Job seekers given a fair go by employers
The largest offline job fair in the past three years in Shanghai was held at ShanghaiMart on Saturday.
Offline job fairs are being organized citywide in Shanghai after China lifted COVID-19 restrictions, mirroring the quick rebound of China's economy and giving university graduates more confidence in gaining employment.
On Saturday, a job fair, the largest since 2020, was held at ShanghaiMart with more than 1,200 enterprises offering over 25,000 vacancies, including about 15,000 specially set for new university graduates. The employers are from industries ranging from advanced manufacturing and science to construction and catering.
Among them, 3,200 jobs offered a monthly salary of more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,438).
Meanwhile, the organizers also invited 120 enterprises from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces to join the fair, a move to promote sharing of talent resources and job opportunities in the Yangtze River Delta region.
The fair attracted about 17,800 job applicants who submitted over 35,000 resumes. About 10,000 employment intentions were reached, according to the Shanghai Employment Promotion Center, one of the organizers.
The venue is packed with job hunters.
Applicants formed a line of more than 1 kilometer long outside ShanghaiMart before the fair kicked off at 9:30am.
Soon after the door opened, the venue was packed with job hunters, with long lines in front of booths of some popular employers, such as Starbucks and Chery Automobile Co. Around 10:30am, the organizers began to ask job seekers who have submitted resumes to their favored enterprises to leave quickly for safety concerns.
A student, surnamed Feng, from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, was one of the earliest to enter the venue. She and her dorm mate arrived shortly after 8am.
"I think early birds may impress employers and can have more time to communicate with the enterprise representatives," said Feng. "Compared with online job fairs, I prefer face-to-face ones. You can get more feedback, not only acceptance of resumes, but also can read facial expressions and body language."
Feng said the signals were positive for her so far by 11am.
"I had very pleasant talks with four enterprises," she said. "They took in my resumes and invited me to follow-up interviews later."
Both employers and job hunters see positive signals at the fair.
Many students said they expected pay of more than 10,000 yuan per month.
"I'm looking for a job as a data analyst at an Internet company, and I found several such posts here today," said a statistic major surnamed Yao, from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. "According to the feedback from the enterprises I've talked with today, I think 10,000 yuan per month is possible."
Many enterprises said they have larger recruitment plans this year than the previous two years.
Spring Tour, a Shanghai-based travel business operator, said this year they have the largest-scale recruitment campaign in the past three years along with recovery of the tourism industry and welcome fresh university graduates.
A representative from Mabwell, a bioscience company based in Jinshan District, said the company is entering a rapid development period and needs more talent. To attract job hunters to work in the suburban area, it put up a poster promising transportation, accommodation and dining subsides.
A job fair was held at Shanghai Ocean University on Friday.
Offline job fairs are also being organized in local universities these days, soon after the beginning of the new semester.
On Friday, 140 enterprises gathered at Shanghai Ocean University in Lingang of the Pudong New Area with more than 700 job vacancies.
It attracted more than 3,000 students who submitted over 4,600 resumes, according to the university.
Sun Honggang, director of the university's employment service center, said employers were very active.
"We sent out invitations to enterprises on February 20 and more than 120 registered for the job fair in two days," he said. "The number of the participating enterprises is three times of the previous two years."
Zhou Guoliang, director of the Shanghai Employment Promotion Center, said the popularity of offline job fairs have shown the economic recovery trend and the positive prospect in the labor market.
Shanghai People's Congress on Saturday passed a new regulation to further promote employment. It states that the city will build up "15-minute employment service circles" to further improve the employment system in the city to serve both employers and employees and make contributions to the city's efforts in improving its business environment.
