Graduates face grim hunt for work

Low job satisfaction

Li Yang, director of the Vocational Counseling Center at China Agricultural University, said he has sensed a change in recruitment patterns.

"Many large companies that cooperated with our university have trimmed their recruitment quotas considerably because of the economic slowdown," he said.

"We used to set high standards when selecting the companies allowed to recruit graduates at our campus job fairs. But this year, we've had to lower the bar and a greater number of companies have become involved. We just haven't had enough applications from large, well-known businesses."

Usually, the university's last campus job fair is held in May. However, this year, in response to student demand, the college hosted a second large fair in mid-June.

"The results of the last fair seem to have been positive, although the final statistics are not yet available. The employment rate is likely to be similar to last year, but the job satisfaction rate is much lower," Li said.

Yang Shucheng, director of the Vocational Counseling Center at Dalian University of Technology in Liaoning province, expressed similar concerns.