Companies in Competition for Fresh Graduate CropFor those enterprises looking to stock their rosters with fresh talent, the war for the cream of 2001 graduate crop "officially'' began Monday.The Ministry of Education told companies and other groups they could begin recruiting students from this year's senior class on Monday. The ministry banned recruitment before Monday for fear that these activities could severely disrupt students and teachers who are trying to work. Resources with some of China's top universities show that the competition turned white-hot on the first day. Peking University (Beida), regarded as one of the best universities in China, hosted three recruitment meetings Monday and at least another 60 will be held in the remaining days of this year. Renmin University of China, another top university based in Beijing, also held four recruiting meetings yesterday, according to Fan Ding, an official from the university.Each meeting was sponsored separately by the Royal Dutch Shell Group, the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News, a Shenzhen-based company and a government department. Many groups, desperate for quality employees, disregarded the Ministry of Education's requirement that no recruitment efforts begin before Sunday. According to Fan, as of yesterday, nearly 600 enterprises, banks, government departments and other working units had contacted the university saying they have plans to recruit graduates. Renmin University received this information before Sunday but did not post any notices until Sunday in a bid to comply with the Ministry's regulations. Last Saturday, two days before the prescribed day, over 20 companies based in Shanghai, one of China's economic leaders, united to launch a joint-recruiting campaign in Beijing, with a firm determination to mine the capital for more talents. Led by the Shanghai Branch of the China Job Market, the companies, including giants like Shanghai Siemens, contacted Peking University, Tsinghua University and some other famous Beijing-based universities. Numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics indicate that only 6 per cent of Chinese living on the mainland have received higher education. This relative shortage of university graduates in an economy that is growing immensely is the main cause of the war for talent. But this does not mean university graduates can find jobs easily. In July this year, China saw a total of 1.07 million students graduate from university , including 60,000 post graduates, and many of them have met with difficulties in finding gainful employment. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |