Over 70 pct respondents satisfied with their first job: survey

BEIJING - A survey by China Youth Daily showed that 75.7 percent of the 1,953 respondents were satisfied with their first job.

A total of 47.3 percent of those surveyed considered salary one of the most important factors for choosing their first job, while 45 percent thought the industry should be taken into account.

As for what they want to obtain from their first jobs, 62.3 percent hoped that they could learn skills and accumulate experience, 50.8 percent wished to make friends with colleagues who have similar interests or hobbies and 47.5 percent want to grasp how to deal with people and things.

The respondents also offered advice for newbies, including learning from veterans, making progress through trial and error, talking less and acting more and learning about new technology and ideas.

Career counselor Cui Shuang said it takes at least two years for a person to gather adequate working experience at a job. "Even if your first job is not satisfactory, you'd better work for at least two years until you have a deeper understanding of the essence of the job and see by then if you like the job or not."

"Accumulating working experience is very important because it enables you to know what to do and avoid being at a loss," Cui said.