Some job hunters who attended the first special job fair for Chinese overseas students in Beijing on Sunday were disappointed to learn salaries offered were much less than they expected.

 

The Beijing Morning Post reported that more than 40 reputed enterprises and public institutions, such as Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and Chinese computer giant Lenovo joined in the job fair looking for qualified talents.

 

The fair attracted more than 2,000 job hunters holding advanced academic degrees issued by overseas universities and colleges.

 

However, although they held master or PhD degrees, the job hunters found many of employers only offered month salaries as low as 3,000-yuan (about US$375), almost equivalent to those offered for bachelors who graduated from a domestic university.

 

After nearly one-hour's search, Yu Yang, who got a MBA degree from a British university, said it was hard to find a satisfying job.

 

"I expect a monthly salary of around 8,000 yuan (some US$1,000). But what the employers offer is much lower than that," Yu Yang said. "It is imbalanced compared to the cost I spent studying abroad for two years -- a sum about 500,000 yuan or above US$64,000."

 

A recruiting official from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications said the institution is inclined to recruit degree holders who have returned from overseas because they "usually possess an international view".

 

"However, we offer the same benefit package to employees in the same posts, no matter if they studied at home or abroad," the official said.

 

"The salary offered for some candidates with doctorate degrees is about 3,000 yuan per month."

 

Degree holders who return from abroad are increasing, said another employer.

 

"They do not have many advantages now," the employer said. "We will not favor a candidate just because he or she returns from abroad. We attach more importance to their capacities and work experience."

 

(CRI May 28, 2007)