One in four Shenzheners wants to quit his or her current job and look for a new one, Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolitan News reported on February 11. But it is not going to be easy.

China’s employment situation is quite grim given that 2013 was described by the newspaper as the country’s “toughest employment season ever”. Almost seven million college graduates flooded into the country’s various job-hunting markets.

But the situation might be worse than what we had imagined, especially when Shenzhen, the country’s traditional boom town, is seeing 24.28% of its residents putting tiaocao, meaning job-hopping, on their New Year’s wish lists, according to a survey conducted by the newspaper.

The findings were echoed by a survey by Zhilian Zhaopin, a job search website. Zhilian’s results showed Shenzhen’s white-collar workers at among the least happy with their salaries.

Now that one has secured a year-end bonus (an important reason not to quit around the end of the year), job hunting in the city is in full swing, the newspaper said.

Dong Shasha is a case in point. A graduate from a Beijing college three years ago, Dong has changed jobs three times since graduation while working in the city’s advertising business.

Now she is hunting for another one, but is more cautious this time. As the job market gets tougher, a “naked resignation,” meaning quitting a job without another one lined up, is gradually losing its allure, the report said.

“I have been keeping an eye on various job posts since the end of last year. I am juggling between job interviews and my current job. A naked resignation is quite risky,” Dong said.

Yang Aogang, who received a job offer last year in the city’s telecommunication industry, is still weighing the pros and cons between his old job and the new one.

But compared with the 6.99-million graduates, who are probably still pounding the pavement for a job, Yang should be considered lucky.

Home page photo credit: Southern Weekly