1st-tier cities regain top spot in graduate recruitment

The trend for graduates to choose to work in second- or third-tier cities seems to have been reversed, with graduates who decided to work in first-tier cities this year doubling over last year.

Recruitment website chinahr.com released a report Tuesday showing that 63 percent of graduates chose to stay in first-tier cities after graduation this year.

By contrast, only 38 percent of graduates did so in 2011, said the investigation, the Beijing Evening News reported Wednesday. The report does not say how many people were surveyed.

A graduate surnamed Wang, who now works as an editor in Beijing, graduated from the Communication University of China in 2009.

She worked in Beijing for a year before returning to her hometown of Baoding, Hebei Province.

"Because of the financial crisis, it was hard to find a job in 2009," she said, "my first job was not satisfying and it exhausted me,"

But once back in Baoding, life was not as good as she thought it would be. 

"In Baoding, I missed many opportunities for promotion, not because I wasn't competent but I lacked 'powerful relatives,'" she said, adding that the relaxed working environment there was killing her ambition, which she is too young to lose.

Wang said that she knows it can be troublesome to change jobs frequently, but she does not regret coming back to Beijing.

Wang Hongcai, a professor at Xiamen University, told the Global Times that in smaller cities, one's social connections can be more important than his or her abilities.

"Big cities like Beijing provide a fair employment system and give employees opportunities according to their personal abilities," he said.

But Lin Zhu, a graduate student from China Agricultural University in Beijing, returned to her hometown of Liuzhou in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"House prices are too high, and I don't think I have any special advantages to find a very good job in Beijing," she said.

Wang Hongcai noted that not all students are suited to working and living in first-tier cities where there is a faster pace of life and heavier pressure from work.

"The best place to work is where one's ability could be well displayed. But accepting more challenges when young is good for one's personal growth," he said.