Report: Chinese university graduates only stay 7 months in their first job

And how was your first job? Statistics shows that Chinese graduates born after 1995 only stay, on average, seven months in their first job upon leaving university.

The report was recently released by LinkedIn China, which analyzed data from 150,000 users.

On average, those who were born in the 1970s stayed 51 months in their first jobs. Those born in the ’80s stayed for 43 months. The first significant drop comes from those born in the ’90s, and the number is only decreasing — rapidly.

Today’s graduates might be more independent and focused on values, so they change jobs if they find they don’t fit in, according to China Daily (in Chinese). In addition, the internet has played a part in making it easier for young graduates to find new positions.

On the other hand, graduates may have unrealistic expectations toward their first jobs. According to LinkedIn, more than 60 percent of university graduates decided to switch careers upon completing their first internship.

Less than 30% of graduates find jobs that correspond with their college major

It is important to note that merely 28.8 percent of graduates find their first jobs related to their college major. That’s a marked decrease from the 1970s, when that number was 41.6 percent.

Naturally, a lot more graduates — 17.4 percent now — are entering the internet industry. Also, as LinkedIn notes, graduates these days may need to deal with the reality of seeing constantly changing tasks and prospects.

Reaction on social media

The LinkedIn stats went viral on Sina Weibo, with many users commenting to offer an explanation for the data. Weibo user @热门表情包原图 suggested that people should compare the employers of the past to employers today. “Exploitation is everywhere, and employers do not care about the well-being of their employees. So we have (to resign) to protect ourselves.”

“Nobody wants to do those tiring jobs that don’t have good prospects,” commented user @disse, implying the younger generation are becoming more picky in terms of their jobs.

@一只哨 added: “I don’t think there is anything wrong with [graduates switching jobs]. People should have their own options when making choices. Nobody should be doing things that they don’t want to. It also takes courage to change.”

“I was born in 1997, and I’ve already had four different jobs,” user @旺旺小苏苏su said.