Students are searching for their ideal jobs in an on-site job fair held in Jinan, Shandong province, on May 28, where 39 enterprises had 1,600 positions up for grabs. ZHU ZHENG/XINHUA

Colleges act

The Ministry of Education lent a helping hand by launching the "One Helps One" program, in which 48 universities in other provinces assist Hubei graduates.

With this program, universities have been paired and share information on job positions.

Peking University was designated to assist Wuhan University. Liu says Peking University has provided great support to his university by organizing many employment activities, including training and consultation, as well as internships and job references.

"For me, the greatest help is to provide timely and effective information. The job search information released by this official channel is very accurate," Liu says, adding that job information provided by universities are immediate and authoritative, and the interview training has also helped improve his skills.

While some graduates grab every chance they get, others choose to wait for what they want.

Duan Yinan, a graduate with a master's degree in international journalism from Renmin University of China, decided to turn down a job offer from an IT company. "Although it is difficult to find a job during the pandemic, I still think I should find one that I really like and am suitable for," Duan says.

Fearing that she would not find a job during the outbreak, Duan recalls that she blindly sent out her resume to many companies. However, when she received interview invitations, she often found that they were not the job she really wanted. Duan then decided to follow her heart and sent resumes only to the companies that she wanted to work for.

During the recent annual meeting of the National People's Congress, the word "employment" appeared 39 times in the Government Work Report, delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on May 22.

Li emphasized that stabilizing employment will be the government's priority, set the target of providing more than 9 million new urban jobs and will keep the urban unemployment rate at about 6 percent.

Many cities and provinces have already launched policies to boost employment.

The Shanghai government said State-owned companies will allocate no less than 50 percent of new positions for graduates.

Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, said it will provide 1.68 billion yuan ($237 million) of low-interest loans for startups.

Jiangxi province will give a 1,000 yuan subsidy to small and micro-sized companies for every college graduate hired.

In May, Duan got a position at the corporate culture department of a Chinese online education company. Liu has secured a job at a media company in Beijing, while Yang is still searching for a suitable job.

"There is no use looking back with a sigh, and I summon more courage to keep moving ahead," Yang says.

Gu Yuhan contributed to the story.

Contact the writer at [email protected]