Young graduates scope out cities to start next chapter

Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai are the top three cities favored by those born after 1995 when they choose their first job, according to a report released by Zhaopin, an online recruitment platform. These young people also showed more willingness to work in China's east regions, Li Qiang, vice-president of Zhaopin, said as reported by People.cn on Wednesday.

Li said those born after 1995 tend to want a balance between career and daily life, so they not only pay attention to salaries, but also consider a city's innovative atmosphere, as well as its cultural and entertainment resources.

The aforementioned report, issued last month, showed 48 percent of job applicants born after 1995 are seeking an offer in a city other than where they presently live. Cities like Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Suzhou, Wuhan and Zhengzhou are also in their top 10.

Compared to the general job application map, those born after 1995 showed preference to more developed cities or city clusters. As data from the report showed the portion of net inflow of these talents in first- and second-tier cities reached 10.2 and 8.2 percent, way beyond the 3.5 and 3.4 percent for the general population.

City clusters, such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta regions, were also welcomed by these job seekers. The five city clusters have attracted a net inflow of 14.4 percent with these youngsters, compared with 7.9 percent in general.

In contrast, inflow of younger talents in third- and fourth-tier cities does not reach the general level. But the outflow figure was higher.

Li Qiang said applicants should consider a city's industrial advantages as well as their own specialized area. When choosing a city to work, Li suggested applicants should also research its cultural development and public services.