Workers want money and opportunity: survey

Updated: 2012-09-13 21:42

By WANG HONGYI (chinadaily.com.cn)

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Employee confidence in China's job market has dropped, and in 2012/13 more workers will ask their employers for a pay rise, according to latest report by Michael Page International, an international recruitment consultancy.

The report is based on the online survey responses of 2,041 professionals in China, who represent a broad range of white collar workers and hold positions that range from entry level through to senior management.

Compared with survey findings in previous years where 68 percent of employees reported recruitment activity was strong, this year about 49 percent said the current job market in China is strong.

The drop indicates decreasing confidence in the number of job opportunities available due to softening market conditions across the region, the report said.

The report also pointed out that the opportunity to develop ones career is a continuing trend among job seekers in China as 48 percent of respondents said they will look for a new role with scope for career progression. This result is slightly lower than the findings of 52 percent in last year's survey.

Sixty-three percent of employees will ask their current employer for a pay rise in the next six to 12 months to stay in their present role, and 55 percent said they will look for a wage increase of 16 percent or above when changing jobs.

"For job seekers, whatever the market condition is, they should actually have a clear career plan, make full preparations and enhance career competitiveness," said Valentina Huang, who is in charge of career training and counseling at the Career Development Office at the School of Management at Fudan University.

The school has seen in increase in the number of overseas students studying their MBA program this academic semester. Overseas MBA candidates now occupy one third of the total students enrolled in the program.

"With more and more students of various cultural and working backgrounds, we carried out personalized advice to help students to realize their career preference and interests, and explore career options," Huang told China Daily.

Earlier this month, career orientation was given to the new MBA students, which mainly discussed career management, personal vision and self-knowledge improvement.

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