Race on to find graduate employment

With graduations around the corner, authorities in Hubei province have taken a slew of measures to boost the employment of new college graduates.

The province is expected to have a record 590,000 college graduates this year.

Special assistance will be offered to students who have not found employment after graduating, especially those from once-impoverished families, zero-employment families and those with financial difficulties or disabilities.

At least one career guidance session, three recommended posts and one vocational training session and internship should be offered to students who want to find jobs.

For students who want to start a business, authorities will offer them entrepreneurship training and policy support.

Zhang Qinghua, deputy director of the Hubei labor and employment service center, said for students experiencing difficulties in finding a job, authorities will offer them one-on-one assistance and targeted services to make sure that more than 90 percent of them who've not found jobs after graduating are able to do so by the end of this year.

The province has offered more than 180,000 posts in government institutions and in the public sector this year, with the number of posts for civil servants, grassroots government officials, and government institutions increasing by 17 percent year-on-year.

Hubei has tried very hard to guide graduates to work in grassroots positions by expanding the scale of special recruitment campaigns for teachers in rural areas, grassroots officials in central and western regions, and village doctors.

Elderly nursing homes and social service centers are also encouraged to prioritize hiring college graduates.

Human resources and social security authorities in Hubei have worked with enterprises to hold more job fairs, said Liu Weiping, an official with the Hubei Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security.

School administrators at Huazhong Agricultural University have visited 130 enterprises to expand employment opportunities for graduates and established employment bases at 10 enterprises this year.

A total of 1,667 enterprises have come to the university to hire graduates this year, providing 20 potential opportunities per graduate, according to the university.

The university has also offered students guidance in making resumes, attending job interviews and held individual and group employment guidance sessions.

Wuhan Technology and Business University has employed career guidance teachers and set up records of the employment situation of all students to offer them targeted help and guidance, the university said.

Xu Wenhui, 22, a senior undergraduate student at Huazhong Agricultural University, said after she failed the national civil servant exam in March, she felt at a loss and anxious as many of her classmates had landed jobs.

After she told a teacher at the university's student employment center about her situation, the teacher had a lengthy conversation with her to encourage her, she said.

"The teacher told me to go to more job fairs and recommended me to human resource personnel at China Construction Electric Power Construction, and after passing all the necessary interviews and requirements, I will start working at the company in the HR department in July."

Xu said she is from a village in Cangzhou, Hebei province and her parents are farmers, so they lack the resources or expertise to help her find jobs.

"I have to rely on myself, and thanks to the help of school teachers, I have found a satisfactory job."

Contact the writers at zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn