This year's job-hunting season is getting underway and it is being dubbed "the toughest ever in history" for recent university graduates.

 

　　Around seven million students have graduated from higher education institutions this year, a record high for China.

 

　　However, this increase comes at a time when employers are cutting down on recruitment.

 

　　CRI's Zhou Heyang has more:

 

　　Starting from July 1st, an employment stimulation program targeting unemployed, fresh university graduates kicks off in full scale. It encourages graduates to get registered with the public recruitment service database which is upheld on a public community service platform. Here, graduates can also receive hiring information and employment instruction.

 

　　Wang Rong, Vice Division Chief at the Department of Human Resources and Social Security, says the program also provides financial aid to unemployed recent graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds.

 

　　"The standard amount of subsidy provided is 8 hundred to one thousand Yuan. Universities in all regions are distributing the fund to those who are going through such hardship."

 

　　The country's policy-makers have been urging for every measure to be taken to help China's new graduates gain employment, including creating more community-level jobs, recruiting for the military and promoting entrepreneurship.

 

　　But some companies, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, are still complaining about how difficult it is to attract university graduates. Here a human resource manager for a small-sized private enterprise in Guangdong speaks on such difficulties.

 

　　"We need to hire lots of people, but we are finding it extremely difficult to find possible candidates. We are worried. See, I only received 2 resumes this morning."

 

　　Despite the fact that the starting salary in low- medium-sized enterprises can eventually offer salaries as high as the larger ones; however, graduates appear to show little interest. They don't seem to be willing to invest their time to grow with the company. Instead, according to Guo Sheng, CEO of recruitment company Zhaopin, says graduates are inclined to send job applications to companies with a more recognizable names, even when they sometimes offer less pay.

 

　　Another trend, if not problem, for graduates who can't find jobs is that they are prone to seek job opportunities in first-tier cities whereas more opportunities are actually to be found elsewhere. Ming Hong, Division Chief at the Department of Human Resources and Social Security explains:

 

　　"The eastern areas of the country are currently seeing a similar number of job vacancies as last year. There is little fluctuation in this regard, whereas the demand for workers in the middle and Western parts of the country is on a sharp rise."

 

　　The wage level in middle and Western China is not far behind that of the traditionally more economic prosperous Eastern regions at the moment. Conversely, living expenses and competition is often much lower than that in Eastern regions.

 

　　Experts say the toughest job-seeking season reflects the fact that the overall job market is shrinking this year. Yang Lin, director of the career guidance center at Beijing Technology and Business University, believes it is the result of the sluggish world economy and tempered domestic growth. New openings at many large state-owned enterprises have also declined this year.

 

　　The problem is further complicated as many fresh graduates are fixated only on jobs in the civil service, public institution or state-owned enterprises where they see a more stable prospect than private companies.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Zhou Heyang.