Crowded rat race(2)

"The massive expansion of university rolls has caused an imbalance between creating talents and social demand," said Xiong Binqi, vice president of 21st Century Education Research Institute.

Tao said up to 70 percent of university students are not "qualified" for the positions they apply for due to the massive expansion of places.

"Once they enter university, many feel free and don't study that much," he said. "After four years, many end up with low ability and low achievements."

"I was told by some recruiters that they are reluctant to hire new graduates," Tao added.

Connections help

In a survey titled "How to survive in the hardest job hunting year" conducted by the Beijing News, half of the 300 students interviewed said they were the source of their own problems while one third blamed the poor state of the economy. 

"It is very important to change your mindset and be positive," said Yu Yubao, a new graduate from Chinese Academy of Sciences with a master's degree in computer science.

Yu said he was quite confident when he started his job hunt but fell apart after going to 12 unsuccessful job interviews in three months.

"The peer pressure is the source of my frustration," Yu told the Global Times. "Then I realized it is the attitude that matters."

But many believe connections, or guanxi, are what matters in finding a job. In the same survey, 21.5 percent of students said they used "connections" during their job hunts.

Another common complaint is the unfairness new graduates feel they experience during job interviews.

Yang Liushan, 22, who is majoring in English at Anhui, told the Global Times that there is discrimination against women.

"One HR team asked men and women to hand in their resumes separately, then we saw they only took away the men's resumes," Yang said.

Brain drain

To avoid the fierce competition in the brutal job market, many choose to study abroad or start a masters' degree in the hope that higher education might bring more opportunities.

The number of Chinese students studying overseas hit a record of 1.27 million in 2011 according to the Ministry of Education. But statistics show that only one third of these have returned home, leading to worries of a brain drain.

For those who cannot afford to study abroad, continuing in higher education at home often seems the best choice.

Yang said she started job hunting only after failing her postgraduate entrance exam in April. Among 20 students at her class, six chose to study abroad and three decided to take a master's degree. 

At an executive meeting of the State Council, Premier Li Keqiang called for more employment options for college graduates.

In response, some private-run companies announced an increase in their recruitment of new graduates, a corporate social responsibility move to help relieve the tough employment situation.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, said that the company is expected to recruit 7,000 new graduates this year, up 10 percent from 2012.

Xu Mei, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Education, assured new graduates that the government was hard at work to not let the employment rate fall this year.

In universities, career consultants encourage new graduates to start their own businesses or move to smaller cities to find jobs.

In Tsinghua University alone, one of the country's best universities, half of 2012 graduates found jobs outside of the capital, 20 percent up from 2003 graduates, according to Xiong Yizhi, a consultant with the university's career center.

However, Tao said that to really fix these problems, the quality of new graduates and high education should be increased.

"Educators should pay attention to students' quality, not quantity, otherwise we will face the same problem for summers to come."