News and Opportunities
Inaugural Austrade China Careers Fair generates national media attention
27 Jun 2012
The inaugural Austrade China Careers Fair in Shanghai in April generated broad national media attention and enthusiastic responses from around 1200 participants. The pilot event pioneered a shift in education promotion from ‘before’ to ‘after’ to enhance and differentiate the brand positioning of Australia as a study destination in the China market.
It was the first large-scale careers fair of its kind hosted by a foreign government in China.
This pilot event aimed to re-position Australia as a high quality education provider, demonstrating the value of Australian education through job outcomes and career opportunities. It pioneered a shift in education promotion from ‘before’ to ‘after’ to enhance and differentiate the brand positioning of Australia as a study destination in the China market.
The ACCF was a multi-layered initiative with two key components:
- an online platform over a one-month period for Chinese graduates from Australian universities to seek and apply for jobs in China
- a Careers Fair Day for graduates to meet Australian and Chinese companies in exploring career options and opportunities.
The fair also provided opportunities for Australian universities to engage alumni and build corporate links.
The ACCF, co-organised with Zhaopin.com with strong support from the Australia Chamber of Commerce and Australia China Alumni Association, generated broad national media attention and enthusiastic responses from all participants. Key outcomes were:
- 15 Australian universities joined this initiative and sent staff from their career, alumni and/or international offices to attend the Careers Fair in Shanghai
- 1306 graduates from those universities pre-registered through the Zhaopin.com platform
- 1200 visitors, primarily graduates, attended the Careers Fair from different parts of China (from as far as Shenyang, Qingdao, Wuhan and Guangzhou), plus some travelled from Australia to attend the Shanghai event. The first graduate arrived at 8am, two hours before the official starting time
- 43 companies participated in this event including the six Australian Anchoring Enterprises (ANZ Bank, BlueScope Steel China, CPA Australia, National Australia Bank, Rio Tinto and WorleyParsons China) and those among the top China 500. Many companies attracted long queues throughout the day
- Connections have been developed between participating universities and companies for future links in internships and work experience programs
- The ACCF attracted extensive pre- and post-event media coverage, resulting in 42 media clippings from nine provinces or regions in China, which have been reprinted more than 20 000 times online
- 455 jobs were advertised and 3800 applications submitted from the pre-registered graduates by 30 April at the conclusion of the online job recruitment platform. The click rate for the employer portal home page was 204 251 and each Anchoring Enterprise attracted approximately 150 000 click rate or above
- In terms of the job demand in China, the company and job placement data from the ACCF showed interesting insight on ‘where the jobs are’ in China. Participating universities will receive detailed data through the event report to help inform their future career advice and marketing strategies.
Students queue to speak to companies at the inaugural Austrade China Careers Fair in Shanghai.
Austrade has received very positive feedback about this event from participating universities and companies, as well as graduates. As a result, Austrade is currently considering ways to support and follow up the outcomes of the Austrade China Careers Fair.
For more information about the response to the ACCF, please refer to this Australian China Connection report.
Analysis
The employment market in China is becoming increasingly competitive as Chinese students educated overseas are returning to China in growing numbers.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in China*, the number of Chinese students who had studied abroad between 1978 and 2010 totalled 1.91 million. Of these students, 632 000 chose to return to China over the same period of time. In 2010, 134 000 overseas graduates came back, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year. They have played a significant role in many of China’s industries and are a driving force behind China’s emergence as an innovation-oriented country.
With the Chinese economy becoming more globalised, both multinational corporations and Chinese enterprises are boosting demand for overseas Chinese with attractive offers. Employers are seeking candidates who understand both Chinese and Western cultures, are fluent in Mandarin and a foreign language, and have overseas work experience. A degree from a foreign institution is no longer a guarantee for job outcome.
Competition for graduate employment is intense in China. In 2011, 6.6 million university graduates joined the job market, while more than seven million are expected to do so in 2012. This poses bigger challenges and difficulties for Chinese students returning from overseas to secure graduate jobs in China. The job prospect of the ‘sea turtles’ (the nickname for returned overseas graduates) is a hot topic of discussion in China. The strong interest in the ACCF is a reflection of this sentiment. Aligning the investment in an overseas education to real job outcomes and career choices is becoming the defining value proposition in the minds of Chinese students and parents.
* Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security website