A record high number of new college graduates are pouring into the job market, but the number of job positions has dropped drastically by 15 percent compared to just last year. So far, more than 7 out of 10 college students about to graduate are still jobless. But these numbers are not just figures, they’re real stories of students in a desperate search for jobs.

This bachelor degree certificate used to be a magic key for Chinese graduates to find a high-paid job. But here, it is just little more than a permission to rent a bed in a crowded job-seekers’ dormitory. As you can see, this is actually a three-room apartment, but it’s divided into several beds. This is a shelter for over 20 youngsters looking for jobs.

If you didn’t look at their resumes, you wouldn’t believe that these are some of China’s elite college graduates.

Some are new graduates from outside Beijing, others are last-year’s leftovers chased out of school dorms.

They all face the same problem: without a job, they can’t afford a proper place to live.

Most of them have refused to talk to our camera, they don’t want their families to see what they are going through.

And what about their job prospects?

A graduation season, haunted by the threat of unemployment.

7 million college students graduating at once, a record high in human history.

And the jobless rate is running dangerously high, 7 out of 10 are still unemployed, one month before graduation.

Due to the rapid expansion of college admissions, the number of grads has almost quadrupled in just one decade, way faster than China’s economic growth.

As China struggles to transform its economy, GDP growth has been reduced from almost double digits to just around 7 percent. And every one percentage point drop means more than one million jobs wiped out.

But despite all the challenges, these students still choose to stick it out. They believe no matter how hard life is, there will be silver lining.

One suit and an old umbrella, are basically all they have as they rush between job fairs in Beijing. For them, there is only one choice to keep on going, in the hope that the next interview could be the one.