A recent survey showed Chinese college graduates spent more money on job hunting, but higher costs have not lead to more offers.
The Central China Human Resource Market (CCHRM), a government-funded organization in central Hubei Province which held job fairs, surveyed 1,000 graduates from January to June.
Xue Li, a CCHRM senior human resource manager in charge of the survey, said, "We found the average cost of seeking jobs stood at about 2,000RMB ($290) a person." The average monthly income per capita of Wuhan, the provincial capital, was RMB1,617 so that over a month’s earning were going on job seeking.
A survey by Peking University of 16,388 graduates from 15 provinces, including Hubei, showed the cost of seeking jobs was RMB1,132 per person in 2007. The money was spent on resumes, interview clothing, communication and transportation.
However, flash resumes and new clothes did not necessarily lead to more offers.
According to a report issued by the China Association for Employment Promotion in March, 76% of the resumes the researchers collected from 19,893 respondents failed the evaluation of human resource experts.
The report said that most of the poorly-written resumes looked the same. They did not highlight the job seekers’ unique skills, experience or personality.
Employers paid the most attention to work or intern experience, but many graduates put lengthy description of academic courses.
China Daily said this year the country saw a record 6.11 million college graduates.