Challenging Times, Even For China’s College Educated Students
February 6th, 2009
This is a post I had written a while back but kept in the que. It relates to the nice Opportunity Arises-Go Mom! post Raquel made below a few days ago (be sure to give it a read) so I now let this one fly. Even the college educated in China are feeling the pinch in this downturn. Click HERE and HERE to learn more from these NY Times and Wall Street Journal articles.
Several weeks again I was also listening to NPR and the segment noted how Chinese universities will start to admit fewer students because the CCP is concerned that if/when too many students graduate without jobs, they will then start to have a big stability problem.
As an aside, check out this recent related Wall Street Journal article on how to get a leg up in the interview process, A Question To Make A Monkey Out Of You.
Your thoughts?
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China
3 Comments Add your own
1. Raquel Rusing | February 8th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Thanks for making sure I know I’m not alone, Dr. Carr!
And as far as those interview tips go, I cannot stress enough the importance of preparation. I used to interview people at my old job, and even though they weren’t applying to a career at NASA or something more long term, I was amazed at how unprepared these people were. They thought that simply because they believed they were capable and they needed the job, that this entitled them to such a position. I sat there knowing nothing of their credentials (because they forgot their resume) and felt little sympathy for their woes because I was trying to make my company money! Their tears weren’t buying me dinner tomorrow night.
First impressions last. You can tell a lot about a person in the first few minutes… as much as I want to give most people the benefit of the doubt, you can’t afford to when you have hundreds of applications. It’s the presentation of the person… and no one’s perfect, so that presentation is only higher in quality as compared to the next person when you put preparation into the process. I only hope my employers see my efforts! …and I know it’s my job to lay those talents out on the table.
2. Andrew Welborn | March 10th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
And I thought we had it bad this year. With the constant growth in China over the past decade the influx of college graduates into the workforce must be staggering. At least in the U.S. there is an influx of students applying to school and not into the workforce during a recession. This will be a major test of the government’s willingness to withstand demonstrations and to create programs that have a positive outcome on employment.
I find the NPR segment Dr. Carr mentioned a bit confusing from a stability standpoint. By limiting the number of applicants in college they may well be shooting themselves in the foot. They are effectively increasing unemployment by forcing worthy college applicants into the workforce and not allowing them to be taken out of the mix for a few years. At the same time they are limiting the number of college students who will spend years in school, getting an education, and increasing the productivity of the workforce. Then a few years from now they will have fewer qualified applicants for white collar jobs slowing growth. This seems to be a bigger stability problem, but then again I am not running a country.
Those interview tips will be very important for many of us in the coming months as we try to find a job in this dismal economy. I have many friends who are just beginning to feel the pinch of the economy on the Aerospace job market. Even with prior work experience with the company they are interested in working for, they have very little hope of getting an offer. They will have to refine their skills as the other applicants will be trying even harder for the limited number of jobs.
3. Xiaofei Song | March 19th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
China’s problem is population. Even though there are lots of people in China couldn’t afford to go to college, China still has millions of graduates get out from college every year. I am doing the job searching in China mainland recently. All the job that I am interested in required at least 10 year working experience, which as a recent college graduate there is no way to get. For a college graduate, which most of my friends are in China, make about 2000 to 3000 Yuan every month (if their parents do not have any social connections). Some of them even take the job offer of 1200 Yuan per month. All they tell me about searching for a job in China is competitive, since everybody has the degree.
The best college in China maybe ranks about 30 – 40 in the word. Even in Beijing, the one city has about 200 colleges. The problem of Chinese education system is quality not the quantity. Almost all the Chinese agree that the hardest part of Chinese students is to get into the college, as long as you are in, you are done. From my experience, I don’t know anyone couldn’t graduate from college. Even I visit them a week before finals most of the time, they still hang out with me without going to classes. I think it is not a bad idea to limit the number of college student and focus on the quality of the education. The colleges should meet the demand of the labor market; understand what knowledge and skills a college should have.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed