Young Chinese only stay in first company for 7 months: LinkedIn survey
China's post-1995s, who have barely entered the job market, quit their jobs sooner than previous generations, which reflects the young generation's self-fulfilling needs, Chinese experts said.
A statistical analysis of the public files of 150,000 users by LinkedIn, a social media platform for employees, says that employees in China born after 1995 only stayed in their first job for seven months, the TMTPost reported in August.
Liu Daoran, a 24-year-old from South China's Guangdong Province, left Huawei in his first month on the job in July and joined the marketing department of Didi Chuxing in Guangzhou.
"I hope to get comprehensive training in Didi, while the position at Huawei was more about sales and the supply chain. That's not what I had expected," Liu told the Global Times on Tuesday. "I think the booming internet industry offers greater opportunities and I can learn about marketing and planning."
"I became anxious when I saw my peers making progress and I was losing passion for my job. That was the time I decided to leave," Yang Xiao, 23, told Global Times on Tuesday.
Yang quit his job at China Construction Bank this summer after 11 months, and started a career in the artificial intelligence industry.
Those born in the 1970s stayed over four years, while those born in the 1980s stayed for three-and-a-half years. For post-90s, it was down to 19 months.
The decline indicates a gap between college training and the job market, Zhang Pengchong, an employee at Tsinghua University's Career Development Center, told Global Times on Tuesday. "We suggest that students consult insiders and do internships to get prepared," Zhang said.
The LinkedIn report also shows that more than one-third of post-95 graduates concentrate on the internet and finance industries. In contrast, one-fifth of post-80s graduates entered the internet and industrial automation industries, the most popular at that time.
"Students are crowding into internet and finance," Zhang said. "Some are attracted by higher pay; some because the course they pursued do not have enough job openings."
In 2017, more than 40 percent of Tsinghua graduates entered the two hot industries. Although 2018 data has not yet been published, the number is expected to rise, Zhang said.
Switching from the arts to the internet, Liu is not alone in his generation. More than 70 percent of post-95s are not doing what they studied in college.
"A major in college is no longer a restriction for young people who focus on self-realization." Zhang Jingli, LinkedIn Human Resource Manager, pointed out in the report.
