During an ongoing job fair in Shanghai, the first 16 male nurse students quickly finished their contract-signing with several first-rate hospitals, in contrast with most graduates queuing up at booths in job fairs trying to make their resumes appealing to employers.

The 16 male nurse students are from the school of pharmacy in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which began enrolling male students to learn nursing in 2001, according to a report in the Beijing Daily.

Eighty-five students of the total 90 nursing graduates in Shanghai all found satisfactory jobs within one hour at the job fair, the first they attended in this job-hunting season, and 79.3 percent of them landed contracts with first-rate Chinese hospitals.

Five others, though, have not decided yet. With four or five job offers in hand, they are still weighing the pros and cons of accepting certain nursing posts.

Conversely, most students of other majors don't have such a luck in China's fiercely competitive job market.

Male nurses have become scarce resources in China's nursing industry, which has been dominated by females in its hundred year-long history.

Some hospital directors who see few male applications for nursing posts said few male students want to do nursing jobs and the male nurses currently in hospitals are always seeking chances to go to graduate school in order to leave their nursing posts.

Experts predict that male nurse students have rosy job prospects as male nurses are badly needed in China because they have better physical condition and are good at operating instruments and carrying patients.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2005)