On a chilly weekend throughout Shanghai, the city's first jobs fairs of the year met with a similarly cold response from job hunters.

Unlike the crowds seen in front of recruitment stands in previous years, the seats prepared for job applicants at eight jobs fairs have been unusually empty over the past two days.

Instead, people seemed reluctant to distribute resumes blindly, but were content just to read details of available jobs and take notes.

Human resources staff remained enthusiastic, however.

At the fair at Shanghai Indoor Stadium, job seekers were assailed with cries of "What kind of job are you looking for?" "Do you have interest in our company?" and "We are offering high salaries."

Han Fei, an HR worker with a local company, said he had not receive a single resume in about two hours though the salary they offered had been increased by 50 percent.

"It's hard to recruit people. There's already no room for us to select, and we just want people to join us."

People with a technical background and management experience were in great demand.

An HR worker, surnamed Wang, of the Sany Group, said more posts were on offer this year.

"Though many people applied, it's hard for us find the talent we need, especially job applicants experienced in research."

Mark Carriban, a director with the Hudson Highland Group, said the market was increasingly competitive this year, with a survey last month revealing that hiring expectations among mainland employers were at a 10-year high for the first three months of this year with 72 percent of companies trying to recruit more people.

Many job hunters at the fair said they were hoping for salaries in excess of 3,000 yuan (US$455) a month, while previously companies at such fairs usually only offered around 2,000 yuan.

A student, surnamed Shen, who will graduate from Donghua University this summer, said she came to the fair for the experience. "Both my classmates and I feel the job market this year is positive," Shen said.