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Graduates go on ‘sale’ in online innovation
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AMID a fiercely competitive job market, one university in China has come up with a novel way of promoting its graduates as good hires.
Kunming University in the southwestern province of Yunnan has set up an online store to “sell” its students to potential employers.
Since the President He Hua announced the new site last month, the Kunming University Talent Store on leading e-commerce platform Taobao.com has been attracting widespread attention from both home and abroad.
“This is a trial,” said He, one of China’s youngest and most innovative university chancellors. “I want to use Taobao to build a bridge between companies and students. It helps us understand changes and trends in the job market, and also helps students deal with harsh employment conditions this year.”
For its launch, the store posted the names, pictures and specialties of 65 top graduates from the university. Three have already landed jobs.
The university’s resort to the Internet as a solution provider is perhaps not so surprising in the world’s biggest– and perhaps most obsessive — digital market.
Kunming University graduated 4,500 students in June. They are part of a record 7.5 million students graduating from Chinese mainland universities and colleges this year. Although employment data in the last two years suggest that 90 percent of graduates find jobs, many don’t land the kind of work they want.
Indeed, a report issued by the MyCOS Institute, a solutions company focused on advanced education in China, said a third of students who graduated last year said they are “not satisfied with their present jobs.”
The Kunming University Talent Store is trying to improve their chances of finding rewarding employment.
The system works like this. Prospective employers can scan the store’s website for potential recruits. If they find someone of interest, they are required to pay a 1,000-yuan (US$161) “deposit” to gain access to full details and contact information for a particular student.
The website vets the depositors to make sure they are legitimate businesses. The deposit, designed to weed out cranks, is refunded within a week, whether a hire eventuates or not.
The site has already attracted nearly 500,000 clicks, with more than 72,000 people visiting it at one time, Taobao said.
According to the university, more than 50 companies have expressed interest in arranging interviews with students.
On the front page of the store, the students provide general resumes, career ambitions and preferred salaries. Some don’t hold back in self-promotion.
Feng Chao, a senior student in the College of Economics, had this eye-catching description under his name:
“Sales and marketing talent on the way! A sober and reliable business administration man! I never shy away from work!”
Feng said he received an interview offer from a company and sailed through it.
“They told me I could start work a week later,” said Feng.
Taobao declined to reveal any information about the identity of the employer.
Another student, Zhou Yue, from the College of Education, said she was excited when several companies wanted to schedule interviews with her.
“I think the idea is very creative,” said Zhou. “Usually we have to submit resumes to companies, but now they are coming to us. I think the willingness of companies to visit the website shows acknowledgement of the quality of our university and students.”
The director of the store is Liang Guohua, a teacher with the College of Economy. He said he has been operating his own online store on Taobao for five years, but the recruitment website is an innovative twist in the genre.
“We thought a lot about how to make everything reasonable and friendly for both companies and students,” said Liang. “We came up with several ideas. The ‘deposit’ is to prevent harassment by crooks.”
Liang said each candidate can be “tagged” by a maximum five companies. First come, first served. When the maximum is reached, the student is “taken off the shelf” and no longer listed on the store page.
The Sichuan Budu Electric Mobile Co tapped 10 students from the store. Yang Zongfu, president of the company, said he learned about the store on the Internet and believes it is an efficient way to recruit new employees.
“Traditionally, we can get to know prospective employees only through resumes,” said Yang. “The store gives us a more direct feeling about them, and we can talk to them on phones or through social media platforms before any interview.”
Liu Juanjuan, an official with the university’s administration office, said the idea for the site came out of the blue.
“We were talking with Alibaba, the operator of Taobao, about promotion of fruits and vegetables grown by our College of Agriculture,” she said. “And it suddenly it occurred to us: Why not ‘sell’ our new graduates as well?”
She said the university chose 65 graduates as the first “products.” The graphic design and operation of the store are handled by college staff.
“For example, our customer service people for the site are officials from the employment department of the university,” said Liu.
President He said new content will be added to the website in September. It will include information about the inventions and research achievements of students. In addition, students wishing to start up their own businesses can use the site to publish blueprints of their ideas to attract crowdfunding.
“It is our hope that the store will evolve into a valuable resource for our students,” he said.
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