Chapter IX: How Students Get Jobs
Summary: This chapter begins by discussing students'
perceptions of the employment search, the
expectations they hold, and the importance they
attribute to guanxi as a determinant for getting a
good job. It then explores characteristics
associated with guanxi use and identifies the
relevance of the underachiever/dependency syndrome.
The next section discusses occupational status as it
is being defined for the Special Economic Zone. The
final part discusses the paths job-seekers take to
find "the right job" which is subject to multiple
definitions.
Perceptions, Expectations and Behaviour
As a class project, some of my students did research into
the job procurement process. They were each assigned an
essay which required them to interview a senior who was
about to start looking for a full-time job. The exercise
required each student to interview an upperclassman/woman
in an unstructured format. The goal was to ascertain the
seniors' perceptions and expectations. The assignment
produced thirty-two separate, quite interesting essays.
Since I had also taught the interviewed students, I knew
each of them quite well. In many cases I discussed the
essays with the graduating seniors themselves in a series
of follow-up conversations in the year after their
graduation.
The assignments showed that many graduates who were
about to experience the job search shared the hopes and
dreams that one might expect of young men and women eager
to finish their education and become independent, self-
supporting and productive. They also showed a diversity
of opinions. As a group they professed not a single
"most desirable" job or a single "least desirable" job.
Often, statistical compilations that quantify results for
the "most" and the "least" of something can be
misinterpreted by readers of the data. Job preference is
very personalized; the aggregate results often fail to
reflect differentiation among individual preferences.
For this reason qualitative analysis proves enlightening.
A major point made in many of the essays was that
guanxi was often considered both a necessary and
sufficient ingredient in the successful job search. This
perception was reiterated in other interviews with
students over the course of the research. With few
exceptions, students said they preferred to find jobs
without others' help, but would avail themselves of
guanxi if it became necessary.
As is often the case, however, these perceptions do not
conform to reality. Although the use of relationships
was important for many job-seekers, it rarely
automatically secured a job. Nevertheless, students hold
two different attitudes on this issue. The first is: "I
think I can get x job because I have guanxi." The second
is: "I cannot get x job. I don't have good enough
guanxi." The latter is more prevalent. Many students
feel they lose out on the good jobs because they lack
necessary relationships. They also note economic factors
(e.g., "no one is hiring"), but they rarely face up to
the possibility that some job-seekers are more qualified
than others.
Diversity in Preference
Several examples from the 1994 essays serve to illustrate
the diversity in preference among job-seekers.
Case 25 lives in Shenzhen and does not need to worry
about housing since she lives with her parents.
Eventually, she will marry someone who can provide
accommodation (in her mind a necessary attribute for any
successful suitor). She considers state companies (SC)
"boring, with low salary" and anticipates working for a
Foreign Joint Venture (FJV). She did not use guanxi to
get her job.
Case 4 has tried unsuccessfully to study abroad.
Admitted to several American schools, she never was able
to convince the U.S. government to issue her a visa.
Although one of the top achievers of her class on TOEFL,
her school grades never matched her ability, and she fits
the pattern of an academic underachiever. She competed
for a job as receptionist in the Hong Kong office of a
SC. Although she realized the job would not be
challenging, she hoped she could be trained for a more
demanding position. Now, a year after she took the job,
she is still the receptionist and is finding the task
extremely boring. She got her job without guanxi.
Case 35 was one of the top achievers in her class.
She feared getting a job that would underutilize her
talent. She anticipated changing jobs to avoid "the
boring job." She did not want to use the backdoor; she
wanted to be able to change jobs freely. If her parents
were to help her secure a job, she explained, quitting
that job might hurt the relationships between her parents
and the workunit. She didn't want others "to look down
on her parents" if she were incompetent in her job. If
she got her job through connections, her parents' friends
would tell her parents what she was doing in detail.
"What is the difference between the workunit and a jail?"
she asked. She took a job with a joint venture property
management company and after nine months switched to a
foreign capitalized bank. Neither job required guanxi.
Case 30 was the most notorious underachiever in the
class, working in a disco at night and skipping most
morning classes. Failing three courses during his
college career, he was not awarded a baccalaureate degree
at graduation. Just as college had bored him, he
expected that a job with a state company would be
unchallenging, also. "Those who work for state-run
companies have enough time and energy to engage in
moonlighting," he said to his interviewer. He was also
turned off by the prospect of working for a bank, a job
he considered tedious and busy. "Bank jobs, especially
foreign banks, are for girls." Consequently, with the
aid of connections, he took a job with a state company
which could provide housing (his family lived outside the
sez). He then moved to a job in a municipal bureau--also
obtained through connections. The job allowed him plenty
of time to sell products for his family's company, which
he did on government time.
Immediate versus Distant goal
Another point these essays make is that there is a big
difference in the students' minds between immediate goal
and distant goal. Much research on job choice, including
that of this dissertation, focuses on the immediate
choice. Right from the start, however, many students set
goals for different parts of their time horizon. Gone
are the days in China discussed in Chapter II, when one's
initial employer is also the final one. Many of the
interviewed students anticipated not only employer
changes but also career changes. This is illustrated by:
Case 16 planned to take a job that could prove
interesting. The salary was not that important as she
can tap family financial resources. Her intermediate
goal was to study abroad. Here she reflected a bygone
era. Of the class of 35 students I taught that graduated
in 1991 (three years before the class interviewed in
these essays), over one third have been out of China in
the four years since their graduation, either for
emigration, for travel or for business. Between them,
four students have been sent by their state companies to
the Middle East, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia. All four
continue to work in Shenzhen. Other students, 25% of the
total, have emigrated to the U.S., Canada, and Australia
and have secured permanent residency status. The going
abroad tide (chuguo chao) that swelled during the late
1980s1 affected the 1991 graduates more than it affected
those that came before or those who would come after.
Thus, Case 16's goal to study abroad was not typical; few
of her classmates shared her desires. Her long-term goal
was to return to China and run a clothing shop with three
of her classmates.
Case 23 anticipated a major change between her
immediate job and her eventual employment. After
graduation, she wanted to take a "rather comfortable and
easy" job in a FJV. She would not need a employer-
provided apartment because her parents live in Shenzhen,
and later a husband could provide housing. Eventually,
she sees herself working for a state company which would
be "more stable for older people."
Case 17, another underachiever, set his immediate
goal as taking a job with a big company or bank to gain
experience. His distant goal was to direct a state
company. As it turned out, he started working for a
foreign capitalized bank, a job he got through open
competition. He worked there for six months, and then
the job he really wanted, with a municipal bureau, came
through. He secured this second job through guanxi.
In contrast, Case 22 has taken a job with a state-
run bank, but his eventual goal is to be a self-employed
businessman. Another underachiever, he realized that
banking jobs would not be challenging, but he took the
job anyway because it was "reliable." An introduction to
a company official helped him get the job.
Intentions versus Reality
The examples of Case 22 above and others interviewed
indicate an inconsistency between dreams and reality.
Assuming that the interviewed students were not
intentionally deceiving their interviewees, one may note
other differences between anticipated and real action.
For example,
Like many of his classmates, Case 31 has set a long-
term goal of being self-employed. His immediate goal was
to work for a trade company. State companies offer few
possibilities and were not very demanding, in his
opinion. "What if you just cannot make big money after
you work hard for many years? Then I guess I have to
live like an ordinary employee, but I won't give up
easily." In fact, he worked for several trade companies-
-guanxi was used in getting one of these jobs--and then
settled down for one where he stayed for five months. He
learned about the opportunity to work for in Hong Kong
for a bank (see Chapter IV), and although he had no
banking experience and no interest in pursuing a banking
career, he went to Hong Kong for five months. Finding
the bank job boring, he returned to Shenzhen. He
visited one of the Municipal Labour Bureau's district
offices, where he entered his name and resume into the
job seekers' data base. Within hours his pager was
alerting him to potential employers. Over a period of a
week he talked with over a dozen employers and eventually
chose to work for a small silk products company, run like
a family business, with the dozen employees living and
taking their meals together. Whether his long-term goals
will be realized is unknown; it is unlikely he will be
satisfied in jobs that fail to provide challenge or
promotion.
Case 1 another student who has taken a job that does
not relate to her long-term plans. She works at szu as
the staff person assigned to be a liaison with students.
She got this job based on her abilities and a general
perception that she was the most diligent student in her
class. She was also well known by her future employers
and the job could not have been procured without these
connections. In fact, the job was not advertised and the
selection process was not competitive. All that aside,
the choice was still meritocratic. Eventually, Case 1
would like to pursue a psychology degree, which is made
difficult by the fact that szu does not have a graduate
program (in this or any other field). She is aware of
this difficulty because another graduate, from an earlier
year, failed to gain entrance into a master's program at
Beijing University, although he was admitted both to Hong
Kong University's M.Phil. and to a top-ranked Ivy League
Ph.D. program in the U.S. China has very few post-
graduate places; admission is by competitive exam, but
the best preparation for that exam comes from the
undergraduate programs at these schools. A szu graduate
is at a severe disadvantage, not having had the
undergraduate preparation for the exams.
The Underachievers
Several of the cases above--notably Cases 4, 22, 30,
17--represent underachievers (see Chapter VII). Most are
willing to work hard, but only in jobs in which they feel
challenged. Like Case 30, if they are not challenged
they would divert their energies in other directions.
Several other students who were underachievers in my
class were quite frank in their interviews concerning
their desire not to work hard in a job.
Case 32, for example, said that she did not want to
work as a company secretary because such a job would
generate too much pressure. A secretary's job in China
often carries a heavy burden of responsibility because
the occupant serves as a gatekeeper to company leaders
(lingdao) and power-brokers. With its importance comes
responsibility and, in Case 32's opinion, pressure. She
would rather work in a state bank, where the work is
steady and not especially demanding. He was introduced
to the job she took.
Case 8, another underachiever who put in minimal
effort in her schoolwork but was clever enough not to
fail three courses, did not wish a taxing job. She
especially feared working for a foreign-capitalized bank
which definitely required "too much work."
Case 37 is one of the few students in the class who
chose to return to her native place, which is located
outside the sez. To explain her decision, she offered
the Chinese proverb, "A waterfront pavilion gets the
moonlight first." One of the reasons she was not eager
to remain in Shenzhen was because she considered the
economic zone "too competitive." She was among several
of the women students who dismissed career ambitions and
professed a desire to be a good housewife.
The Job Change
Although this dissertation primarily concerns itself with
the job that students secure immediately upon graduation,
it cannot ignore an important element of the job search--
switching jobs. The literature for college graduates
rarely discusses the phenomenon of changing jobs, which
appears to be quite prevalent in the U.S.2 This is
obviously a new phenomenon for modern China which is only
now experiencing the birth of a market economy, so there
is an absence of writing on the subject. Aggregate data
for the class that graduated in 1993 indicate that szu
students change jobs even before they graduate. About
30% of these graduates reported that they had taken jobs
and changed them before they actually graduated in mid
June (See Table 9.1).
Seniors are encouraged by the school authorities to
take a full-time job as soon as they finish their senior
thesis, usually in the April preceding graduation.
Students are eager to get into the workplace and to
assume the status among their peers as a successful job-
getter. Each department wants to get all its seniors
employed by graduation, and in many cases parental
pressure on graduates also exists. Sometimes, graduates
take the first job offered and wait for other offers to
come in. Without compunction they will take another job,
often giving current employers little notice, and in some
cases not even telling the employer they are quitting.
In one case, a graduate quit a state bureau to work in a
real estate office, but he never informed the bureau that
he had resigned (Case 20). Several of his classmates who
had taken jobs in the same bureau were constantly asked
about their missing colleague. For six weeks they
invented various excuses (sickness, working on his senior
thesis, death in the family, etc.).
Generally, companies do not require students to sign
contracts until they have been at work for several
months, so there is no penalty for quitting a job. This
creates a cycle: companies are reluctant to sign
contracts with new employees until they get to know them;
likewise students are reluctant to bind themselves to a
job which they may not like. Companies are reluctant to
train uncontracted employees, fearing they will quit the
job. This fear is quite justified. For example, four
1992 graduates from the Foreign Language Department spent
six weeks in a state bank training program; upon
completion of training they quit their jobs to work for a
foreign capitalized bank. Since then, the particular
Chinese bank has refused to hire FLD graduates although
it still recruits graduates from other szu departments.
The review of candidates by employers is rather
cursory. With few exceptions (noted below) there are no
such things as shortlists. Some employers do not review
resumes, and virtually no employer asks candidates if
they are currently employed; it is assumed seniors are
full-time students until they actually graduate and they
cannot be formally hired by state employers. The data
collected on the 1993 graduates support what the student
interviews bear out: that changing jobs is not directly
related to the use of guanxi. (There was no statistical
significance between the variables). In other words, job-
changers among the students nearing graduation sometimes
use guanxi to change jobs, but just as often they change
jobs without the use of guanxi. Interviews suggest that
graduates often hold back using guanxi. Initially, they
try to get their own jobs, as in the examples of Cases 17
and 15, cited in Chapter VII. Finding one's own job
advances status among peers and improves self-image.
After graduates have experienced several jobs and have
obtained a clearer idea what they are after, they might
then become more serious in their attitudes and less
inclined to change jobs. The use of guanxi in the
initial job(s) then is probably less frequent than in
latter job switches (which is not the subject of this
dissertation).
Much of the job change seems to be related not to
guanxi use but rather to whether employed seniors believe
they are using their talents on the job. Two questions
in the survey concerned this issue. Graduating seniors
were asked whether they were using their skills and
talents (skilluse) and whether they were making use of
their field of study (studyuse) in their jobs. The
aggregate responses suggest a normal distribution: only a
few students fall at the extremes of either greatly or
poorly using their skills/study on the job. When they
were asked if they were likely to change, a significant
relationship appeared in terms of skilluse and studyuse
(See Tables 10.2 and 10.3). In sum, to say that the
frequent occurrence of job change is a direct reflection
of using guanxi does not appear to be accurate, at least
not for those just entering the job market.
There also appears to be little relationship between
the use of guanxi and whether one is in his/her first
job. Guanxi use is slightly higher for those who have
had more than one job, but the difference is not
statistically relevant. Given the high degree of job
change, students treat the job search much like the
proverbial fishing exploration: cast a wide net to see
what can be caught. In other words, students tend to
reject quite a few job offers (see Table 9.4). Students
working at the time of graduation who have rejected no
offers have higher uses of guanxi than students who have
rejected either one or two job offers (See Table 10.5).
These are students who get the exact job they desire and
wish to stay put for a while.
Perceptions of Equality
In many of my conversations, I came away with the
impression that students consider themselves more-or-less
equal in terms of talent and abilities. Certain students
get better grades, but this achievement is often
attributed to diligence, not innate ability.3 There are
few places in Chinese higher education for a surfeit of
qualified applicants; only about 20% of high school
graduates can go to college. One, therefore, becomes a
member of the ‚lite at university entry since graduation
is more-or-less automatic.4 The ‚litist nature of the
system might change if China achieves mass education,5
but for now higher education defines the intellectual
‚lite for both Chinese and sez society.6 Students at szu
are not differentiated according to intelligence while at
the university, in part, because the university for most
students is their last educational step. Graduate study
is even more ‚litist, but few szu graduates pursue
further education. According to the 1993 survey, 8.3%
profess an inclination to continue studies, but slightly
less than half of these plan to go abroad for their
study. Since employers are generally not concerned with
one's academic performance, achievement in the form of
grades will not greatly affect life's choices. Most
employers (78% according to students) review transcripts
before making hiring decisions, but my interviews suggest
transcript review is pro-forma. Class standing is rarely
considered. Transcripts are examined only to ensure that
the students indeed graduated from the university.7
In sum, students believe that achievement in college
is not especially related to ability and that employers
in szu seem disregard academic achievement as a hiring
criteria. The major exception is Auditors Inc.,8 the
international accounting firm, which is discussed below.
Other companies, state and foreign capitalized, treat
university completion as a baseline requirement, but they
do not compare graduates in a competitive perspective.
Introductions--Using Guanxi
Table 9.6 shows the methods used by 1993 students in
finding the job they held at the time of graduation. On
the actual survey instrument, the term introduction was
used instead of guanxi in this particular question (part
III, number 6) because it serves as a more neutral term
and acts as a surrogate for guanxi. Later questions that
asked attitudes toward using relationships, used the term
guanxi.
Given that over one-third of the students obtained
their jobs through the use of an "introduction," how
crucial was this introduction? Table 9.7 answers this
question. An introduction is crucial for those who have
the higher guanxi use. Almost half of all student
introductions are to high ranking managers or officials
in the workunit (Table 9.8). Most introductions are made
through either a personal friend, one's father, or a
friend of father, and these three categories account for
over half of the introductions (See Table 9.9).
The Strength of Ties
The "strength of weak ties" hypothesis (discussed in
Chapter III) postulates that weak relationships with
acquaintances, rather than stronger relationships such as
those with family members and close friends, provide more
assistance in helping the job-seeker secure employment.
How well does this hypothesis test for szu graduates?
Table 9.9 indicates the use of relationships
according to who introduced students to their jobs.
Recoding the classifications into weak and strong ties
poses a problem. "Mother," "father," and "sibling" are
of course strong ties, and most of the remaining
categories can be assumed to be weak ties. But how
should "personal friend" be handled? My interviews
suggest that personal friendship among students is
characterized by frequency of contact and intensity of
relationship. They should be considered strong ties.
Classified thus, the data on strength of ties appears in
Table 9.10. However, when personal friend is placed it a
separate category the difference in guanxi use between
those using strong ties and weak ties becomes even more
pronounced. (See Table 9.11). In any case, the
statistical analysis indicates a higher use of guanxi
when using parents or sibling for help, although more
respondents overall report using weak ties.
It is highly likely, therefore, that using strong
ties produces better results for the job-seeker than
using weak ties. Indeed, the literature on employment
mobility in the U.S. seems to have underestimated the
importance of strong ties.9 Empirical research for job-
changing in another Asian cultural context--Japan--also
supports the importance of strong ties.10 An
introduction in the Chinese setting involves more than
just passing along information about whom to contact when
one is looking for a job. In the American context, where
much of the research has occurred, an introduction is not
a recommendation per se. More often, it just involves
sharing information about a job opening. An introduction
in Shenzhen, however, would be tantamount to a very
strong recommendation in the West. Yet, it is still only
a recommendation; it is not an order or a command that
someone be hired. The stronger the relationship, the
closer the recommendation becomes a demand. If the
applicant is not successful, then the person who made the
introduction loses face. If it is successful, then the
person who "gives out" the job expands his/her own face.
Individual Characteristics
I mentioned in Chapter I that my earlier academic field
of study--planning--had given me a quasi-econometric
perspective. Often, I see a world filled with
independent and dependent variables that help us explain
change. After the 1993 survey data were initially
analyzed, I had expected that the dependent variable
guanxi.use would be affected by certain characteristics
such as sex, language group, parents' socio-economic
status (SES), sez residence, sibling position as well as
attributes such as one's class rank, major, propensity to
change jobs, workunit type and job sector type.
Many of these variables, as summarized below, have
been discounted in earlier parts of this dissertation.
Gender (Chapter VIII) for one, however, is important.
Men use relationships more often than women. Language
group was found to be unimportant. The survey data
indicate that graduates who speak Shanghai dialect at
home use the most guanxi in their job search (but the
total number of reported cases is only 8). In the first
place, Cantonese ties with Hakka (Keja), followed by
Putonghua, then Chaozhou, in regard to which dialect
speakers use connections the most. But the differences
are not statistically significant. Since Cantonese is
the prevailing tongue of the region, it might serve as a
surrogate for localness. Yet, I taught numerous students
who spoke their home dialect only at home. They were
Cantonese speakers except when they communicated with
their parents in Putonghua, Chaozhou or Hakka. Since
almost everyone in the sez is an immigrant, language
turns out to be a rather poor surrogate for localness.
The sez was originally Hakka, but all the Hakka students
I knew came from outside the sez. In any case Hakka has
so many subdialects it can hardly be considered a unified
dialect. The Chaozhou have the reputation, among both
Chaozhouese and non-Chaozhouese, as being a rather
clannish group. They might be expected to use
relationships more, but in fact they are at the bottom of
the (statistically insignificant) ranking.
Parents' SES might be relevant in determining guanxi
use, but as discussed in Chapter IV, this variable
doesn't vary much. Most students--both those from within
and from outside the sez--come from high SES families.
Sez residence was discussed in Chapter V. Students
whose parents reside in the sez would be expected to have
more personal contacts in the zone--connections the
student could tap for jobs. The survey data suggest that
those living in the sez do use more guanxi, but the
difference in mean scores is not statistically
significant. Students from outside the zone may be more
desperate for jobs, given the necessity of their
retaining a local dang'an and hukou. They may make
better use of their fewer connections, as was the case
with Case 15, discussed in Chapter V.
Sibling position is a variable constructed from
several questions which asked respondents how many older
and younger brothers and sisters were in their family.
Would the youngest child, the last to leave the nest, be
expected to be able to tap both parents' and sibling's
resources? Or would parents be expected to give the
oldest male, traditionally the one responsible for taking
care of aged parents, the most help in getting a job? A
one-way analysis of variance using the tukey-b procedure
reports that no two groups in sibling position are
significantly different at the .050 level of confidence.
This lack of importance of sibling position might be
explained several ways. Job search is so complex that
siblingship is just one of many factors. As discussed
above, parental assistance is less common than friends'
help, but the former may produce better results for
students.
Class rank has proved to be an important variable
(Chapter VII), as underachievers use guanxi more than
students who perform well in academics at szu. It is
unlikely that underachievement causes one to use guanxi
since grades have little influence on the type of job one
gets. It is also unlikely that having guanxi causes one
to slack off in university: the "why work hard when I
have good enough connections to get whatever job I want?"
kind of attitude. Possessing sufficient guanxi for the
desired job is never a certainty; guanxi may be necessary
but it is rarely sufficient. One must also be at the
right place at the right time. Few company managers have
the discretion to hire at will even in a boom economy.
In my interviews I found few students who were so self-
confident that they thought they possessed sufficient
guanxi so they did not even consider looking for a job.
One might expect this to occur in cases where graduates
are expected to run the family firm, but in the sez few
family firms exist. Family-run businesses are mostly
small storefronts that involve retail sales. These jobs
do not require a university degree, nor would the shops
benefit greatly from hiring a student holding such a
credential.
Underachiever-Dependency Syndrome
Rather than arguing whether guanxi use causes
underachievement or vice-versa, it seems that both
elements are indicative of a certain personality trait
that can be referred to as the underachiever-dependency
syndrome. The underachiever, in most cases a male, is
drawn to state companies, which are still associated with
the iron rice pot, daguofan, that provides lifelong
security. Perhaps these former achievers (any student
who can enter university is an achiever; however
brilliant, few underachievers can pass the college
entrance exam) have rebelled against their past and are
prepared to sit back to a not terribly challenging life.
Perhaps they divert their energies elsewhere, like Case
30, who moonlighted during his academic career and upon
graduation worked privately on company time.
The underachievement/dependency syndrome touches a
variety of students. They are intelligent and manifest a
laziness in school work. At szu, most are males, but two-
thirds of the student body is male. From my own
observation, it would appear that many females are also
underachievers. Furthermore, most of the corrupt
practices involving students at the school11 deal with
underachievers. Cases of cheating, plagiarism and grade
changing involve underachievers.
The academic major of each student is determined by
the student's choice made at the time of the college
entrance exam and the selection process which
universities use to obtain students. What one studies,
however, often does not match with the job one takes (See
Table 9.12). The mismatch is especially true for the
sciences, few of whose graduates are able to apply in the
workplace what they had learned in the classroom. My
interviews support the survey data that show that
architecture and computer majors show less mismatch. How
do academic majors relate to the use of guanxi in the job
search? One might expect that students from departments
with the biggest mismatch would use the most guanxi.
Finding that their credentials are unimportant because
they cannot find (or choose not to find) jobs that relate
to their field of study, they would resort to guanxi.
Indeed, as Table 9.13 shows, the departments with the
biggest mismatch, Physics and Chemistry, also head the
list for guanxi use. The Management department is also
at the top of the list (note that the rank order of the
top entries is not statistically significant). Graduates
from the Management department, when asked to comment on
this finding, were not surprised. One explained:
In our department we want to go into business or
trade. In these jobs relationships are important,
so we know how important relationships are in
getting a job. That's why we're in the management
department in the first place.
The Foreign Language Department, which lies at the
opposite end of the table, comprises mostly females, and
has an above average proportion of students whose
families live outside the sez. It offers a more demanding
(i.e., time-consuming) curriculum than in other
departments; consequently, students are busier and have
less opportunity for underachievement. Possibly for
these reasons, their use of guanxi is lower than in other
departments.
The job sector type students choose relates to their
using guanxi in the job search. Table 9.14 shows that
guanxi use is reported more by students who go into
business and government than by those who go into the
financial sector. (The differences between the top and
bottom groups are statistically significant, but the
differences between other pairs of groups are not
significant.) The two groups at the extreme--property
and money--reflect two very different types of employers.
Those involved in property include state-run property
management companies, municipal bureaux or construction
companies. These companies represent a growth industry
as the rapidly developing sez continues to be built.
Indeed, foreign observers to the zone have remarked to me
that there is so much building that the area might be
more appropriately labelled a "scz," or special
construction zone. During the first ten years of the
zone's existence, offices and firms involved in this
sector were expanding. A student from the Management
department who graduated in 1991 met with representatives
of the municipal housing bureau who came to campus to
recruit staff (Case 24). After an interview, he was
offered a job, which he has held since graduation. That
was the last year the office recruited on campus and
since 1991, any students hired have had to be introduced
to top management. Thus, in recent years those who have
wished to enter into these state companies face intense
competition and guanxi is required of those who want to
get hired.
Workunit Type is one of the leading indicators for
predicting guanxi use in the job search. Table 9.15
indicates the types of units that employ graduates and
shows that the state enterprises and municipal bureaux
employ about three-quarters of the students. Table 9.16
suggests there is not much difference between state-owned
enterprises, bureau, and joint-ventures in terms of
students' use of guanxi. Guanxi use is discernably low
for only the sole foreign-owned companies. The
difference in use between joint venture and state
companies is not statistically significant. The hiring
for joint venture is the sez is often overseen by the
Chinese partner.
The "Best" Job: Exploring Occupational Status
The general discussion of occupational status in China in
Chapter III is not wholly relevant to what happens in the
sez because of differences between its own economy and
those elsewhere in China. Shenzhen's proclivity toward
the service and information sector and the diminishing
importance of manufacturing (see discussions Chapter IV)
distinguish it from much of the prc. A different
sectoral mix influences job opportunities, and one can
expect occupational prestige to be defined for the sez in
a way that is different from the rest of urban China.
Traditionally, as discussed earlier, the state-managed
workunit has been the provider of social services,
especially housing, and its ability to provide this has
been considered by employees more important than specific
aspects of the job. One might expect, therefore, that
students in China would undertake a workunit search
rather than a job search per se. As the sez has
developed, certain workunits have developed reputations
as better providers of accommodation, but this depends to
a large extent on the unit's housing construction plans.
Housing is built in large blocks and its general
provision is cyclical. But, in looking for jobs,
students must depend on the general reputation of the
workunit. Whether housing will be specifically provided
cannot be determined by job seekers because so many
factors are unknown.
In this section I will argue that there is no "one
best" job, nor "one worst" type of employment. The
interesting point becomes which type of person prefers
which type of employer. And within different types of
workunits (ie., state, foreign capitalized, joint
venture) why are some employers more desirable than
others?
Salary and benefits:
Salary, in the U.S. at least, can often serve as a
surrogate for job prestige, but in years gone by Chinese
salaries have been relatively uniform. This is changing.
The survey of 1993 graduates found that the salaries paid
by sole foreign-owned employers were 70% above those paid
in state companies or government bureaux (See Table
9.17). The importance of income should not be
underestimated. In one study in China, boring, well-
paying jobs received often received endorsement over
interesting jobs.12
Remuneration (defined here to include salary, bonus
and benefits) serves as a better indicator of prestige
because it includes housing and health care. Yet it,
too, is unsatisfactory because it fails to take into
account the side income that a job can bring. Those who
deal in import-export, for example, double or triple
their salary, according to several of my informants
(Cases 14, 33, 2) who work in this sector. Loan officers
in banks also have additional sources. Case 13, a loan
officer, itemized his income as follows:
salary: 2,000 yuan
department bonus: 2,000
personal performance bonus: 500
deposit bonus: 2,000
bad debts collection: 3,500
total: 10,000
The department bonus is based on a sum allocated to each
department of a workunit. The amount is usually divided
equally among the department's staff. Generally, this
bonus is automatic and approximately equals the salary.
The personal performance bonus is tied to a worker's
individual performance and thus more closely approximates
the corresponding notion of bonus in the West. A deposit
bonus is a type of commission that can be received if the
loan officer is able to attract savings deposits. Loan
officers are also paid a commission on the bad debts they
collect, set at 6% of the amount collected. The
informant was careful to point out that all these sources
of income were legitimate and noted that he could, if he
so chose, greatly supplement his income if he had engaged
in illegal practices, such as taking kickbacks and bribes
or extorting money from customers. I felt it
inappropriate to ask him whether he did in fact engage in
these practices. Still, in his four years on the job, he
had managed to accumulate sufficient funds to cover
expenses for a graduate program in the U.S.
Remuneration would include benefits. Case 13 said
that if he were married and thus eligible to buy an
apartment, he would pay ¯9000 per square meter for what
in the market would be worth ¯14,000 / sq meter. Yet,
during my interview, the first benefit he mentioned was
"extras." Asked to elaborate, he proudly explained that
his job entitled him once-in-a-while to host a company
banquet that cost ¯10,000. Mere salary, he said, pales
in importance when compared to such "extras." Extras
give one face, he said. Salary does not.
Although it may not be possible to assess the
importance of salary in a definitive way, it is most
probable that salary is becoming more important as an
element in defining job prestige. Graduates who work for
foreign-funded companies tend to note salary as one of
their major benefits, since housing is usually not
provided. The highest salaries in the sez are paid by
foreign-capitalized banks, especially Japanese banks.
Whether the salary differential compensates for the lack
of benefits (no foreign banks provide or subsidize
housing) is a decision that rests with the job-seeker.
In the view of some Shanghai university graduates,
occupational prestige ratings, as reported in an
empirical study, not surprisingly indicate preferences
toward administrative and professional positions and for
mental over manual work. Interestingly, the self-
employed peddler rated higher in occupational
desirability than many production and service jobs.13
One might expect the same to be true of Shenzhen. My
interviews suggest that students are more concerned about
using their talents and ability in the job than with
salary. They are concerned with being able to control
their futures and achieving a degree of independence.
These criteria should be considered in any discussion of
occupational prestige.
Type of Workunit
For graduates, the type of workunit remains an important
consideration in choosing a job. Immediately upon
graduation, over half of all graduates start their
careers in state companies or bureaux. That is because
most available jobs for college educated youth are found
in state-run offices. Although students want to use
their skills, talents and education in the job, many are
willing to accept boring jobs with what they consider
good workunits. These "good" units have potential. They
may offer more exciting jobs in the future, they may
offer accommodation and chances for promotion, and they
may offer other benefits such as foreign travel. Only a
few foreign capitalized ventures offer better
opportunities. Two are described below:
Auditors Inc., the international accounting firm,
has taken top students for the past three years. The
company looks for the top scholar, carefully reviews
resum‚s, and checks credentials. They interview and
examine candidates for five hours each, develop
shortlists, and make final selections on criteria of
merit. Once hired, the new employees are immediately
sent for six weeks' training in Beijing. The company
teaches the recruits what they need to know about
accounting. Undergraduate training in accounting is not
a prerequisite. Auditors Inc. is more interested in
selecting bright, diligent students who have
exceptionally high proficiencies in English. After the
Beijing course, the new recruits are immediately sent
into the field as part of auditing/accounting teams and
given carefully supervised on-the-job training. After a
probationary year on the job, a staffer is eligible for a
series of promotions. Criteria for advancement include
work performance as well as his/her results on Chinese
and international accounting exams. New staff start off
with salaries higher than those in either state companies
or foreign ventures. A new recruit is paid ¯3,000/month
initially and given an individual bedroom in shared
accommodation, fully furnished with television, VCR, CD
player, air conditioning, kitchen, and telephone. Salary
increments for Case 5 have resulted in a ¯6,000/month
payments after two years on the job. Also, he has been
sent to the U.S. and Indonesia for supplementary
training.
Japanese Ventures Ltd.14 employs Case 11 who has
been working as a salesman for the Japanese conglomerate
for four years. His salary remains low, about ¯3,000 per
month, but the job has allowed him to go into private
business on the side. It offers other incidentals: two
trips to Japan and one to Singapore for training, and
numerous outings to Hong Kong made possible by the
company's acquiring for him a multiple entry visa for
Hong Kong. He makes about four times his wages in
outside income. This additional income has made it
possible for him to buy two apartments, one with a
subsidy through his father's state-run company, and the
other on the private housing market. Case 11 realizes
that his Japanese employers will never move him into the
promotion stream reserved for Japanese staff. Thus, his
future with Japanese Ventures Ltd. is limited. In all
likelihood, he will set up his own private company.
Another avenue for success is self-employment. Many
students and graduates expressed the hope that they would
eventually be self-employed, but thus far few have
achieved that goal. The graduates most likely to be self-
employed studied architecture, design or construction.
Case 18 is an example of a student who has "made it
big." Case 18 is a self-employed interior designer who
has 16 staff and one of the best equipped computer design
facilities in Shenzhen. His net annual income is
estimated at over ¯1 million, sufficient to allow him and
his wife to emigrate to Canada for the three years
required to establish residency. During their stay away
from Shenzhen, they plan to have a child and he will get
a masters degree. They expect to return to the sez and
continue business where they left off.
These three graduates, none working for state
enterprises, are exceptional. All three are risk-takers,
willing not to base their futures on government work,
although state employment could provide security and
guarantee them accommodation. All three were among the
most diligent students in their classes, and perhaps it
would be accurate even to classify them as "over
achievers." In any case, these risk-takers very much
want to be independent. Both Case 5 and Case 11 talk
about setting out on their own, fully aware of the
hazards in a life of self-employment. Working for one's
self, however, is not an option for most new graduates.
Still, it is expected to take on more importance to
graduates as they gain more experience and capital to
become independent entrepreneurs.
Multiple Paths to Success
The cases referred to in this thesis point out a
contradiction: both a confinement and a diversity exist
vis-…-vis employment opportunities. Fresh graduates have
very few options; most are confined to working for state
bureaux and state-run companies or to a limited number of
foreign capitalized firms, where competition is fiercest.
In this latter category, guanxi is generally not relevant
to the hiring process since selection is almost
exclusively based on merit. The vast majority, who chose
to work in the government supported sector, can select
from three major types of potential employers: municipal
bureaux, state import/export firms, and state-run banks.
Female graduates find few opportunities in import/export,
except as secretaries. Chances for mobility are more
likely to occur in municipal bureaux or banks, where they
appear to face little discrimination. During the peak
hiring periods in the late 1980s when the sez economy was
booming, females were able to procure jobs in municipal
bureaux because selection was done through open
competition. Since the slowdown in economic growth that
began in the 1990s, getting these types of jobs has
required guanxi. Although women use relationships to
help them get the jobs they want, they use them much less
frequently than men. They secure fewer jobs in these
types of offices.
Given the underachievement/dependency syndrome,
underachievers gravitate toward the state sector,
especially for its dependable housing benefits. If the
state sector were dismantled, would its dependents
suddenly become achievers and strike out on their own?
That interesting question could be the subject of further
research. For now, underachievement seems to
characterize many of the state sector's szu recruits.
Many achievers also go there, but they are also attracted
to the non-state sector, which they see as their path to
success.
_______________________________
1.Cherrington (1991), China's Students, 94-104.
2.An American study found that survey respondents had on the
average worked for 1.37 organizations despite being out
of college for only one year. Holden (1995), "College
Graduates' Experiences and Attitudes During
Organizational Entry," 68.
3.Stevenson (1992), The Learning Gap.
4.Over 90% of the students graduate on time. This figure
would certainly be higher if one controls for students
who leave to study abroad, the major reason for leaving
school prematurely.
5.See Hayhoe (1995), "Comparative Reflections on the
Transition to Mass Higher Education in East Asia."
6.For China in general, a high school education more typically
defines the ‚lite. The definitional question is a major
concern in the literature on Chinese intellectuals. For
further discussion see, Huang (1993), The Problem of the
Intellectuals in the People's Republic of China from 1949
to 1989.
7.The graduation certificate--i.e., whether one graduates--is
required. The awarding of the baccalaureate degree is
not important. Students who fail three courses and thus
do not receive a degree are not penalized. Cases 30 and
38, who both were hired by state firms, illustrate.
8.A pseudonym.
9.Krackhardt (1992), "The Strength of Strong Ties."
10.Watanabe (1987), Job-Searching: A Comparative Study of Male
Employment Relations in the United States and Japan.
11.Agelasto (1996), "Corruption in the Ivory Pagoda."
12.Chu & Ju (1993), The Great Wall in Ruins, 108.
13.Zhuang (1989), Education and Social-class Structure: The
Case of the People's Republic of China, 272-3.
14.A pseudonym.