of Chinese MBA students showed that, on average, they expected to increase their salary by 345 per cent after graduating!

For many graduates, the first choice would be to go into government or to state-owned enterprises; large foreign-owned multinational corporations would be next on the list. The top levels of state-owned companies reserve their places for students from elite universities or those with good connections, and many firms are under pressure to reform. Multinationals are still looking for excellent graduates, especially those with science and engineering backgrounds, but again the competition is tough.

It’s wise to choose as carefully as possible for your first job, but certainly a degree of open-mindedness is needed. Perhaps it is time for grads to forget the brand and consider joining a smaller, local company that can offer real, practical hands-on experience.

Graduates need to maximise their chances of finding work. To do that, they need to consider the following:

Have realistic expectations

In my experience in recruiting fresh grads in Shanghai , salary expectations have almost doubled in the past three years. While starting salary is important for a grad, it should be far less important than training and career development. Find something that you are good at and that you like, and the money will follow, rather than the other way round.

Think very carefully about what major you decide to study

Traditional degrees in science, maths, engineering and medicine will always be in demand, as will other vocational degrees. A business degree can be useful, but it is very important to look into what you will be studying; something that is too abstract or that doesn’t teach you real-world skills is not so interesting to a future employer.

The latest Antal Global Snapshot survey on hiring and firing trends revealed that companies were significantly growing their headcounts in China. In fact, a high majority of companies in the automotive, retail and luxury goods, and health care industries said in April and May that they were hiring specialists for managerial positions. Although the survey targets experienced talents, demand in these areas is expected to remain high, with positions in sales and marketing, IT and accounting, as well as research and development in most demand.

As disposable income increases, demand in consumer-led industries becomes stronger, and fresh graduates should be paying attention to these economic trends when choosing their major and their first job.

Additionally, if you are trying to get a job in an area that has nothing to do with your degree then you are probably going to be near the back of a very long queue.

At university, all undergrads should to do as much non-study as possible

Although your degree is your main focus, participating in charity activities, joining sport teams, doing part-time work or joining societies will add strings to your bow that academic study cannot provide. It might also make you stand out from the hundreds of other first-class students.

Be persistent and flexible

You are very unlikely to find your ideal job, therefore it’s important to be prepared to accept something that was not perfect, but offers you a route to the job you want.

Emilie Bourgois is a PR manager at recruitment firm Antal International China in Beijing

COUNT THEM IN OR OUT? CHINA’S NEXT GENERATION OF JOB HUNTERS

Ever since 2002, when the first batch of students graduated after national expansion of university enrollment, the difficulty for educated young people to find employment has become a hot topic each summer.

The total number of graduates has grown every year. With 6.99 million fresh graduates this year, the number is hitting another record high.

The market needs time to absorb this sudden growth of employment demand. Though it isn’t easy, the situation isn’t as serious as it is sometimes presented. Based on the experience of the past decade, the growing number of China’s college graduates has been largely absorbed into the workforce.

So why the annual alarm and panic about the job hunt for these young people?

A part of the explanation, I believe, is a faulty method for calculating the unemployment statistics. The alarm has always been sounded around March or April because the universities have started assessing their students’ employment rate. Nothing is more absurd than a student who is pressed to sign up for a job before he even walks out of college.

Choosing a career is a complex and lengthy process, and can never be as uniform as the orderly assignment of jobs in China’s era of a planned economy. It’s completely normal that graduates take up to six months or even a year to find a job after finishing their studies.

Moreover, false employment rate calculations by Chinese universities are highly prevalent. This not only greatly reduces the reliability of the data, but also prevents us from acknowledging the real job hunting situation for graduates. This also makes the senior year — and the second semester in particular — into little more than a job-hunting season.

Obviously, as time goes by, the graduate employment rate will increase. The statistic released by China’s Ministry of Education has basically always been above 70% in the past, with its time node set on September 1. The employment rate of graduates on December 31, 2005, published by China’s Ministry of Personnel, showed a figure of 87.7%. This was 15% higher than the data on September 1. If the calculation were pushed back to be one year after graduation, one could expect a further 10% increase. Since this means an employment rate of over 90% one year after graduation, where is the big problem?

The way foreign colleges assess their alumni employment situation is always based on one year after graduation. It is only in a planned economy where jobs are assigned that the rates are measured before the students leave school, on July 1.

It is thus imperative that China set its statistical clock in accordance with international practice, i.e., December 31 for the six-month mark, and July 1 for one year after graduation. Not only will this largely increase the usefulness of the employment rate data and avoid panic, the statistic will also be more credible.

In addition, the statistical methods must be reformed. Currently the data comes self-reported from colleges, which are lax in effective monitoring and regulation. The more pressure the colleges suffer, the worse the data is distorted.

Establishing a new statistical mechanism for the rate of graduate employment can be part of the government’s new attempt at raising the quality of its information dissemination, and communicating through social media.

As for the latest information, the most noteworthy is how certain fields of study can lead to vastly greater difficulty in finding a job after graduation.

What employers want

According to surveys by MyCOS, an education data consulting firm, the “Top 10” unemployment list features graduates who recently majored in English, computer science and technology, law, art and design, international economy and trade, business administration, accounting, electronic and information engineering, Chinese language and literature, information management and systems.

The major reason is that when China set in motion the “Great Leap Forward” in university enrollment, a large number of low-cost liberal arts majors were created. This has resulted in an imbalance between supply and demand. Meanwhile, the once popular disciplines such as international trade or computer science have changed from being in short supply to being in surplus.

The high draw for art courses, as well as audiovisual and animation professions, is obviously illogical. Yet, year after year, these disciplines produce an excessive number of graduates and continue to admit massive numbers of students. This is the clearest reflection that China’s higher education system is disconnected from the job market.

Businesses’ appraisal of graduates is worth paying attention to as well. The employers’ dissatisfaction with graduates isn’t just because they lack updated expertise or don’t have certain practical skills, but due to, first of all, their value system: questions such as integrity, professionalism and a good working attitude.

What depresses employers are the half-hearted, frequent job-hoppers — or worse, the dishonest ones who take them as a springboard and quit their jobs without even giving proper notice. Businesses tend to prefer to pay higher salaries for proficient workers rather than training them from scratch. This certainly makes matters worse for fresh graduates desperately looking for work.

Apart from all these longer term trends, there is also a brand new tendency. Because of China’s economic downturn, the recruitment needs of enterprises have significantly decreased over the past months. This is unprecedented in the past decade. Alas, the resolution of this issue is beyond the sphere of education and it seems that there is no instant answer.

Strains Show in China’s Job Market

A wave of strikes and worker protests in China’s southern export belt is a fresh sign that slowing growth and rising wages have started to pinch the labor market on the world’s factory floor.

China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based labor group, has recorded 201 cases of labor disputes, including strikes, in the first four months of the year in China, almost double the number of cases in the same period last year. In the export hub of Shenzhen alone, 17 cases have been recorded.

China’s factories, which have been key components in its export-driven growth of the past decade, are under pressure from rising wages, sluggish demand at home and abroad as well as a stronger yuan. Some are shutting their doors or moving deeper into China’s interior, or in some cases to other countries, to hold down costs, often with little compensation for workers.

A survey of more than 4,000 employers by human-resources consultancy Manpower Group found that the net employment outlook deteriorated to 12% in the second quarter, down from 18% in the first, and the lowest level since the end of 2009. The net employment outlook is the difference between the percentage of firms anticipating adding workers and the percentage planning to reduce head count in the quarter ahead.

China’s leaders have so far resisted pressure to shift economic policy into stimulus mode. In his summit meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, President Xi Jinping suggested he was comfortable with the slower pace of growth, according to a government website. But if fraying labor markets trigger rising social unrest, that calculus could start to change.

Still, the situation doesn’t so far appear as bad as at the end of 2008, when the global financial crisis triggered a wave of bankruptcies and pushed tens of millions of Chinese workers out of jobs. Then, the prospect of mass unemployment was part of the reason for a massive stimulus package that helped China maintain rapid growth.

When workers of the Jinshuntai Arts Factory came back from China’s Labor Day holiday in May, they saw a notice on the factory gate saying the plant in Shenzhen had been closed due to “management difficulties.” There was no word on compensation for workers, according to former employee Li Geming.

“I’ve been working here for 15 years. I just want my compensation for working all these years,” said 45-year-old Mr. Li, who had been employed at a company warehouse.

Jinshuntai Arts, set up in 1992, produced a range of toys and Christmas decorations, according to the website of the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Administration. It is owned by Taiwan businessman Zheng Rongwen, the former chairman of Shenzhen’s Taiwan Merchant Association. He didn’t respond to calls on his cellphone, which subsequently appeared to have been turned off, and employees at his office in Taiwan said they hadn’t been in touch with him.

More than 200 former employees gathered at the plant on several occasions to protest the sudden closure, most recently on May 20. But the dispute remains unsettled, said Mr. Li, one of the many migrant workers who have been drawn to the factories of south China from their homes in the interior.

The Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions said it has already intervened in the dispute but didn’t give further details.

China’s gross domestic product expanded 7.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier, not bad by global standards but below the norm for China. Economic growth was 7.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012, and economists have been cutting their estimates of growth for this year.

The latest economic data have added to the gloom: Export growth fell to 1% year-to-year in May—pointing to weak demand for the goods produced by many of China’s coastal factories.

As export demand slows, Factories are also becoming less competitive. The average monthly wage for migrant workers at the end of 2012 was 2,290 yuan ($374), up 11.8% from 2011, according to official data.

The yuan has also risen strongly against the dollar, hitting sales of exporters and squeezing their profits.

Some smaller firms have left Shenzhen for nearby cities where labor and land are cheaper. Some of the labor disputes arose when workers refused to move.

Shenzhen Grand Best Furniture, which once had about 60 workers, has moved to Huizhou, a smaller city about 68 miles from Shenzhen, according to current and former workers.

A former worker, Xie Shuixian, 46 years old, said he had been making couches for more than a year at the factory when it moved away. He said workers had protested the move but had since accepted a settlement.

“There’s no way we can stop them” from moving, Mr. Xie said, saying he received two months of back wages and a small settlement of 1,000 yuan as compensation.

The company’s human-resources officials didn’t answer phone calls.

Not all the signs on China’s labor markets are negative. Continued strong increases in wages point to strong demand. May data from Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment website, shows a record number of new positions posted. That suggests that outside the factory sector, the hiring picture is stronger.

Still, experts say that trouble for China’s blue-collar workers is the shape of things to come.

“As China’s growth potential drops and labor costs rise, the number of labor disputes will undoubtedly increase in the future,” said Liu Cheng, a labor-law expert at Shanghai Normal University.

—Liyan Qi

Civil servants are least happy employees in China

Civil servants are the least happy employees in China, research has revealed.

A survey of over 9,000 respondents found that civil servants had the lowest level of job satisfaction of the 12 sector categories that were included.

According to a report on the All-China Women’s Federation website, employees working in the private sector had the second lowest levels, whilst the happiest employees worked in foreign enterprises and joint ventures. The survey was commissioned by the Psychology Institution of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and hosted on recruitment website Zhaopin. Three quarters of those who took it were below the age of 30.

Li Xupei, deputy director of the Mental Health Promotion Centre at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said some people entering the civil service believed their job would be “easy”, but later found that they were “constantly working overtime” and that the work was unexpectedly challenging.

A 2012 survey of civil servants in China’s central departments of state also found that 13.5% suffered from severe or extreme stress. Despite this, the number of people taking the recruitment exams for the Chinese civil service rose to a record 1.2m in November 2012.

According to China’s Global Times, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has begun a pilot project which offers new civil servants fixed-term employment contracts, ending the widely-held perception that a job in the civil service is a job for life. This may reduce demand for government positions in future.

Li said the survey also found that, despite low satisfaction levels, the “collective happiness” of civil servants was high due to the respect they receive from the public.

China Now Has More Than 260 Million Migrant Workers Whose Average Monthly Salary Is 2,290 Yuan ($374.09)

China’s migrant workers exceeded 260 million at the end of 2012, with an average monthly salary of 2,290 yuan ($374.09), according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The bureau published the 2012 Investigational and Monitoring Report of Chinese Migrant Workers on Sunday, according to Xinhua News, China’s state-owned news agency. At the end of 2012, the number of migrant workers in China increased by 3.9 percent to 262.61 million, and the average salary of migrant workers rose 241 yuan ($39.37) to 2,290 yuan per month.

Migrant workers were previously farmers or were farmers ancestrally, and as China has modernized have chosen to seek more profitable, most often industrial work, in urban centers across the country. Many – 160 million in 2012 – choose to migrate to metropolitan cities farther away from their home regions.

In terms of income, average monthly salary rose 11.8 percent to 2,290 yuan for Chinese migrant workers in 2012. Workers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau as well as foreign countries make significantly more – 5,550 yuan ($906.63) per month. Workers engaged in transportation and construction work have higher-than-average monthly salaries, 2,735 yuan ($446.78) and 2,654 yuan ($433.55), respectively.

Most migrant workers have not completed more than middle school- level education. In 2012, 1.5 percent of migrant workers were illiterate, 14.3 percent completed elementary school, 60.5 percent middle school, 13.3 percent high school, and 10.4 percent completed higher education. Younger workers and workers who went abroad have relatively higher education levels.

Migrant workers’ average age is increasing as well. In 2008, 70 percent of all migrant workers were below 40 years of age, and in 2012, only 59.3 percent were below 40. Accordingly, the average age increased from 34 to 37.3.

Significantly, many of these migrant workers were not working under contract, and were therefore not entitled to any form of social security. In 2012, 43.9 percent of migrant workers signed employment contracts, a similar percentage compared to previous years.

Meanwhile, 0.5 percent of migrant workers were not paid on time or at all, due to the lack of contracts. Only 14.3 percent received retirement benefits, 24 percent work-related injury insurance, 16.9 medical insurance, 8.4 percent unemployment and 6.1 percent maternity benefits. More than 40 percent of employers of migrant workers did not provide housing or housing subsidies, Xinhua News reported.

Why Chinese College Graduates Aren’t Getting Jobs

The term “hardest job-hunting season in history” has become a buzzword in China recently. According to China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 6.99 million students will be graduating institutions of higher education this year, a record high since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

This intimidating number is inextricably tied with discussion of another pressing issue: the employment rate of college graduates. The latest statistics released by Beijing Municipal Commission of Education show that only 33.6 percent of college graduates in Beijing have signed employment contracts, up 5 percent from April. Meanwhile, a recent report by Tecent-Mycos reveals that college graduates face gloomy employment prospects.

“I just can’t figure out why it’s so hard to get a job this year,” said Miranda Zhang, who is graduating from a university in Beijing. “I feel desperate –campus recruitment is competitive, with dozens of people competing for one position, while HR offices out in the real world usually disregard graduating students because we do not have any prior work experience.”

This has not always been the case. Before the financial crisis in 2008, economic prospects for China and Chinese students were a lot better. Businesses were expanding, new companies were emerging, and thus hordes of new employees were needed. However, as China’s growth has slowed to 7.5 percent this year, businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, are showing signs of shrinking. The numbers show that Miranda is not alone in her worries — the total number of job openings is down 15 percent from 2012.

As Chinese college students come face to face with these gloomy prospects, complaints or expressions of disappointment have grown in online communities such as Sina Weibo (a Twitter-like service), Renren (a Facebook-like service) and Douban (an IMDB-like website for users with shared interests in movies, books, and music).

One of the most common complaints is the unfairness recent graduates have experienced in the job interview process. In fact, a lack of transparency or the use of guanxi (connections) is particularly evident in competition for jobs at state-owned enterprises or in civil service — these positions are considered much more stable and better-paying than other jobs in China.

Sara Wang, a journalism student at Wuhan University, described what she thought to be unfair competition for a job at Chinese National Radio. She stated that she made it all the way through the resume selection process and written exams to the last round of interviews, but was eliminated during the physical examination. She speculated that someone else used guanxi to get the job, but was unable to prove that this had been the case. Perhaps that is why Weibo user @????? proposed that to solve the problem of unemployment, “the essential thing to do is to ensure the transparency and fairness of the employment process.”

Some attributed the large-scale unemployment to the college students themselves. Netizen @???? wrote:
How can you satisfy a bunch of poor college students who have grandiose aims but puny abilities? What they want is a job that does not require much labor, in which they do not need to expose themselves to the elements, one with high social status and a high salary, where they can play games while they are at work and attend social gatherings while they are off work; in other words, a “golden rice-bowl” job within the system. [College students] think that with their educational achievements, they do not belong to the working class anymore and that they deserve a white-collar job at the very least. No wonder they cannot get a job.
While this is true to some extent, a larger proportion of people held the government responsible for the unemployment problem. In fact, the public has long criticized Chinese colleges’ blind expansion.

Weibo user @M3MStudio mused:
The Ministry of Education is responsible for maintaining the employment rate — isn’t that ridiculous?” “The Ministry of Education should feel guilty because students nowadays cannot make full use of what they learn in college, and what they learn in college is useless in their careers. Colleges are like companies; teachers are like bosses; and students have become nothing but tools for colleges and teachers to compete for fame and profit. The education system in mainland China has collapsed.
Despite such gloom, Xu Mei, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, suggested that the employment rate and the number of graduating students signing employment contracts would increase greatly in June. At the same time, Xu also affirmed that the Ministry would act to ensure that the employment rate of college graduates would not decrease, a statement to which netizens responded with some derision.

Weibo user @??LostMyself wrote, “The Ministry of Education’s prediction will be realized with 100 percent success, because this is what they are best at. I believe every graduate knows the real deal with the so-called employment contract signing rate!”

Tough task to get rid of job discrimination

Four years ago, emulating an Australian global competition for the “Best Job in the World,” a lavender farm in Guangdong province launched a national search for two gardeners for the “The Best Jobs in China”.

The requirements of Tourism and Events Queensland were simple: It wanted a caretaker for a local tropical island who could speak English, swim and blog. But the Guangdong advertisers required only “beautiful” women aged 18-25 and taller than 163 centimeters to apply to work on rolling lavender fields for a weekly salary of 20,000 yuan ($3,260). Candidates were also asked to specify their vital statistics and state “which part of your body you like the most” in the online applications.

The case shows how blatant and direct discrimination can be in China’s job market. To understand how prevalent it is, one just needs to take a look at a recent directive of the Ministry of Education that bans universities from hosting recruitment exercises with discriminatory terms on gender, hukou (residency permit) and academic qualifications.

This is the first time the ministry has banned job advertisements inviting applications only from graduates of elite universities on special government support programs. Such universities account for only 6 percent of the total and accommodate less than 10 percent of all college students nationwide. With a record passing out of 6.99 million graduates this summer, discrimination against those with degrees from less illustrious schools may become even worse as the number of candidates far outstrips the jobs on offer.

Despite skepticism about the effectiveness of the measure that will only be enforced on campuses, advocates of equality and justice in China hope it would be the beginning of the end of a chronic social problem that denies many people the opportunity to realize their “Chinese Dream”.

Employment discrimination has deep roots in Chinese history and culture. Often poorly educated people are not aware that their basic rights are violated when employers demand discriminatory preferences for jobs. It can be too subtle for applicants to realize that a decision has been made on the basis of personal features unrelated to work.

But on many occasions, employers explicitly discriminate against jobseekers with wide-ranging criteria on age, sex, personal appearance, disease, ethnicity, birthplace, marital status and hukou. The list has been growing, with the bias for “elite” colleges being the latest addition.

Better-informed jobseekers who stand up to the mistreatment may find the costs of lawsuits prohibitively high, and the existing laws and regulations don’t necessarily work in their favor.

A Chinese employment promotion law passed in 2007 prohibits differential treatment of jobseekers based on the grounds of ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, age or physical disability. But the law is difficult to enforce, because it lacks clear standards and does not specify how to deal with violators of the law.

Earlier this year, a jobseeker in Guangdong province was awarded 601 yuan in the country’s first gender discrimination case to be ruled in favor of a complainant. However, her lawyer who provided pro bono legal service said the case had to be resolved through labor authorities because the court found it hard to prove discrimination on the basis of gender and to measure the victim’s loss.

Public appeal has been growing for a law that provides clear rules on violations and standards for proving job discrimination. Until that happens, the onus will largely rest on the government to promote equality and responsible employment practices. The government can work out guidelines for job ads, like the Ministry of Education’s ban on discriminatory hiring activities on campuses, to let people know that discrimination is wrong and should be stopped now.

It’s embarrassing to see employment discrimination pervade the lower strata of society six decades after the workers were declared the masters of the country.

Eliminating job discrimination is a tough task

Four years ago, emulating an Australian global competition for the “Best Job in the World,” a lavender farm in Guangdong province launched a national search for two gardeners for the “The Best Jobs in China”.

The requirements of Tourism and Events Queensland were simple: It wanted a caretaker for a local tropical island who could speak English, swim and blog. But the Guangdong advertisers required only “beautiful” women aged 18-25 and taller than 163 centimeters to apply to work on rolling lavender fields for a weekly salary of 20,000 yuan ($3,260). Candidates were also asked to specify their vital statistics and state “which part of your body you like the most” in the online applications.

The case shows how blatant and direct discrimination can be in China’s job market. To understand how prevalent it is, one just needs to take a look at a recent directive of the Ministry of Education that bans universities from hosting recruitment exercises with discriminatory terms on gender, hukou (residency permit) and academic qualifications.

This is the first time the ministry has banned job advertisements inviting applications only from graduates of elite universities on special government support programs. Such universities account for only 6 percent of the total and accommodate less than 10 percent of all college students nationwide. With a record passing out of 6.99 million graduates this summer, discrimination against those with degrees from less illustrious schools may become even worse as the number of candidates far outstrips the jobs on offer.

Despite skepticism about the effectiveness of the measure that will only be enforced on campuses, advocates of equality and justice in China hope it would be the beginning of the end of a chronic social problem that denies many people the opportunity to realize their “Chinese Dream”.

Employment discrimination has deep roots in Chinese history and culture. Often poorly educated people are not aware that their basic rights are violated when employers demand discriminatory preferences for jobs. It can be too subtle for applicants to realize that a decision has been made on the basis of personal features unrelated to work.

But on many occasions, employers explicitly discriminate against jobseekers with wide-ranging criteria on age, sex, personal appearance, disease, ethnicity, birthplace, marital status and hukou. The list has been growing, with the bias for “elite” colleges being the latest addition.

Better-informed jobseekers who stand up to the mistreatment may find the costs of lawsuits prohibitively high, and the existing laws and regulations don’t necessarily work in their favor.

A Chinese employment promotion law passed in 2007 prohibits differential treatment of jobseekers based on the grounds of ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, age or physical disability. But the law is difficult to enforce, because it lacks clear standards and does not specify how to deal with violators of the law.

Earlier this year, a jobseeker in Guangdong province was awarded 601 yuan in the country’s first gender discrimination case to be ruled in favor of a complainant. However, her lawyer who provided pro bono legal service said the case had to be resolved through labor authorities because the court found it hard to prove discrimination on the basis of gender and to measure the victim’s loss.

Public appeal has been growing for a law that provides clear rules on violations and standards for proving job discrimination. Until that happens, the onus will largely rest on the government to promote equality and responsible employment practices. The government can work out guidelines for job ads, like the Ministry of Education’s ban on discriminatory hiring activities on campuses, to let people know that discrimination is wrong and should be stopped now.

It’s embarrassing to see employment discrimination pervade the lower strata of society six decades after the workers were declared the masters of the country.

What does it take to get a job in China?

Italian explorer Marco Polo spent 17 years working in the court of Kublai Khan’s China, but today most foreigners seeking to live and work in the country aren’t looking for the same time-invested cultural exchange.

“It’s the place to make money,” explained Aynura Askerova, a Russian who has lived in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou for four years.

Work as a fashion model has taken Askerova across China and the rest of Asia, but “now it’s time to find a real career,” she said last month, in an overly-illuminated hotel conference room in the city’s China Marriott Hotel.

Like hundreds of other visitors from across the world, the graduate in software development from Kazan State University was there for the Jobs Fair for Foreigners; one of three annual events organized by the Chinese government, where expats get a rare chance to meet prospective employers face-to-face.

The events have been a honeypot for job-seeking expats, particularly since the global economic crisis of 2008. While economic growth in China has slowed in the last year, the 7% to 8% predicted growth is positively booming compared to Europe and the United States, leading many to believe their prospects there might be better than at home.

However the perception that expats, particularly from western countries, can just walk into a job or career in China is now out of date.

“The novelty of being a foreigner has worn off,” said Shanghai-based Simon Lance, regional director in China for recruitment firm Hays. “Employers are seeking value. Demonstrating a genuine commitment to China is key.”

That can include language skills and being willing to spend more than just one or two years in the country, he added.
Read more: Can China become a melting pot?

According to a report by the state-run Xinhua news agency, nearly 7 million new Chinese graduates entered the jobs market last year. It’s a figure that is set to increase in the coming years as China expands its number of higher education institutions, adding to the challenge for foreigners embarking on their careers in the country.

“That side of the workforce there’s almost an oversupply of junior end candidates,” said Lance. “So it’s hard for expats to compete. Without Mandarin or local language skills I’d say it’s almost impossible.”

Nick Cucinella, CEO at CareerBuilder China, advises graduates to have a CV in both English and Chinese, even if they don’t speak the language, and that taking the initiative and targeting prospective employers and Chinese companies is the best path to a job.

“Not many people do that, but if they do they will be very well received. Too many just use jobs sites and search engines,” he said.

Read more: The best job in 2013 is…

However for those with established careers and particular skill-sets, demand exceeds supply in many industries.

Big infrastructure projects in China mean that recruitment companies are seeing a desire for experienced architects and design engineers, plus a strong demand for those in the pharmaceutical industry, as local and international companies invest in R&D facilities in the country.

“Chinese companies realize they have to offer more than just a job, but show that the city is good place to live, raise children and there’s enough going on,” said Cucinella.

The recruitment process in China could also seem quite strange to many westerners.

“At a market in China you’re expected to haggle and that applies in some way to job negotiations. Westerners don’t want to feel like they’re haggling over their life, they want to feel wanted,” said Cucinella.

However a larger trend is localizing the workforce across positions, believes Lance.

If the employers he recruits for have a wish-list it is usually for a Chinese national who has gained many years of experience studying or working abroad.

These “haigui,” or sea turtles as they are called in China, hit the employment sweet spot with “both the cultural connection and the language skills,” according to Lance.

“They provide a pretty good compromise between being able to connect and communicate with local Chinese staff, but have a good understanding of western business and management practice. They bridge the two worlds quite well.”

Read more: Can Twitter get you a job?

For those expats at the Guangzhou event swimming against the rising tide of competition, employing a number of techniques is necessary to make it in China — local connections being one of the most useful.

“Having a connection, or ‘guanxi,’ is important,” said German national Max Storz, who found a sales job in Guangzhou through a contact of his girlfriend. “It helps a lot to find a job and get things done in general.”

It’s worked for Askerova, too. With business partners she met in China, she has been able to register a trading company in Hong Kong alongside developing a modeling career.

“There are cultural differences to work out, and it was hard for me at first (living in Guangzhou), very different,” she said. “But there is really nowhere else like it.”