 College graduates have different opinions than their parents when it comes to choosing jobs. Stability is no longer their main concern. Some even choose to go to the impoverished western areas of China to follow their dreams.
There are several pivotal stages in our life when we have to make choices to determine our future. The choice of profession after college graduation is among the most important. One Chinese saying goes that men are afraid of choosing a wrong trade while women are afraid of marrying a wrong man. We fear instability. But the old saying doesn’t hold water today as both men and women are free to change their choices by either taking different their jobs and even changing spouses. This makes the first choice no less difficult, however. Facing the most important choice in their life, college graduates still hold differing views.
Young people are often envied for the many choices they have, but for these young graduates, problems still exist. For instance, some shun the mention of China’s western areas where people still live a relatively poor life; while some may get zealous about the immense opportunities lying in that vast land. Whether they stay in big cities or move to poor areas, it is hard to say who will really succeed in the end. Whichever they choose as their road through, we wish them a successful journey.
College Graduates
“I want to set up a company of my own.”
“My biggest dream is to become a helping wife and good mother, with a family, and not have to work. I’ll just stay at home and put my heart and soul taking care of my family.”
“I want to become a rich person both spiritually and materially, with a lot of experience. I hope I will be able to earn enough money to travel around the world with my beloved wife.”
“I want to study another major outside English, because I think the English language serves only as a tool. I wish I could learn a special major so that I can play a more important role in my future job.”
It was a superb and for many the only opportunity for intellectual youth sent out to the countryside to come back to cities in 1977 when China resumed its college entrance examination after 10 years of absence during the Cultural Revolution. A college degree would ensure that the youth stay in the cities after graduation and be assigned good jobs. Today, more than two decades have passed. The college entrance examination still holds an extremely important place in students’ lives. Instead of waiting for the university or government to allocate them to jobs as in their parents’ generation, college graduates today are very independent and have many more choices. Their sense of value and their choices of employment sometimes go far beyond their parents’ understanding. There is one problem though, they often aim too high.
“The enrollment quota of high school graduates in the 1980s was below 5 percent. The recruitment of China’s higher education at the time was about selecting elites. From statistics I’ve learned, college recruitment reached 15 percent last year, and we’re in a stage when more people can enter college. College students shifted from their role as the once God-Chosen Few to being ordinary members of society. The number of resident and graduated college students is increasing. I think today’s college students should adjust their mindset while choosing jobs, with care and support from the society and schools. They should lower their standard a bit. China advocates flexibility and independence in choosing employees and jobs. They will realize their value in all social sectors and in all kinds of social practice,” said Dr. Cao Wenze from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
In order for more students to have the chance to get well educated, China began to enlarge college enrollment in 1999. That was the year when this year’s graduates entered college. It is true more students are able to receive college education, it is also true that they will have to face fiercer competition in the job market as they graduate, since the vacant posts do not necessarily increase at the same rate as the graduation rate. Twenty percent more students are graduating this year than last year and new policies concerning graduate employment have been launched. Graduates are encouraged to initiate their businesses or go west to help develop China’s impoverished area. These four young people from the Beijing Foreign Studies University have different ideas and encounter different problems seeking jobs.
College Graduates
“My family wants me to go to departments of national ministries or commissions. They think that I may make good use of my specialty as a foreign language student in foreign affairs department of these units; and the job is very stable.”
“One principle I observe in seeking jobs is whether I can realize my personal values in the job. I still remember one teacher asking me about my own values during an interview. I said it must at least be a job where I can bring my talents into play.”
“Many fellow students are talking about the importance of their first employment. Some say that today’s young people will change their jobs very frequently. So I am just struggling between choosing to be stable for several years or just pick up one job and jump to another one once it doesn’t suit me.”
“Parents’ opinions have always been very important. While there is no new choice, I would often think of talking it over with my parents or get ready to argue with them; because I know they hold different ideas. They’ve been public servants their whole lives and have never changed their jobs. They love their career and feel satisfied with a happy life and family. They hope their children will follow in their footsteps.”
Yong people should settle down and do something practical in the first few years. Do one job and do it well. Don’t just try everything but excel in nothing; it’s very harmful. But you may find what you are really fit for once you have worked for several years and have acquired expertise in one field and gained a balanced understanding of the society.
Choosing jobs for these young people is about choices of employment as well as the choices of life style. They no longer identify with their parents’ viewpoints and world outlook. They are innovative and informed.
People’s world outlook has been changing. The parents’ generation tried hard to come back to cities after staying in the countryside for years, while their children today choose to go to the impoverished western areas of China upon graduation to fulfill their dreams. China’s Western Development Strategy provides these graduates many opportunities for their future development.
College Graduate
“As to why I applied to go west, there are three reasons. First, as contemporary college graduates, we should have a strong sense of responsibility. We should integrate personal destiny with the destiny of our country and the well being of the people, associate our wisdom with the great cause of building a comprehensively prosperous society. For instance, college graduates should go to where they are most needed to establish their career. Secondly, I have been doing voluntary services like the Students’ Union’s part-time job services, in the University and also in the fight against SARS. In the process I learned that being a volunteer spreads the spirit of devotion, compassion, mutual aid and progress. It is a good opportunity to further spread this spirit and bring our advanced culture and concepts to the west. I’m proud of being a volunteer. Thirdly, college graduates should change our concepts about choosing jobs. We may get far away from big cities, but we are not far away from success, and to achieve a big success, we should find ourselves a bigger stage.”
Colleges and universities are where these graduates acquired their professional knowledge, it is also the place where they learned to form their world outlook. Full of joys and sorrows, successes and failures, they will recall their college lives their whole lives.
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