This year’s graduates are expected to enter the most competitive job market in the nation’s history, with 6.99 million of them competing to gain employment in a slowing economy. A reporter from The Nanfang Daily paid a visit this week to several job fairs to get an idea of exactly how tough it would be for graduates.

Good luck kids.

Wang, an accountancy graduate from Guangdong University of Finance, has been looking for a job for almost 4 months and he graduates in just two months. A pharmaceutical company offered him a job but the deal fell through. He is now preparing for a second interview with a furniture company. Wang told the reporter that more than 20 of his classmates attended job fairs with him. So far, less than half have found employment.

The reporter attended four job fairs and learned some interesting facts. Among 700 graduates of Guangdong University’s Institute of Finance, less than 50% had found jobs. Only around half of 45 graduates from Guangzhou University’s School of Civil Engineering had got jobs.

The graduate employment rate is even lower than last year, according to the provincial Department of Education.

Zheng Guijun, a Marketing major from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies remained optimistic.
“Getting a job isn’t that difficult if you have the right attitude,” said Zheng. After a couple of setbacks, she decided to lower her standards and settle for something more realistic. She decided to do a three-month internship in a training centre for 2,000 RMB a month. After she passes the internship, she can get 4000 RMB.

Fu Xiu learned the same thing as Zheng. She believes having a future is more important than having a high starting salary. So she started to work in a foreign trade company with a basic salary of 3,000 RMB last year. Now, that salary has risen by 500 RMB because she did a good job.

Careers adviser Ning Guiying said that the class of 2013 were graduating into the toughest job market ever. “The supply of graduates from less distinguished schools vastly outweighs the demand,” said Ning. She also pointed out that Guangdong graduates would be competing with those from inland provinces who came here looking for opportunities.

So the message to graduates is: be resilient, open-minded, and willing to start at the bottom. Like this guy.