Experts urge returned students to be "rational" in seeking jobs
2004-03-29 Xinhua
Yang Qihua, a Chinese student
who just graduated after studying abroad for the past three years, finds himself
in a quite difficult situation when applying for a good job in Chinese domestic
enterprises, and so far, he hasn't even received a first-round interview notice
from the companies he is interested in.
"I chose to study abroad for a future good-paid job and I know it's a hard
time to look for a job in China, but I still didn't expect it would be so hard
for returned overseas job-seekers," Yang said in a interview with Xinhua here
Monday.
The latest official statistics showed that by the end of last October, the
cumulative figure of Chinese students studying abroad totaled 580,000, and
nearly 160,000 of them choose to find a job in their mother country.
Zou Rongjin, vice president of Canon System Software Inc., explained that the
hardship the returned students faced was due to their lack of career experience
and some basic understanding of the Chinese situation.
"A graduate who speaks excellent foreign languages is no longer the 'prom
queen' for the domestic enterprises," Zou said, stressing that what enterprises
really need is someone who is experienced in management, public relations and
practical skills.
"The returnees often ask for preferential treatment and a high salary with an
excessive self-estimation, but as a matter of fact, they are not as unique as
they were five or six years ago and could be fairly replaced by the local
talents," Zou added.
However, experts said that returned students having difficulty in finding a
domestic job post was just a normal occurrence in a process of high-speed
economic and educational development.
Al Trussell, a professor with a US educational services exchange with China,
said that the current difficult situation might also play a positive role for
the returned students to make a rational evaluation of themselves.
The competition and opening in China's human resource market would initiate
the circulation of talents and further integration of the market, Trussell said,
advising the returned students to reconsider to learn more about China and adapt
themselves to the career requirement. |