Returnees are also difficult to find employment, it is difficult to distinguish between authenticity and falsehood, and the good and the bad are mixed, how can managers deal with it?
Text: Ren Huiyuan, Chinese and Foreign Management Media.
Editor-in-charge: Mindful of the world.
Sorry, we don't. ”
Recently, a graduate student who has just returned from studying abroad, when recruiting ** browsed jobs, took a fancy to a matching job, but was taken aback by the recruitment conditions - a master's degree or above is required, but it was immediately noted that "one-year graduate students are not qualified for this job".
The graduate student said he did not understand and called to inquire. Recruiters say it takes at least two years to study for a master's degree in China. As a result, it is difficult for companies to trust the strength of candidates who have earned a master's degree after only one year of study. So, this brings us to the "sorry" at the beginning of the article.
Coincidentally, an international student posted on the Peking University forum that a central enterprise issued an announcement that it would no longer recruit master's students with a two-year program or less. He said that he had not yet graduated, and originally thought that he would be able to find a dream job when he returned to China after graduation, but he did not expect that the employment situation of overseas returnees was not optimistic.
In addition, the HR of a large factory directly stated that when recruiting product managers in core departments, the educational requirements are graduate students and the first academic threshold is the world's top 100 universities. For those who only write the resume of the graduate school but not the undergraduate school, it will be assumed that the first degree is not up to standard.
In the "Talent Introduction Plan" previously announced in Shanghai, restrictions have also been made for some international students, requiring master's degrees from the top 100 universities.
This is not an isolated phenomenon of overseas students having difficulty finding a job, but a microcosm of their general situation.
Why is the "halo of returnees" gradually dimming?
According to the data of Liepin.com's "2023 Overseas Talent Employment Development Report", among the overseas students who choose to work full-time after graduation, there are 84Twenty-one per cent plan to return to their home countries for employment.
According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, only about 10 percent of Chinese students stay in the U.S. to work after graduation. At the same time, domestic big data statistics show that the number of international students returning to China in 2020 has increased nearly threefold compared with 2019, and has exceeded 1 million in 2021. More than 1 million international students return to China every year, putting even more pressure on the already competitive job market in China.
The 2023 Overseas Talent Employment Development Report also shows that among overseas students who plan to return to their home countries for employment, 90Seventy-nine percent said they were under pressure to return to their home country to find a job. These pressures are mainly due to "the increasing number of outstanding talents in China, the limited number of jobs, and the fierce competition for employment", "the huge cost of studying abroad, the fear that the salary will not meet expectations, and it will be difficult to recover the cost", and "the number of returnees continues to increase, and its advantages are not as prominent as before".
The actual salary of overseas talents has been declining in recent years, from 2020 to 2023, it is 26820,000 yuan, 26440,000 yuan, 24410,000 yuan and 20450,000 yuan. However, the expected salary of overseas students has risen continuously. 21. 2021910,000, 2022** to 29070,000, the first half of 2013 was 28620,000. The gap between expectations and reality has reached the highest level in nearly three years.
In recent years, the actual salary of overseas talent has continued to decline, from an average of 26820,000 yuan to 20 in 2023450,000 yuan. However, their expected salary has shown an overall trend, from 21910,000 yuan increased to 29 in 2022070,000 yuan, the gap between expectations and reality has reached the highest level in the past three years.
In addition, the difference between the expected annual salary of international students and domestic fresh graduates reached 12060,000 yuan, a new high in the past 5 years. This phenomenon reflects the real situation of the temperature difference between the domestic and foreign job markets, and also reflects the difference in the perception of the external macro environment among the student group.
Due to the reversal of reality and expectations, more and more international students are beginning to consider more stable employment directions such as state-owned enterprises and government agencies. Three years ago, foreign companies and large Internet companies were still the top two in the employment tendency of international students, but by 2023, the top two have become foreign companies, state-owned enterprises, and central enterprises. According to Zhaopin's statistics, 388% of international students hope to work in state-owned enterprises, a year-on-year increase of **9%.
At the same time, the roads for Kao Gong have become more congested. Shanghai's 2023 civil servant recruitment list shows that more than 30 talents from overseas universities have been hired. What shocked the study abroad circle even more was that the targeted selection and transfer students in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other places opened their doors to international students, and the employment of international students began to seek stability.
Under the policy guidance of "supporting study abroad and encouraging return to China", more and more international students choose to return to China for employment. However, in the context of the continuous growth of the number of highly educated talents, the recruitment threshold for employers is also "rising". In the past, the "halo of returnees" on the heads of international students has gradually dimmed, and the "fragrant dumplings" that you fought for me no longer seem to be highly sought after.
Management Interpretation
Interpreter: Ran Tao (Judge of "Made in China Champion", former head of global recruitment at Huawei, COE expert).
The tide is rising, and the value of the study abroad degree has been depreciated
Chinese and foreign management media:For a long time, there has been a preconceived notion that "returnees are excellent", believing that "the moon is rounder abroad". However, combined with the current phenomenon of overseas returnees looking for jobs, it seems to be different from this concept. The problem is **?
Ran Tao:The population of people studying abroad can be broadly divided into three categories:
The first category is the more outstanding students. For example, students who have been admitted to world-renowned universities such as MIT, Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge through their own efforts. This kind of student has real talent and learning, and there is basically no job search dilemma after completing the study. There are 100,000 Peking University students in Silicon Valley in the United States, and this is the reason.
The second category is for students whose families have property or connections. Parents send them abroad for two years of further study, with the aim of allowing them to enter the system or ** when they return. There is also no job search problem for such people.
The third category is students from ordinary middle-class families in China who cannot be admitted to a good university. As the economy continues to grow, more and more families can afford to support their children studying abroad. At the same time, the industrialization and upgrading of study abroad has led to the continuous lowering of the threshold for studying abroad, and the one-year master's degree with a short study duration, many choices and low cost has become the first choice for further study abroad. Although it is called further study, in fact, many people just want to get a foreign diploma and come back to eat. Studying abroad "flew into the homes of ordinary people", so there was what people often call "Shui Shuo".
After this kind of person comes back, he has not learned the real skills, and there is no class to take over, and the base is relatively large, which eventually leads to the street full of returnees, and it is not surprising that there is a situation where the high is not low.
Chinese and foreign management media:In the context of the severe employment situation, the overall depreciation of high education is an indisputable fact, and the returnee diploma is no exception. Does this mean that the study abroad bonus is gradually disappearing?
Ran Tao:Overseas diplomas can indeed provide students with more employment advantages, and can also help students knock on the door of enterprises, but this is only the first step.
Therefore, the focus of studying abroad should be on "learning", and it is necessary to have real talents and real learning, rather than "playing soy sauce". Foreign universities are more small and beautiful, and for some schools with comprehensive rankings in the waist, their subject rankings in some professional fields may have a higher status in the country, or even exceed those of famous universities. What is the ace major of a school and what can be learned, this is more important.
The waves are sweeping the sand, and the truly excellent returnees are still shining like gold. In an overseas study environment, they can enjoy world-class academic resources, gain an international perspective and a broad range of knowledge, and develop independent thinking and critical thinking skills – all important advantages in the workplace. These advantages may not necessarily be reflected in the short term, but they may form a strong stamina.
Fish and dragons are mixed, how to recognize returnees?
Chinese and foreign management media:In the current talent market, the quality of returnees is uneven, and some companies find that their actual ability does not match their academic qualifications and positions after recruiting returnees. Therefore, some companies choose to boycott the one-year returnee master's program to avoid similar problems. So, how to accurately identify returnees?
Ran Tao:First of all, companies should choose international students who have graduated from prestigious universities. Second, focus on whether they have truly mastered the professional knowledge and skills. There is a big difference between international students who have graduated from excellent overseas universities and those trained in China: on the one hand, they have a more distinct personality, which often contributes to greater achievement. On the other hand, they have a higher desire to challenge and a willingness to self-realize, and have strong execution.
In the strategy consulting industry, for example, we prefer to hire top students because they have a unique way of thinking, an independent approach**, unique insights and strong practical skills, as well as a global macro perspective. When writing reports, domestic students tend to focus more on concepts and news excerpts, while returnees provide more comprehensive information** and demonstrate unique insights and analytical processes.
Domestic business majors often place too much emphasis on the memorization of concepts and fixed knowledge, and lack enlightening thinking and ideological collision. Strategic consulting involves the uncertain business sector. It is difficult for our education system to produce talents with an exploratory spirit and innovative ability, or domestic students are more suitable for jobs with greater certainty.
Chinese and foreign management media:The purpose of domestic students studying abroad is nothing more than to "expand their international horizons" and "enrich their life experiences", but the ultimate goal is still to improve their career competitiveness through studying abroad, so as to obtain better employment opportunities in the future. So, from the perspective of talent training, how to choose the right returnee talents?
Ran Tao:Enterprises that open up the international market are more inclined to recruit returnees, and what they value is the advantage of their overseas vision and familiarity with the foreign environment, which is "external". If you want to look at the "inside", you can use the "five-point quality model" to evaluate it. (Note: The five quality models – initiative, conceptual thinking, influence, achievement orientation, and resilience.) This is the common condensation of Huawei's early 100 "leading talents", which was first proposed by Sun Yafang, then chairman of Huawei, as the selection criteria for Huawei's talents, which has promoted a flood of good talents and become a strong guarantee for the abundance of talents. ）
The screening of the five qualities does not examine the academics, but the quality. Students who are able to successfully study abroad have a high level of effort and intelligence. The key is what is the purpose of recruitment?For example, if a company wants to select a group of business leaders for training, then in addition to academic ability, it also needs to consider their practical ability, communication ability, adaptability and innovation ability, because some people will learn but not necessarily do, some people will say that they may not do it, some people will only do what they are familiar with, and some people will be able to touch the ......
In short, the academic qualifications and experience of returnees are important, but ultimately it depends on their development potential and future prospects. Through the five-point quality model, companies can more accurately judge their development direction.
Essentially, the purpose of using the five-point quality model is not to determine how much they can score in the exam, but to judge the development potential of business talent and whether it is worth cultivating. If we spend a lot of time and effort on training, only to find out that we don't have a talent who can do the job, it will be a big loss to our business. Therefore, the choice is crucial, and the seeds we grow must also be of high quality. If we only plant a grass seed, then it will definitely not grow into a towering tree, which means that our efforts are in vain. The pentata model is designed to address this problem.