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CLOSING THE GAPS: ADDRESSING THE EMPLOYMENT CHALLENGES OF CHINESE GRADUATES
Xuan Feng, Director of Personal and Career Development & Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour, and Martin Lockett, Dean & Professor in Strategic Management, are based at Nottingham University Business School (NUBS) China. Here, they share findings from ongoing research, which has unearthed discrepancies in students’ perceptions of employability skills and attributes and what employers value in practice.
Adecade or two ago, foreign graduates from mainland China were rare and highly sought after by domestic and international firms; good jobs were easy to find and a foreign degree had a distinct advantage.
Today, with the rise in the number of overseas returnees and the increased global competitiveness of domestic university graduates, holding a foreign degree no longer guarantees Chinese graduates brighter employment prospects once they return home from overseas study. Moreover, despite sustained economic growth, China is facing a relative economic slowdown as well as local and global challenges from Covid-19. All of these factors make it more challenging for Chinese international graduates seeking work in China, or in overseas subsidiaries of Chinese multinational companies, to land a satisfactory job.
Logistical reasons can explain some of the employment challenges, such as the time gap between overseas students’ graduation season and the job-seeking season in China. Students and universities’ unfamiliarity with the domestic job market are another factor. However, we have found a deeper cause: gaps in understanding between employers and students, notably discrepancies between the skills and attributes employers look for and those which graduates focus on developing.
RESEARCH PLAN Starting in late 2018, we launched an extensive research project to compare student and employer perceptions of the most important employability skills and
attributes, as well as to identify new areas of student career development for the university. We held focus group discussions with students from Nottingham University Business School (NUBS) China and selected Chinese employers in east China to understand their perspectives. With their input and a thorough literature review, we developed two comprehensive surveys for Chinese employers and students from NUBS China respectively. The two surveys of 137 students and 38 employers used the same 23 employability-related factors, covering degree and disciplinary knowledge, employability skills, personal and professional attributes, work attitudes and experience.
PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE The research unearthed discrepancies in students’ perceptions and what employers value in practice. Students prioritised discipline knowledge, grades and internship experience above soft skills and personal career planning. Employers emphasised qualities such as learning agility, proactivity and sense of responsibility, plus the ability to work with people and in teams. Most notable was employers’ strong emphasis on ‘learning agility’ – a person's ability and willingness to learn from experience and apply this to improve future performance. Given the accessibility of online information and pace of change of specific knowledge in many fields, Chinese employers expect young graduates to keep pace with realworld changes through learning, and to be ready to take on and succeed in unfamiliar tasks. When making hiring decisions, today’s employers give more weight to graduates’ abilities to learn from past experience, proactively initiate action and apply ongoing learning; they focus less on students’ current knowledge and previous accomplishments,
Personal Qualities • Learning agility • Proactivity and personal responsibility • Resilience and learning from failure • Adaptability • Innovative and entrepreneurial mindset
Domain Understanding • Scanning the environment • Specific domain understanding for the industry • Ability to match certain strengths and competencies with employer
Self-awareness • Clear career interests • Personal passions and goals • Core personal and work values • Know own potential
Working With People • Compassionate and mindful • Collaborative • Ability to work with global teams • Integrity
such as successful completion of internships.
Furthermore, employers identified gaps in students’ knowledge of themselves, their personal strengths and self-awareness, such as career goals and areas for development, as well as of careers and industries. Prioritising discipline knowledge and grades above soft skills and personal career planning meant that students fall short of expectations in getting their first job as well as advancing their future careers.
FRAMEWORK, STRATEGIES, PRACTICES Our research identified development areas for employer and student engagement, such as providing students with opportunities to work on non-internship projects (for example, company sponsored dissertations). More meaningful interactions with employers could be created through guest lectures and company visit learning experiences as part of courses, as well as employer-driven skills training and mentoring inside and outside the curriculum.
Based on the empirical results, we propose a holistic student employability development framework that meets Chinese employers’ expectations and bridges curricular and extracurricular activities. For western universities dependent on Chinese international students, it is essential to understand the causes of any employment challenges and to continue to develop relevant career development strategies and practices in order to enhance Chinese graduates’ competitiveness.
Our research has highlighted that universities and business schools need to play a stronger role to guide Chinese students in developing both greater self-awareness and a deeper understanding of employment and industries. To this end, collaborative activity between careers services and academic faculties to integrate work experience and the application of knowledge into programmes remains crucial.
/in/xuanfeng xuan.feng@nottingham.edu.cn
/in/mlockett martin.lockett@nottingham.edu.cn
nottingham.edu.cn/en/business
