Xiao Zhu, who graduated this year, makes a lot of effort to polish his resume and post it out - but he never accepts an invitation for an interview.

"It's a sign of obsessive compulsive disorder," explained Gao Yumei, vice-secretary-general of the Hebei Psychological Counselors' Association, who said Xiao had once failed a job interview and had found it impossible to go to another one.

Another client, Li Fang, had refused to go to a job fair unless she was accompanied by her parents, and she became reluctant to talk and refused to leave her home when the job-hunting season began, he said.