Graduate Employment Situation Survey and Employment Guidance

Author: Zhang Yuehao / Ma Guodong (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-11
Features: The difficulty of finding a job is as hard as climbing the blue sky. In contemporary society, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. With the reform and transformation of China's education system, the nature and functions of universities are also changing. The famous German educator Humboldt once called on "college students to stand up!" Although so, Chinese college students are still hesitating between traditional concepts and modern awareness, unable to make up their minds. Even if they accept this unavoidable reality, they cannot properly solve their own problems. The employment issue is a social problem, and the main reason for the current employment difficulties lies in the overall social environment. Therefore, it is a natural phenomenon and a reality that graduates find it hard to find jobs, and it is unnecessary to blame themselves entirely. However, they cannot rely entirely on society to help every graduate, because it is not yet time for that, and the circumstances are not ripe. So, we still need to rely on ourselves and change our destiny through our own efforts. We have no intention of exaggerating, but only want to say that one must work hard to achieve goals and realize personal ideals, or at least partially achieve them. If one does not work hard, even partial goals will not be realized. However, in today's tight job market and increasingly fierce competition, how should graduates face employment? In December 2003, several of us, as graduate students about to graduate, faced the severe situation we were in, feeling the difficulty of finding a job and the loss of the advantages of a graduate degree in employment and other aspects. We began to focus on how our peers were coping with the increasingly fierce employment battle. Therefore, starting from February 2004, we designed an employment survey questionnaire over a period of one month, carefully considering the problems we and our classmates encountered during the job search process. From May 2004, we began on-campus surveys, and in June, we intensified our efforts, finally completing this large-scale graduate employment survey with over 1,000 questionnaires by June 20. This survey mainly targeted the graduate employment group in Beijing, using their employment experiences as case studies to analyze the overall employment situation of graduates. To fully understand the current employment status of graduates, the surveyors drew on their own and their classmates' personal experiences to design numerous questions covering more than 30 aspects of employment and job search details, from employment preparation to signing and breaking contracts. Due to the large number of questions on the questionnaire, completing one took about 5 minutes, which was not an easy task for those filling it out. Fortunately, this survey resonated with many graduate students. They filled out the questionnaire carefully and provided many valuable suggestions and shared their views on the current employment situation of graduates. The questionnaire itself was personally distributed and supervised by us in our capacity as surveyors, ensuring its authenticity and reliability. To reflect the generalizability and applicability of the survey results, we distributed a large number of questionnaires to graduate schools in key universities under the Ministry of Education, 211 institutions, and other ordinary universities in Beijing. The survey adopted systematic sampling, covering 20 schools and 11 disciplines (excluding military disciplines, as they do not need to seek jobs in the talent market). Each discipline sampled from two schools, with 100 questionnaires per discipline. A total of 1,200 questionnaires were distributed, with 1,105 valid responses. The key to the questionnaire survey was observing the "mindset" of graduate students during the employment process. We did not dare to claim that we could accurately infer this year's employment situation for graduates and specific employment figures based on the survey. We focused on the problems graduate students encountered during the employment process and the individual job search process and outcomes. By analyzing these individuals and their experiences, we identified issues that our group should pay attention to during the job search process. Then, based on these responses, we sought universal methods to address common employment problems. It is particularly emphasized that this survey was an "independent initiative." Initially, the surveyors hoped to collaborate with relevant organizations, but many schools were secretive about the employment status of their graduates. Although this increased the difficulty of our survey, it turned into a good thing. Surveying in graduate dormitories allowed us to get closer to the true employment situation and mindset of graduate students. Additionally, some schools, upon learning about our initiative, proactively contacted us to help them conduct employment analysis for their students. We are very grateful for their trust and hope that the conclusions we draw will be truthful and scientific, helping them in guiding students' employment. Through the analysis and summary of the survey data, we planned and published this booklet. It may not explain and solve all the problems we encountered during the job search, but we hope it can serve as a starting point, benefiting future graduates in their job search! We are also graduates who have experienced the hardships of finding a job. We hope to strive and create our own brilliance!