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July 26, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Many graduates pick roads less traveled

By Wu Huixin | July 26, 2016, Tuesday | Print Edition

A record 15 million university and vocational school graduates in China are looking for jobs this summer, turning 2016 into what may be the worst-ever year for job-hunters.

Still, many of the young people facing that daunting prospect seem quite sanguine about their chances.

According to a report by the Tencent portal website, 48 percent of graduates are choosing to postpone the hunt for jobs, nearly a fifth have opted to continue their studies and 15 percent say they will try to start up their own business. Hangzhou ranks third after Beijing and Shanghai in terms of graduates not out pounding the pavement.

Sylvia Gao, 21, is a member of a youth entrepreneurship group. Instead of trying to get work at the state-owned company her parents chose for her, she decided to start an online shop on the e-commerce giant Taobao.

“I am not a puppet letting my parents pull my strings,” Gao said. “Times have changed and young people today want to do things their own way.”

Indeed, her parents hold traditional views and have refused to support her online business.

“Running a shop is not that easy,” her father said, with an exasperated sigh. “Today’s kids are unrealistic.”

However, not all parents agree. Some are happy to see their children as creative risk-takers.

Wang Qiang, a graduate from Hangzhou Electronic Science and Technology University, was given 300,000 yuan (US$45,000) by his father to help him open an aerial photography studio.

As a computer science major, Wang began to specialize in photographing the night skies while still in university. Although his Chenhe Culture & Creative Studio has been open for only a short time, the business is already making a profit as more companies and TV programs contact him with collaborative projects.

“My family is well-off but not wealthy,” Wang told Shanghai Daily. “I don’t want to be stereotyped. I just want to do something I like.”

Most of the 1990s-plus generation who are taking on roles as young entrepreneurs are trying to carve out careers in e-commerce, cultural industries and media.

At the top of many wish lists is wanghong, which refers to celebrities who trade on their fame to sell products online.

Wanghong economy

Industry watchers say 2016 is the “start-up year for the wanghong economy.” Many young people are finding success by hyping themselves on social media, gaining millions of followers and selling personal brand items online.

“Such an online platform can help me make friends and earn money at the same time, so why should I reject the idea?” JoJo Xiao told Shanghai Daily.

Xiao, 25, already has amassed thousands of followers on her social account. That may be small when compared to the big names in wanghong, but it’s enough to attract the attention of companies who want her to advertise their products and services.

“I upload my best-looking selfies online to share with my followers, and their positive feedback adds to my self-confidence,” Xiao said.

The glamour of wanghong doesn’t appeal to everyone in her generation. Many young graduates are following their social consciences, taking a year off and choosing to volunteer in non-governmental organizations that aid the sick, elderly and poverty-stricken.

Fifteen graduates from Zhejiang Science and Technology University will be traveling to work in impoverished villages in Sichuan Province this year, instead of looking for traditional jobs. They want to teach and assist in services aimed at children “left behind” when parents migrate to big cities for employment.

Despite the independent spirit of many young people, parental pressure to get a leg on traditional career ladders remains strong.

Ellie Lin, 26, and her brother Cameron, 23, come from a family that exemplifies the generational divide in today’s China. They are part of the young generation that considers government work and desk jobs boring and unchallenging. Their parents typify an older generation that valued stability and certainty in life.

Because of her parents’ nagging, Ellie quit a job she had in Hangzhou last year to go work in a state-owned company in her hometown in Lin’an County. Her mother and father are now putting pressure on Cameron to do the same.

“They want me to be a civil servant in our hometown, which is the most boring work I could ever imagine,” Cameron told Shanghai Daily. “To their minds, being a civil servant is stable and offers long-term security.”

He graduated from the Zhejiang Institute of Economics and Trade last month and had already found a job with an e-commerce company in Hangzhou when his parents intervened.

“Why he couldn’t just return home like his sister?” the father asked. “I cannot see good lifelong prospects for him in Hangzhou. Given the high real estate prices there and his low monthly pay, he cannot afford an apartment in Hangzhou. And how can he ever hope to get married without an apartment of his own?”

Ellie said she hopes her brother is stronger that she was in resisting parental pressure.

“I hope that he can live the life he wants and not follow in my footsteps,” she said. “A boring job is really torture, but I wasn’t brave enough to go up against my parents.”

Zhilian Zhaopin, China’s largest job-hunting platform, said in a report this month that the average monthly pay of Hangzhou’s white-collar workers is about 7,330 yuan, ranking fifth after Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

“My salary is below the average now, but that doesn’t mean it always will be,” Cameron said. “Big cities offer more opportunities than small counties. There is no going back.”

Hangzhou


 

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