Students seek stability in jobs, not flexibility

BEIJING: College students who are about to graduate are showing increasing preference for stable jobs, mostly in State-owned companies, in the post-COVID times, while authorities are keen on ensuring their employment to secure a safe job market, a survey showed.
According to the report released by recruitment portal Zhaopin, most students it surveyed have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the current economic landscape, and favor job stability in top private and State-owned companies instead of flexible jobs that are often riddled with uncertainties. Nearly 47 percent of the respondents surveyed between March and April — considered the “golden period” for college students to seek jobs before graduation — want to be employed in State-owned companies, which is a year-on-year increase of 2.3 percentage points.
Large and medium-sized companies remain top choices, while about 26 percent of the respondents are willing to work in small and micro-sized companies, according to the report. Undergraduates form the bulk of job seekers, but postgraduates and those with doctoral degrees are preferred by recruiters, the survey shows. As of mid-April, about 47.5 percent of the undergraduates Zhaopin surveyed had received job offers. In contrast, about 54.4 percent of vocational graduates and 56.7 percent of graduates with master’s or doctoral degrees had job offers by mid-April. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item