Tag: Careers and Professions

For China’s Jobless Young People, Hostels Are the Place to Be

Media Library

In a youth hostel in downtown Shanghai, amid the dull roar of a hair dryer, the shriek of a blender and the lingering aroma of spicy instant noodles, Ethan Yi, 23, was pondering the state of the world. “Why can’t I, a college graduate, find a job?” Mr. Yi lamented as he sat in the hostel’s common room after a day of unsuccessful interviews. “Why is it only jobs that pay just $400 or $500 a month that want me? Sometimes I wonder, how can it be this hard?” That…

Chinese Workers Confront the Curse of 35

Media Library

When Sean Liang turned 30, he started thinking of the Curse of 35 — the widespread belief in China that white-collar workers like him confront unavoidable job insecurity after they hit that age. In the eyes of employers, the Curse goes, they’re more expensive than new graduates and not as willing to work overtime. Mr. Liang, now 38, is a technology support professional turned personal trainer. He has been unemployed for much of the past three years, partly because of the pandemic and China’s sagging economy. But he believes the…

China’s Youths, Stung by Years of Covid Rules, Fear Grim Job Future

Chin@Strategy

Mandy Liu, a 21-year-old university student in Beijing, believes that anyone who has lived in China during the pandemic can see that the country’s future is looking increasingly uncertain. Covid restrictions were stifling, and employment opportunities were grim. She is set to graduate next year with a degree in tourism management and has submitted more than 80 applications for jobs. She has not received a single offer. Many young people had followed what the Chinese Communist Party told them to do, only to be left disillusioned, Ms. Liu said. “What…

As Chinese Women Seek to Crack Male Professions, Schools Stand in the Way

Chin@Strategy

When Vincy Li applied to a prestigious police academy graduate program in China, she knew her odds of success were low. After all, the school set quotas, typically capping the number of female students at no more than a quarter of the student body. But her chances were even lower. When the school released admissions results earlier this year, just five out of 140 students who had tested into the program — less than 4 percent — were female, even though more than 1,000 women had applied. And the lowest-scoring…