Look at the salary or look at the prospects, whether the professional counterpart is important, when should the first internship start -
On the road to job search, how to solve these confusions
It is the "spring recruitment" season again, and the topic of graduate employment continues to attract social attention. Employment is the foundation of people's livelihood, the source of wealth and the foundation of stability. This year's government work report pointed out that the implementation of the detailed employment priority policy, the promotion of the employment of young people, especially college graduates, is placed in a more prominent position, and the basic people's livelihood is effectively guaranteed.
In 2023, China's college graduates will reach 1158.<> million, which is another new high after the number of college graduates exceeded <> million for the first time last year. At the same time, the structural contradiction of difficulty in recruiting workers and difficulty in employment is still prominent.
At present, there are still more than 2 months before graduates leave school, what confusion are they facing at this time? What are the most important problems to solve? What kind of help and guidance would you like to receive? To this end, the reporter sorted out several job search questions that students are more concerned about, and invited professionals to answer their questions.
1. Fit should be the most important thing in employment
Student question: What should I look for most when looking for a job? Is salary the first criterion?
Wu Qiuxiang, lecturer at the School of Education, Chinese Minmin University: Measuring whether a job is good or not involves two aspects, including benefits such as salary, as well as factors such as personal growth, spiritual needs, working environment, and career stability.
At present, the age group of college graduates generally moves to the post-95s and post-00s, and the ideological consciousness and behavior of this group are increasingly revealing the characteristics of the "atomized" social form, more self-centered, paying more attention to the matching degree of education and employment, the satisfaction of personal spiritual needs, and the harmony of intimate relationships, etc., which are not measured by a simple salary.
In reality, there is a divergence in employment expectations between low salary expectations and high comfort pursuits among college graduates. Reports show that the average expected monthly salary of the Class of 2022 is 6% lower than last year, indicating that students are willing to lower salary requirements in order to adapt to the job market. However, graduates have higher requirements than ever for the stability provided by work, the harmony of the working environment and interpersonal relationships, and the comfort of living and commuting, and they hope that the work can meet their spiritual interests and comfort pursuits. From the perspective of the employment performance of the new generation of post-90s in the workplace, its turnover rate is 5 percentage points higher than the average. In the social news, there are also many reports of young people who have just joined the company "voluntarily leaving", reflecting the prominent contradiction between the current graduates' employment expectations and the actual work.
Therefore, in the employment choice of college students, although the salary level is important, it should not and is no longer the first criterion for choosing a career. I believe that the current employment of college students should pay the most attention to the fit between work and individual, which not only refers to the professional counterpart and employment counterpart, but also the multi-dimensional fit from life attitude, development expectations, interactive environment to survival needs. High-fit work can bring a great sense of gain to the individual and make himself the "master" of the work. And low-fit jobs, even if they pay well, will only reduce people to work "machines" until they dominate the entire life of the individual. Of course, everyone's requirements for their own fit are also different and cannot be generalized.
The first is the fit of life attitude, that is, whether personal values and life attitude are consistent with work requirements and standards, especially whether personal value can be realized in work, and whether individuals can have a sense of spiritual gain and satisfaction in work. Second, in line with development expectations, we should examine the meaning of work from a long-term perspective, pay attention to personal growth, especially whether we can understand the society, accumulate experience, and improve ourselves from the first employment, so as to achieve real growth. The third is the fit of the interactive environment, focusing on measuring whether your personality and way of doing things can adapt to the chosen industry, unit, platform, team, and good interpersonal interaction and environment will make the work twice as effective. The fourth is the fit of survival needs, that is, what material returns do individuals value in the short term, whether to strive for higher wages, or pay attention to the hidden benefits of the profession, such as housing, insurance, vacations, etc., the key is to recognize the potential contribution of the individual and the actual value of the work, list priorities, avoid greed, and make trade-offs.
2. Professionalism is not just a talent "processing factory"
Student question: Should I find a job with the right major? If you don't work professionally, you always feel that you have wasted so many years of professional learning.
Kou Kunzhao, a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at the School of International Education, Beijing University of Foreign Chinese: Finding a job with the right professional not only avoids "waste" professional learning, but also becomes a key starting point for the transition from campus to workplace. If we can achieve the alignment of professionalism and occupation with personal temperament and value goals, it will be a blessing for the long career and social life in the future. A profession is not only a job skill obtained through hard study, but also a link connecting personal values and social needs, and a spiritual home that shapes itself.
As education systems and labour markets become more robust, so do diplomas and job search, professions and occupations. Unconsciously, "going to college", "choosing a major" and "looking for a job" have been equated, and whether the job search is smooth or not, and whether the salary is decent or not have become the standard for measuring the value of the discipline major.
However, while judging the value of professions and occupations from the perspective of "cost and benefit", we cannot ignore the "people" who learn a profession and engage in a certain profession. The key significance of professions and occupations is that in the modern society with a high degree of division of labor, workers must have certain professional knowledge, exert their mental vitality in practice, and realize their own value. A suitable profession and a meaningful career will surely motivate people to focus on doing things well in a down-to-earth manner, so that people can grow and progress from each specific work. Only in this way can people, profession and work be compatible.
Therefore, when young people are entangled in "should they find a job with the right major", the question to think about is: Is the major happy to learn? Do you have the confidence to develop your major into your future career? During the school phase, schools and families should provide students with a space to support their independent exploration of their professional interests, so that they can learn as well and successfully as possible. When choosing a job, young people also need to consider their professional knowledge and work content again: if they only see the profession as a stepping stone, they must consider the possible challenges of the "mismatch" between the profession and the job in the future. If you regard your profession as a basic skill to complete your job, you need to use the platform of your job position to continue to explore the growth points of your ability and expand your career space while giving full play to your professional ability. Of course, if you have the confidence and ability to build a career worthy of long-term work from the professional field, you can be said to have found a career in life, which will surely make people harvest a fulfilling, happy and meaningful picture of life. Even if you use "cost-benefit" thinking to make choices, you must have a longer-term vision, combine short-term job search with long-term development, and consider it holistically.
Finally, professionalism is still an education in the end, which is destined to have a long-term impact on young people's temperament and thinking. The discipline is not only a "processing factory" for cultivating professionals for the division of labor in society, but also the foundation of the discipline lies in the specialized knowledge formed by human beings in the natural, social and technological fields; Subject learning is not to "pour" economic knowledge into students' heads, but to pass on condensed life experience and wisdom, and bring students a set of thinking systems to see the world. Professional learning is also a day-to-day training and edification, sharpening habits and conveying values. In the face of a long and inevitably bumpy career path, the ideological wisdom and mental experience contained in a good professional education will send young people the spiritual power to overcome difficulties in the wind and waves.
3. The best time to start the internship in the junior and senior years is the most appropriate
Student question: What should I think about internships? Is an internship an important factor in finding a good job?
Wang Dongliang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China Electric Power University: Internship is a very important part of your career. During the internship, students can enter the real working environment, learn more about specific career requirements, and narrow the psychological gap between "real workplace" and "ideal workplace"; Be able to understand the matching degree of their own career interests, abilities and positions, and help students better plan their career development; It also allows students to apply what they have learned in the real world to prepare for the future.
Previously, when I was doing career guidance work, I was often asked by students: "Is it too late to start looking for an internship in my junior or senior year?" "Actually, in my opinion, when is the most appropriate internship, you can't generalize. Some students think that the earlier the internship, the better, and many students will look for internship opportunities in their sophomore year or earlier, but younger students tend to have full courses, high study pressure, and it is difficult to balance study and internship. In addition, the professional knowledge of junior students is not deep enough, and their ability to deal with problems is limited, which is not conducive to finding high-quality and appropriate internship opportunities.
In the junior and senior years, students have a deeper understanding of the major, more professional knowledge and skills, and a more flexible schedule, which will make students more confident in the internship process. In addition, junior and senior students also have some thinking and exploration on career planning and target job content, and can more purposefully look for internship opportunities related to career goals. Therefore, under comprehensive consideration, it is relatively suitable to find an internship in the junior and senior years, which can better balance study and internship and prepare for the subsequent career.
In particular, students must value internships, which are often seen as one of the most important factors in finding a good job. Through the internship, students can gain career experience related to their major, improve their comprehensive ability and professional and technical ability, and become familiar with the company culture and work process. These experiences and skills are competitive in the future job search process, in order to stand out from the many candidates and get the job opportunities you want.
When recruiting companies, HR will value graduates with rich internship experience, especially those related to the recruitment position. On the one hand, they will assume that candidates with these internships will be able to adapt and complete the work tasks faster. On the other hand, graduates have internship experience related to the recruitment position, and recruiters will think that graduates are interested in deepening in this industry, can work stably for a long time, and bring greater benefits to the company.
However, it is important to note that internship experience is not the only determining factor. Finding a good job also involves factors such as professional matching, personal comprehensive ability and so on. Therefore, when looking for a job, students need to combine internship experience with other factors and fully demonstrate their abilities and potential to increase their chances of finding their dream job.
4. Strive to become an X-shaped talent
Student question: It is not easy to find a satisfactory job nowadays, and it is difficult to continue your studies. Faced with such a situation, how should we choose?
Xu Tao, professor of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Tongji University: Although the current economic situation continues to improve, the employment pressure is still great, especially the number of college graduates in 2023 has broken a record high. At the same time, the number of applicants for postgraduate examinations in 2023 will reach 474.20 million, the acceptance rate will not exceed 300%, and more than <> million postgraduate students will not be on the list. Under the dual pressure of "difficulty in employment" and "difficulty in entering graduate school", how to choose has become a challenge they have to face.
In this regard, students must first understand the essence of education. In the race to the future of life, universities provide a fair opportunity and starting point for tens of millions of students. For students, the purpose of studying a certain major or course is not to memorize "facts" or knowledge, but to gain wisdom and the formation of creative thinking habits: the autonomous way of understanding the world and the unique role played in this world, so as to connect themselves with all things in the universe, the past, present and future of human civilization, and on the basis of creative and independent thinking, find the meaning of life, be responsible for their own life and future, and become the person they want to be. To this end, students need to get out of the cognitive and mental "involution" and "internal friction", and realize that the rewarding work in the future will be the work that artificial intelligence or computers cannot do. Such work requires students to develop an innovative spirit to solve problems they have never encountered before or to create a new future.
Students also need to carry out activities beyond disciplinary restrictions. While artificial intelligence and digital technologies are disrupting the traditional job market, they are also creating entirely new jobs, and no one can predict what kind of work will be in the future. Whether it is graduate school entrance examination or employment, you must go beyond the limitations of disciplines, discover and explore your true potential, and follow your enthusiasm and interests, rather than being limited by temporary "hot spots" and "hot spots". In other words, in the choice and learning of majors, the vision should go beyond the "single tree", see the "forest", do not succumb to the short-term trend, let alone close themselves in the cage of a single knowledge in the "involution" and become a "hermit" who is out of touch with society and the times, but expand the boundaries of thinking, knowledge and ability through interdisciplinary learning, give priority to learning those things with life value, and learn for the unknown and the future driven by curiosity and imagination, so as to win the future workplace competition.
Students should strive to become X-shaped talents. Given the current complex and dynamic employment environment, companies need employees who can quickly adapt to new tasks and challenges, and have the mindset of engineers, businesses, leadership and teamwork. Type X talents refer to creativity-driven talents who have two or more subject expertise or field capabilities, and can self-iterate, flexibly control and dare to explore in terms of depth of knowledge, breadth of ability and creativity of thinking. For example, for X-type product developers, they not only have systematic knowledge and capabilities in product development, brand, user needs, etc., but also have deep insight, unique insights and innovation on product and market trends, and can create disruptive products and lead market changes.
Of course, there is never a perfect solution to "difficulty in employment" and "difficulty in entering graduate school", nor a standard answer, nor a secret of "once and for all" and "one trick to win". Every college student needs to find or create their own track in the arena of life and career, and treat life as a marathon with perseverance and enduring enthusiasm, not a sprint sprint. Remember, the pursuit of excellence will pay off.
(Reporter Jin Haotian, correspondent Chen Qiuying, Guangming Daily)