Society

Job hunting: a Beijing Hukou necessary

By Wang Qingyun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-01-12 16:25

Meng Zhonghua is going to graduate from the University of International Business and Economics in July this year. He has spent six years in the university- four years as a college student and two years as a post-graduate student in industrial economics.

Meng is frank about why he went to a graduate college two years ago, when the economic slowdown hit the country: "I was doing an internship at an IT company at that time, spending three hours on a subway train every day. I felt stressed competing with graduate student interns, and saw my classmates struggle to find a job due to the financial crisis."

How has the two-year post-graduate study helped in job-hunting? "It lets me enter the 'threshold'. Most jobs that I favor require a post-graduate degree, and I hardly saw an undergraduate in past job interviews," Meng said, pointing out a degree has become a necessity for job hunters, as employers sift through more and more graduate students in recent years.

He is determined about the kind of job he wants: a management job in a state-owned enterprise in Beijing that offers him no less than 6k a month and the Hukou for Beijing.

A Hukou, or a residency status in Beijing, often symbolizes access to the bounty resources and chances in the capital, something many have been striving for.

He sticks to his goals despite being faced with set backs, "I was declined by three employers in one day, a little 'devastated'." Now he has an offer that meets his standards, but is waiting for something better.

Speaking of settling in Beijing, the 23-year-old seems confident, "It's not that I haven't thought of the tough days ahead. But it's no use thinking what if with my salary I couldn't afford a house or a car. I believe things will solve themselves out as I survive the challenges."

Meng minored in law and passed the National Judicial Exam in 2009. He said the certificate has helped him greatly in finding a job, for it proves his abilities to an employer. But he thinks a better economic climate is most important for him to get an offer, "We really should thank the better environment, for I know what it was like in 2008."