It is reported that Chinese officials are worried that students who study abroad are not willing to come back to China to seek for jobs, reasons behind which might be multiple. According to Hurun Fortune Report, 64% Chinese who have more than 1 million US dollars’ worth of assets are considering migrating to other countries, thus causing potential loss of both fortune and talent.

In this People in the Know session, Ruben van den Boer, Senior Recruitment Consultant of RMG Selection, is invited to share his opinions based on his experience. Ruben talks about the job seeking prospects in China for students who finish their study overseas. What’s appealing and unappealing about coming back to work in China, and how China could come up with more measures to attract more graduates back to the country? Listen to the radio show, to find out more on this topic.

1. Based on your own experience, are we seeing more, or less Chinese students who finish studies abroad returning to China to look for jobs?

According to the data from CSCSE’s (Chinese Oversea Students Service Centre of Ministry of Education), it absolutely pointed it out that there will be more Chinese students who will return back once they finish studying abroad.

• In 2012, about 230,000 Chinese students studies overseas. 80% of the total figure (about 184,000) chose to seek for jobs in China.
• However, the figure of oversea students returning to China almost doubled in 2013 (about 353,000).
• Studying abroad is not that difficult for the majority of Chinese students, however the difficult part for them is probably to find internship or job opportunities.
• Instead of worrying about the returns, students who have studies abroad for bachelor or master degrees should worry more about how they reintegrated themselves into the Chinese culture & system.

2. In the job-seeking process, are there huge differences between students who study abroad and those who have no overseas study experience?

Although a lot of Chinese students went abroad since the market is open for this, the difference between the two groups really depends on different factors.

• Who they mingle with when they are abroad? Chinese or international classmates?
• What degree they get abroad? Bachelor or Master?
• What kind of personalities they have?
• How companies view oversea returnees? For example, some employers prefer students who have bachelor degree in China and master degree abroad.
• To answer this question in the view of a recruiter, it is about place the right people in the right place.

3. What kinds of jobs are favored by students returning from overseas studies?

• International companies or big companies from Fortune 500 are basically their first choice.
• Oversea returnees actually look forward to joining companies who can give them opportunities to go abroad for training, for business, for work etc. in the future.
• Opportunities that they can go networking in China so that they can get used to the environment as soon as possible.

4. Do you think receiving an education overseas in general (effectively) helps them become better employees, or does it more differ from person to person?

• The advantage of studying overseas actually will not appear directly or in an early stage. Because fresh graduates don’t have any experiences or network, which is the same with local students.
• With my experience work with international clients, they like employees who have 5 to 10 years working experience abroad. Because employers can trust their abilities and judgments at that point.

5. For students who don’t want to return to China, what is it about working overseas that attracts them the most?

• The payment could be very attractive.
• Accumulate overseas work experience is another reason.
• They might also look forward to join an overseas Chinese branch at some point.
• But I don’t think most students think about immigration in the first place.

6. On the other hand, for students who have returned to China, what drove them to make the decision?

• Family in China.
• Severe employment market abroad.
• Might be easier for students to find jobs in China.
• Time after finishing studying to find a job is very limited. For instance, in US students have 1 year. However in UK, the time is only 3 months.
• The difficult and complicated process of applying for working visas.
• Whether students can adapt to the working environment abroad.

7. In your opinion, what can employers do to attract more quality students back to China?

• In fact, employers should be flexible in hiring graduates. Both parties have their strength & weaknesses.
• Local students can get on with work and they have better local network.
• Overseas returnees also have strengths on languages and how they view things differently.

Listen to the original radio, please click: http://english.cri.cn/7146/2015/06/02/3621s881351.htm