Society

Grads' frequent job-hopping raises concerns

By Cheng Anqi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-29 14:51

Although the problem of a dearth of employment opportunities for college graduates has shown no signs of abating, young employees are not letting that stop them from changing jobs.

A survey by MyCos, a Beijing-based higher education consulting firm, shows that the resignation rate of the 211 Project schools' graduates reached 22 percent in 2009, and 33 percent for non-211 students. In Beijing alone, the rate at 96 firms was up to 70 percent in three years.

To prevent constant job-hopping, some enterprises in South China's Guangdong province have actually started holding on to their employees' graduation certificates and certificates for change of address. Some even withhold workers' wages.

The survey found it to be a common phenomenon for young employees to switch careers for a broader future; it shed the light on the desire for frequent job-hopping. It likely contributes to hampering enterprises' development, and social stability.

Zha Jianzhong, a sociology professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said that it could boil down to a disconnect between education and employment situation contributing to the job-hopping.

Enterprises usually ranked the five most desirable qualities as sense of responsibility, professional ethics, communication stills, learning and problem solving ability, which were listed in reverse order in education.

On the one hand, many inexperienced graduates made concessions by getting temporary positions, taking it as a springboard to a better job. On the other hand, short-handed enterprises needed many newcomers to increase efficiency. Such an employment situation can hardly be sustained long-term.

Zha added that the non-creative developing model of enterprises also had something to do with the frequent job-hopping. "Lack of programming and training for employees lets them see only a dim future," he said.