Survey Report on the Employment Situation of College Students
Author: Cai Wenqiang (Higher Education, Xuzhou Normal University)
Last updated: 2010-6-13
Abstract: In recent years, my country's higher education has been undergoing continuous reform. Higher education has accelerated the pace of transformation from "elite" to "popular". The number of college students has increased rapidly, and the employment problem of college students has become increasingly prominent. The global financial crisis in 2008 had a major impact on the economies of various countries around the world, and our country's economy was also affected. The job market was even worse, putting huge pressure on the employment of graduates in 2009, and the employment situation of college students was even more pessimistic. Through this practical investigation, we further understood and analyzed the employment situation of college students under the financial crisis, as well as the quality abilities and employment guidance that college students need to improve for employment, and sought ways to alleviate the employment pressure of college students.
Introduction
Affected by the international financial crisis and coupled with domestic structural problems, China's employment situation in 2009 will be extremely severe. In 2009, it is difficult for enterprises to fundamentally change the trend of declining demand for employment; returning migrant workers and new rural labor forces that need to be transferred will face the problem of difficulty in transferring employment, leading to an aggravation of rural unemployment; urban youth with low education and the growing scale It will be more difficult for graduates from large universities to find employment. With the rapid growth in the number of graduates in our country at this stage, the number of jobs available to the society is growing slowly, resulting in a very serious employment conflict. At the same time, the conflict between the marketization of graduate employment and the lagging employment outlook of graduates is very prominent. The trend of graduates finding employment in economically underdeveloped areas and at the grassroots level has not yet been formed, and the structural contradiction between talent supply and demand still exists, all of which affect colleges and universities. Employment of graduates.
Nowadays will be the peak employment period for graduates. In order to better understand the employment mentality of college students and their understanding of the current employment situation, we organized this survey to further analyze the employment prospects of college students. , in order to provide the school with information and countermeasures for future employment guidance work, and also enable college students to prepare for employment with the goal of improving employment competitiveness throughout their university studies, and cultivate the spirit and spirit of college students to pursue the best choice and best employment. quality.
This survey adopts the questionnaire survey method and conducts a sample survey. It is expected that 500 questionnaires will be completed, and 488 questionnaires will be recovered, of which 482 will be qualified, with a pass rate of 96.4%. Males and females accounted for 38% and 62% of the sample respectively. There are 123 liberal arts students, 183 science students, 116 engineering students, and 60 other music, sports, and aesthetics students. For the data collected in this survey, SPSS software was used to analyze the data.
1. Analysis of employment situation
1. Under the financial crisis, college students believe that the employment situation is more severe, but more than half think that the employment prospects are relatively optimistic
As for the current employment situation, 82.37% of college students believe that the situation is severe; and in terms of their attitudes towards their own development prospects, 82.37% of college students believe that the situation is severe. More than half chose to be very optimistic or relatively optimistic, accounting for 57.47%; when asked about the most troublesome factors in job hunting, 7.93% believed that the school's employment guidance was insufficient; 16.76% believed that the amount of information was small; 21.91% believed that there was a lack of understanding of professional knowledge about corporate positions; 10.30% believe that their abilities are insufficient; 8.99% believe that it is difficult to use their advantages; 16.52% believe that their job search methods and skills are lacking; 16.27% believe that they lack understanding of society.
2. When improving their own qualities, college students have shifted from traditional professional knowledge and skills to relevant work experience or internships
As for the qualities they lack, 9.75% of college students chose basic problem-solving abilities; 13.07% chose communication and coordination skills. ; 13.28% chose the ability to withstand pressure and overcome difficulties; 30.08% chose relevant work experience or internship experience; 22.2% chose professional knowledge and skills. Faced with graduates from prestigious universities, many graduates from ordinary universities will have an inferiority complex. So what will happen when everyone competes on the same stage to compete for jobs? Most college students think there is pressure, accounting for 72.2%.
3． The college students surveyed believe that the employment rate of graduates around them is generally lower than 70%, and their expectations for large salaries are generally lower.
The average employment rate of graduates and soon-to-graduate college students around them is 46.47 % believe that the employment rate is below 50%; 24.9% believe that the employment rate is between 50% and 70%; 6.22% believe that the employment rate is between 70% and 90%. College students believe that the current average employment rate of graduates is low and the situation is not very optimistic. Most people think that the employment rate is below 70%. In fact, according to surveys, the employment rate of fresh graduates from colleges and universities nationwide in 2009 was 68%, which is the same as last year. Basically the same as last year. Regarding the initial monthly salary for college students who started working after graduation, 67.43% chose 800-1,500 yuan; 23.03% chose 1,501-2,000 yuan; and 9.13% chose more than 2,000 yuan. Regarding job search salary (salary after probation period), it is mainly concentrated between 1,001 and 2,500. 5.39% think that job search salary is between 1,001 and 1,500; 23.65% think it is between 1,501 and 2,000; 24.90% think it is between 2001 and 2,500. ; 28.42% think it is between 2501-4000; those who think it is above 4001 account for 17.64%.
2. Analysis of employment trends
1. Most of the future employment positions of college students are concentrated in state-owned enterprises and government departments. The employment areas are mainly concentrated in economically developed cities or southeastern coastal cities. The overall trend is stable
The industry types of college students after graduation are mainly concentrated in state-owned enterprises and Government departments account for 51.74%, private enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises account for 7.39% and 14.35% respectively; 6.96% will start their own businesses. Developing their careers in more economically developed cities or southeastern coastal cities is still the choice of most college students, accounting for 47.30%; 23.03% choose large and medium-sized cities in central China to develop their careers. The reasons why college students choose the above-mentioned areas are mainly because they have greater development opportunities or good social resources, accounting for 56.64%; 16.62% choose this area because of good living conditions; and 7.29% choose this area because of the entrepreneurial environment; 10.87% reported back to their hometown; 2.30% and 6.27% respectively due to family arrangements or other reasons.
2. Most college students have thought about starting their own business, but funds and experience have become the bottlenecks for college students to start their own business
On the issue of self-employment, 70.12% said they have thought about starting their own business. College graduates should not just be the existing ones in society. Competitors for jobs squeeze out employment opportunities, but they should be pioneers of new jobs and bring employment opportunities to society. However, funds and experience are still the main bottlenecks restricting independent innovation of college students, accounting for 65.56%; those who believe that independent entrepreneurship most needs policy support and technology account for 10.17% and 14.17% respectively.
3． More than half of college students are willing to participate in the North Jiangsu Volunteer Service Plan and apply for village officials
As to whether they are willing to join the North Jiangsu Volunteer Service Plan, 55.6% of the respondents are willing to join the North Jiangsu Volunteer Service Plan. Regarding the choice of village officials, 5% of college students have signed up for the village official examination; 57% intend to develop into village officials, but their own conditions are not enough. This reflects that the employment concepts of contemporary college students are also undergoing new changes.
4. The majority of college students’ career choices are to find employment first and then choose a career. More than half of them believe that majors are more important in choosing a job in the future.
The survey data on career choices shows that 21.25% of the respondents hope to find a job in one step after graduation. Have a stable income; 55.83% hope to find employment first and then choose a career; 16.67% do not plan to be directly employed but to continue their studies; 6.25% plan to start their own business. A person's career development should be in the form of a ladder. According to one's own development level, one should seize various opportunities and continue to grow through one position after another. Therefore, when the time to obtain an ideal career is not yet ripe, you can adopt the approach of “employment first, then choosing a career, and then starting a business”. In other words, don’t have too high expectations when choosing a career. You can choose a career first, continuously improve your social viability, increase work experience, and then rely on your own efforts and through legitimate career mobility to gradually realize your self-worth. More than half of college students first consider financial income factors when choosing a job, accounting for 55%; 35% and 32% consider their own interests and work environment respectively; 43% consider whether it is beneficial to career development. 58.13% think that professional counterparts are important in choosing a job in the future; 8.75% think it is very important. In terms of their views on the prospects of their majors, the majority think that the majors they study have promising prospects, accounting for 65.15%; 7.68% think that the majors they study have great prospects.
3. Employment guidance
1. The teaching link that has the greatest impact on college students’ work during school is social practice
71.78% of college students believe that social practice has the greatest impact on work, 55.87% believe that professional knowledge is very important, and 23.65% chose vocational qualification certification. Basic theory and graduation project accounted for 9.54% and 6.43% respectively, and 6.85% considered other aspects of teaching.
2. The most important quality and ability cultivation for future employment is social communication skills. The most needed employment guidance is employment interview guidance
When it comes to choosing which qualities and abilities are most important for future employment, choose Social communication skills accounted for 75.52%, followed by psychological quality and the ability to discover and solve problems, accounting for 71.16% and 70.75% respectively. 49.38% also believed that organizational management skills are very important, and 46.47% chose innovation capabilities. This shows that current college students need to improve their overall quality and gradually develop into compound talents. 75.3% of college students believe that the employment guidance they need most is employment interview guidance; 54.4% need access to employment information; 41.7% need job recommendations; 40.7% need national employment policies; 18.9% What is most needed is entrepreneurship education; 17.2% need employment dispatch procedures; and 17% most need the production of employment guidance materials.
3． Most college students think career planning is very important
67.01% of college students think career planning is very important, but 18% are not sure whether it is important, and nearly one-tenth think career planning is not important. , 5% have not considered career planning.
4.54.3% of college students are basically satisfied with the school’s employment guidance work
54.3% are basically satisfied with the school’s employment guidance work; a considerable number of them think it is not very satisfactory Satisfied, accounting for 27.3%. This shows that there are still many deficiencies in the employment guidance work of schools, and the quality of employment guidance work in schools needs to be further improved.
5. The main channel for college students to obtain employment information is job fairs
The main channel for 23.2% of college students to obtain employment information is the school or department employment information column; 26.1% think it is job fairs; 5.6% think it is the school Employment website; 2.3% and 8.1% obtained employment information from their head teachers, teachers or relatives and friends respectively; a small number also obtained it through TV, newspapers and other media or other channels.
6. College students hope that business people and successful alumni will come to school to make employment reports. The main contents of the employment report are respectively the types of talents that companies need and how to prepare for employment during school.
11.4% expressed the hope that business people will come to school to find employment. The main content of the report is career planning; 55.6% hope to discuss what kind of talents the company needs; 8.7% hope to cover the company's development prospects and plans; 6.4% hope to cover the basic laws of market economy; 12% hope to explain the professional quality of employees . 62% of college students hope that the report will focus on how to prepare for employment during school, 9% hope that it will be about how to deal with interpersonal relationships at work, and 22% think that the main content of the employment report will be "factors for success."
IV. Countermeasures and Suggestions
As the impact of the international financial crisis intensifies, the downward pressure on the domestic economy has increased, and the employment situation, which was not optimistic in recent years, has become more severe. In order to reduce the adverse effects of the financial crisis, find paths and methods to solve the problem, and expand the employment of college students, it requires the joint efforts of the government, society, universities and college students.
1. Government: Create a good employment and entrepreneurship environment
First of all, the government should speed up economic development and create a good macro environment for the employment of college graduates. Secondly, the government needs to continue to attach importance to and promote social employment, further rationalize the graduate employment system, always adhere to the market orientation, and improve the liquidity of the labor market. Downplay the constraints of household registration on the independent choices of both supply and demand parties in the labor market, downplay the welfare and security functions of units, and provide corresponding supporting social security in aspects such as household registration, file management, and labor insurance. At the same time, we provide preferential policies to encourage college graduates to find jobs in rural and western regions, through job subsidies in urban communities and rural areas, student loan reimbursement, postgraduate entrance examinations, civil service examinations, and expansion of "three supports and one support" and "volunteer Plans such as “Serve Northern Jiangsu Plan” and “College Student Village Officials” provide various means to encourage graduates to work at the grassroots level. Third, encourage self-employment. College graduates should not only be competitors for existing jobs in the society and squeeze out employment opportunities, but should also be pioneers of new jobs and bring employment opportunities to the society. Survey data shows: 182 people believe that the most important thing for self-employment is funds, accounting for 37.76% of the sample. Insufficient funds are still the main bottleneck restricting college students' entrepreneurship. The government should introduce measures to encourage various capitals to invest in new high-tech entities created by graduates. Preferential policies; establish a college student entrepreneurship base and provide professional guidance, legal consultation, market analysis and other services to entrepreneurial college students; and provide special preferential treatment to self-employed college students in approval procedures, financial loans, industrial and commercial registration, taxation, etc. Fourth, expand the number of graduates enlisting in the military and expand the scale of graduate student enrollment. Allowing some outstanding graduates to join the People's Liberation Army will not only help improve the quality of the army, but also solve the problem of employment for some college students
For the employment of graduates with family difficulties, some assistance policies can be designated and introduced. The first is the unemployment registration system. Unemployed graduates are allowed to register for employment and enjoy preferential employment support policies for unemployed people. The second is the temporary assistance system. For those who are unable to find a job for a short period of time or who still have difficulties in living after employment, the civil affairs department of the place where their household registration has been moved should promptly provide minimum living security or temporary assistance to eligible college graduates in accordance with relevant regulations. The third is to prioritize the employment system. We will implement key recommendations and prioritize placement for graduates from extremely poor urban worker families and subsistence allowance families; for graduates from zero-employment families, we will use various methods such as government job placement to ensure minimum employment. The fourth is the free service system. Free training, free recommendation, and free service fees are provided to unemployed college graduates. The fifth is the employment apprenticeship system. By establishing an employment internship base for college graduates, 3 to 6 months of free internship training will be provided for graduates who are not yet employed, and the internship units and local financial departments will provide them with basic living subsidies.
2. Society: Concepts keep pace with the times, and services are considerate and thoughtful
It is imperative for our society to change the concept of employment for college students, and we must completely get rid of the long-standing stereotypes of dividing people into five classes and dividing officials. The shackles of the nine-level feudal ideology truly recognized the concept that workers have no distinction between high and low, and formed a social awareness of talents. At the same time, we will provide more services for graduates’ employment.
Graduates should appropriately adjust their employment expectations based on the supply and demand situation in the talent market. Universities cultivate not only social elites, but also ordinary social workers. It is normal for "talents from Peking University to sell their meat".
After all, economically developed regions and popular industries are in the minority, and their ability to absorb graduates is limited. However, a considerable number of places and industries that are not favored by college students have huge demand for college students. At the same time, it is recommended to establish a national employment information network, strengthen social demand forecast research and reporting, and truly provide graduates with meticulous and thoughtful employment services.
3． Colleges and universities: Education reform is urgent
(1) The employment situation of graduates has become an important indicator of measuring the effectiveness of colleges and universities. Who will fill the gap between school education, market demand and professional abilities? Under the current circumstances, colleges and universities have to shoulder this important responsibility. Colleges and universities should strive to improve the level of running schools, change their concepts, grasp the trend of internationalization of education, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of higher education around the world, and comprehensively improve the level of running schools. The reform of teaching in colleges and universities is closely integrated with the needs of social development and national construction. To continuously carry out educational reform, colleges and universities must be market-oriented, closely related to the actual situation of economic and social development, accelerate the adjustment of the professional structure of colleges and universities, and rationally allocate educational resources to cultivate marketable talents. Major settings and course structures must meet the needs of the market; systems such as "Feedback on the Employment Rate of College Graduates" and "Early Warning on the Application and Admission Ratio of College Students" should be established to scientifically formulate the scale of enrollment expansion based on different majors; increase the number of enrollments in majors that are urgently needed by the society, Control the development scale of long-term majors, and reduce the number of enrollments or even stop enrollment in majors with low teaching quality and unreasonable major settings.
(2) Develop vocational training institutions and boldly try school-enterprise marriage. In addition to weak hands-on ability, students who have just come out of school also have common problems with expression and communication skills. Schools should add vocational training institutions or increase professional quality education courses, including business etiquette, mental health, communication with others, integration into teams, etc. Combining professional quality training with internships can truly make graduation internships play a role in narrowing and bridging the gap between school education and market demand.
(3) Colleges and universities should strengthen employment guidance for graduates. Among the college students surveyed, 67.01% felt that career planning was important. Reposition employment guidance to become a part of students' ideological and political education. As life guidance for students, it meets students' needs for life development and career design. It runs through the entire university education, not only making up for the shortcomings of previous employment guidance, but also It also enriches the ideological and political education system for college students. Strengthen theoretical research and practical operations on employment guidance. In 2007, the Ministry of Education issued a document requiring that career planning for college students be gradually transitioned from an elective course to a compulsory course for all public colleges and universities, placing it on the same footing as traditional public compulsory courses. Carrying out career planning for college students is an effective means to innovate ideological and political work in colleges and universities in the new era; systematic and scientific career planning can find career goals suitable for individual development for students, and improve students' self-confidence by decomposing goals through a detailed process; in addition, good Awareness of goals prompts students to make full use of time resources to engage in useful activities, thereby reducing their chances of being exposed to bad information, which is particularly important in today's information society. Build an employment guidance system that adapts to social development in colleges and universities, establish complete employment guidance goals and guidance content, form effective employment guidance methods and means, gradually promote employment guidance throughout the university period, and promote employment guidance at the same time Provide life education to students and improve their recognition of quality education and their enthusiasm for participation.
(4) Self-employment is the requirement of the times and a direction for the reform of the employment system of college graduates in my country. It also puts forward higher requirements for the employment guidance of college students. It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them how to fish. UNESCO proposed that the “third passport” of learning is entrepreneurial ability. It has become a trend in my country's higher education to attach importance to entrepreneurship education for college students and formalize and institutionalize it in college tutorials.
Entrepreneurship education is a systematic project that cultivates entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial awareness, entrepreneurial thinking, entrepreneurial skills and other comprehensive entrepreneurial qualities through various available education methods, and ultimately enables the educated to possess Certain entrepreneurial abilities. Entrepreneurship education should focus on changing students' employment concepts, so that students can change from passive employment concepts to active entrepreneurial concepts, encourage students to regard entrepreneurship as their career choice, and combine their professional skills and interests to create their own desired value. Self-employment is an important form for individuals to exert their subjective initiative in solving employment problems. In 2003, Jiangsu University established a student entrepreneurship school. Wuhan University also announced that it would allow students to take a leave of absence to start their own businesses, established a college student entrepreneurship fund, organized experts and professors to write entrepreneurship course materials, and added "entrepreneurship courses" to all undergraduates to teach capable students to "be bosses." Research on graduates' self-employment policies, the possibility and quality requirements of self-employment, implementation approaches and development trends, and guidance on graduates' self-employment are also topics that universities should strengthen research on.
4. College students: Be self-reliant, strive to enhance their overall quality, and establish a scientific outlook on employment
First of all, strive to improve their overall quality. Contemporary college students must have the character to integrate their career with the progress of the country, the development of society and human civilization, advocate truth, goodness and beauty, adhere to the truth, have a strong sense of professionalism and responsibility, have good professional ethics, and establish a correct world view, View of a person's life, values.
College students should strive to be knowledgeable, have a reasonable knowledge structure, have certain scientific and cultural qualities, have an innovative spirit, and a random and flexible way of thinking, so that they can vary according to people, times, and events. Have a good psychological quality, face more fierce social competition, be able to view changes as opportunities and difficulties as a smooth road, have strong self-control, firm beliefs, and be full of expectations and enthusiasm for life. At the same time, good physical fitness is required. Poor health will weaken the decision-making ability of talents, because if physical strength and endurance are required to achieve goals, a person may give up due to lack of physical strength. In addition to quality, we also need to pay attention to the cultivation of ability. Ability is the external manifestation of a person's quality and is the part of content that directly plays a role in society. In the current society, college students must cultivate themselves as much as possible, including the ability to process information and handle interpersonal relationships. ability, the ability to view things systematically, the ability to handle people and resources well, the ability to use technology, etc. Secondly, strengthen social practice. College students can use their vacations to actively participate in social practice, combine the theoretical knowledge they have learned with practical work, improve their ability to deal with practical problems, and accumulate work experience. Third, correct employment positioning. At present, college students should face reality when choosing a job, update their concepts according to the actual market conditions, change their ideas, and work in the position that suits them best. They should not pay too much attention to salary level and geographical location. Only in this way can they give full play to their intelligence and talents. Finally realize the value of life. Fourth, use various channels to seize employment opportunities. Currently, college students can use talent exchange meetings, online resources and other channels to find suitable employment positions, proactively and boldly promote their true talents, and cherish and seize hard-won employment opportunities. Fifth, get a job first and then choose a career. Faced with the severe employment situation, college students should change their outlook on employment as a last resort - find a job first and then choose a career. You can no longer pursue a one-step approach to job hunting and career selection as in the past. If you worry about whether the career position in front of you is ideal, you will lose many opportunities to start. , you can accumulate work experience during the first employment process, greatly improve your self-worth, and lay the foundation for finding an ideal job in the future.
5. Employers: employ people scientifically and be good at being talented
First of all, employers should establish a scientific view of talents, change the theory of empiricism and academic qualifications only, abandon employment discrimination, and encourage everyone to contribute and compete. Become a talented person. Secondly, the selection criteria must be reasonable. Employers must formulate relevant job descriptions and detail job responsibilities based on their own scale, nature, development status, and position actualities. According to the requirements of the positions, they should formulate reasonable selection criteria and determine the quality and quantity of recruited personnel. Third, determine scientific recruitment procedures. It is necessary to determine the recruitment and assessment procedures, formulate the assessment content, and select the best candidates after conducting assessments according to the procedures.
Summary
This survey is limited to colleges and universities in Xuzhou area. Time is short. Although the data collected cannot fully reflect the employment status of college students in China today, these data basically reflect the financial situation. The employment situation of college students is severe under the crisis. The financial crisis has made my country's employment situation more severe. The difficulty in finding employment among college students has aroused widespread concern from all walks of life. Under this circumstance, we investigate and analyze the employment situation of college students and explore ways to solve the difficulty in finding employment among college students. Alleviating and solving the employment difficulties of college students not only relies on economic development, but also requires institutional reform and concept updating. Solving graduate employment is a systematic project that involves the government, society, schools, students themselves, and enterprises. It requires the joint efforts of government management departments, universities, society, enterprises, including the graduates themselves. The government should pay attention to the social division of labor in the employment of graduates. Continue to promote the reform of the employment system and clarify the responsibilities and management authorities of the state, universities, labor and personnel and other government departments. Establish the school's status in the student employment process and the rights and obligations it should assume. Accelerate the establishment and improvement of the employment mechanism for college graduates that is suitable for my country's national conditions, so that the employment of graduates can get out of the current predicament and get on the right track.
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