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China's graduates spend more on job hunting but harvest little

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-25 15:26

A recent survey showed Chinese college graduates spent more money on job hunting, but higher costs have notlead to more offers, according to a human resource manager in a phone interview with Xinhua Friday.

The Central China Human Resource Market (CCHRM), a government-funded organization in central Hubei Province which held job fairs, surveyed 1,000 graduates from January to June.

"We found the average cost of seeking jobs stood at about 2,000 yuan ($290) a person," said Xue Li, a CCHRM senior human resource manager in charge of the survey.

The average monthly income per capita of Wuhan, the provincial capital, was 1,617 yuan.

A survey by Peking University of 16,388 graduates from 15 provinces, including Hubei, showed the cost of seeking jobs was 1,132 yuan per person in 2007.

The money was spent on resumes, interview clothing, communication and transportation. A large part went to producing pretty resumes, Xue said.

Ma Jing graduated from Beijing University of Technology four years ago and recently changed his job.

"I met some new graduates this year. They invest heavily on resumes and clothes. A resume will cost about 30 yuan (4.39 dollars) and a person might need a dozen resumes," he said. "Fewer students did this when I was graduated."

However, nicer resumes and clothes did not necessarily lead to more offers.

"To tell the truth, embellished resumes do little to land a job. It is just a move to make the graduates feel better about themselves," Xue said.

Related readings:  China's urban unemployment rate reaches 4.3% in H1  Jobs increase in second quarter  China vows to find work for 88% of college grads this year  Wen encourages college students to seek grassroots jobs

According to a report issued by the China Association for Employment Promotion in March, 76 percent of the resumes the researchers collected from 19,893 respondents failed the evaluation of human resource experts, but 78 percent of these respondents thought they were good.

Most of the poorly-written resumes looked the same. They did not highlight the job seekers' unique skills, experience or personality, the report said.

"Many new job seekers did not know what human resource managers look for. They might bury useful information in empty words," said Xue.

She said, employers paid the most attention to work or intern experience, but many graduates put lengthy description of academic courses.

The second major problem is that some graduates did not have clear career planning, she said.

"If they do not know what they want from a job, they will not be able to prepare themselves for the job nor impress human resource officials."

This year the country saw a record 6.11 million college graduates.