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Labor Pains: Downturn upends career dreams of college grads

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-04 19:59

At the same time, there have been a few "lucky ones" who did get offers  from big-name companies in big cities. Zhu Jiayi was one.

Zhu, an English major from Shanghai International Studies University, knew he was headed to Deloitte, a London-based accounting company popular with Chinese college students, as early as last September.

"As the old saying goes, opportunities go to the prepared. They are definitely for the 'more prepared' this year," said Zhu.

He knew he wanted to head for Deloitte almost in his freshman year. To get an edge, Zhu had a double major: accounting and English. Also, he applied for a summer internship with the company before senior year.

"Knowing exactly what you want and having a plan to get it -- that's especially important nowadays. It also saves you time and energy in the job market," Zhu said.

As for Xiao Ding, who joined Deloitte's Beijing office, the company is the next-best thing to her dream job, investment banking.

"We finance majors suffer most from the global crisis, as most financial institutions in China have stopped recruiting people over concerns about market contraction," said the Peking University grad.

In contrast to last year, when most Peking University grads launched their careers in the investment field, most of her classmates have shifted their focus to other fields.

"What I want to do most, of course, is still investment banking. But I'll take the chance at Deloitte to learn more about accounting and wait for the market to warm up," Xiao said. Her choice, she said, was a "crisis strategy."

This is also what Song has in mind. "Hurting but confident" was how she described herself. "I will seize every opportunity and do my best. Things have to get better."

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