Text/Hua Zhuoma
The number of college graduates this year is expected to exceed 11.7 million, setting a new high.
Now is the "Gold, Three, Silver and Four" recruitment season. What changes are there in the job market?
How should graduates apply for jobs in a targeted manner?
Many industry insiders told China News Service that with the development and changes of technology and industry, there is a large demand for talents and more employment opportunities in some emerging industries.
At the same time, some fields that are not favored in traditional employment concepts actually offer good wages.
Emerging industries create new jobs
Li Hongjian, a lecturer at the China Institute of Labor Relations, told China News Service Guoshi Express that traditional manufacturing, real estate and other industries that absorbed a large number of talents in the past have experienced a decline in their ability to absorb employment due to their own development and technological substitution.
But at the same time, with the rise of the digital economy and the development of industries such as artificial intelligence and new energy, there is a relatively large gap in R&D and application talents related to these emerging industries.
The spring recruitment of major Internet companies has been launched recently. China News Service's through-train query found that Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent have all issued AIGC multi-modal senior algorithm engineers, Hunyuan AIGC algorithm researchers, and Hunyuan large model product managers. Multiple jobs related to Sora.
At the same time, major domestic technology companies and various small and medium-sized technology companies have also announced AI-related positions.
Li Qiang, executive vice president of Zhaopin Recruitment, pointed out to China News Service Guoshi Express that driven by new momentum, high-end manufacturing, new energy and the service industry that meets the needs of industrial upgrading have shown good development momentum.
In the future, the prospects for skilled positions and professional service positions are bright.
He said that driven by policy support and the digital transformation of the industry, the recruitment scale of high-end manufacturing remains high.
According to the monitoring statistics of Zhaopin Recruitment’s online recruitment database, in the third week after the Spring Festival in 2024, the number of job openings in the industrial automation and aerospace research and manufacturing industries in the high-end manufacturing field increased by 6.5% and 6% respectively from the previous month.
High-end manufacturing continues to make efforts, driving recruitment of manufacturing positions such as packers, general workers, and technicians to increase by 11.7% and 8.9% month-on-month, and there are many employment opportunities for skilled positions.
In addition, the new energy industry has a bright future.
In the first week after the Spring Festival in 2024, the recruitment demand for new energy, electrical and power industries increased by 14.5% year-on-year, and the recruitment demand for energy conservation and energy engineers increased by 34.9% year-on-year.
Some industries can apply for jobs at "staggered peaks"
Some industries face difficulty in recruiting workers due to constraints such as traditional employment concepts, but in fact the pay is good, and graduates can also find jobs at "staggered peaks".
Chen Xiaoxia, a senior talent development consultant who once taught at Xiamen University Jiageng College, conducted a high-quality employment survey for the Xiamen Jimei District Human Resources and Social Security Bureau last year. She told China News Service that the country is a through train for some manufacturing, agricultural and rural related industries, such as Upstream and downstream industrial chains such as agricultural product processing, flower planting, medicine, and health care are in great demand for college graduates.
Under the influence of traditional employment concepts such as "excellence in learning leads to official employment", it is difficult for these industries to recruit college graduates, but in fact the remuneration for management trainees and reserve cadres is very good.
Li Qiang also said that the recruitment volume in the processing and manufacturing industry increased by 12.4% year-on-year in the first week after the holiday, and the delivery volume soared by 41.9% year-on-year. The delivery growth rate was significantly higher than the recruitment growth rate, indicating that there were not many people delivering goods.
However, there was still a 10.6% month-on-month recruitment growth rate in the second week, indicating that although there are many applicants, there are few who meet the requirements, and the industry still needs corresponding talents.
In addition, as my country's aging population deepens, the elderly care industry is also facing a large talent gap.
Ma Qiji, director of the Institute of Aging Society of Pangu Think Tank, reminded job seekers that the elderly care industry has only slowly gained attention in recent years, and there is still a lot of market space, all of which require college graduates.
Ma Qiji told China News Service Guoshi Express that the talent gap in the elderly care industry mainly lies in four major aspects:
The first is elderly care services, elderly care, elderly health care, elderly home care, medical services, etc. in the traditional sense;
The second is to develop talents in the culture, tourism, education, training and other markets for the elderly;
The third is social workers for the elderly, including groups serving the elderly in communities, streets, neighborhood committees, and public welfare organizations;
The fourth is talents for age-appropriate transformation of household products and smart products for middle-aged and elderly people.
With the trend of population aging, society needs more and more product development, design and service talents who can adapt to the cognition, reaction level, psychological preferences and living habits of the elderly.
Although there is a large talent gap in the elderly care industry, Ma Qiji also admitted that the current career development path related to elderly care services is not very complete and the salary level is relatively low. The elderly care market is not a high-profit market that can explode in a short period of time.
In the future, on the one hand, universities need to cultivate talents related to the elderly care industry; on the other hand, the industry itself also needs to establish a complete talent flow mechanism and good career development channels.
Experts recommend "get a job first, then choose a career"
The development of the digital economy has created more flexible jobs.
According to Li Qiang’s observation, companies now pay more attention to the diversity and flexibility of talents. Under the guidance of diversified employment relationships, it is expected that there will be more and more part-time and flexible employment positions in the future.
The government is also constantly improving the flexible employment system, and the national coordination of pension insurance provides better social security for flexible employment personnel.
With the rapid development of emerging industries and companies becoming more and more inclined to flexible employment, Li Hongjian suggested that college graduates should establish the concept of "employment first, then choose a career", improve their employability through "learning by doing", and update their knowledge in a timely manner systems and skills to reduce unemployment risks during industrial transformation and upgrading.
Chen Xiaoxia suggested that graduates should look rationally at positions that are too competitive. For example, they do not have to squeeze into the "single-plank bridge" of public examinations. They should "listen to their inner voice" and embrace all walks of life with an open mind. Choose a position that suits you based on your knowledge structure and preferences.
"If you are restricted by a single standard and are slowly 'landed', it will easily damage your self-confidence, and your competitive advantage will gradually be lost." She suggested that college graduates should go to the field to learn about different industries.