TRANSLATION FOR NEWSWEEK SELECT
“Haigui”(graduates returning to China from study abroad) face new pressure as they increasingly fall out of favor in the domestic employment market and become yet another part of China’s labor seeking demographic
With reporting by Zhou Min and Tian Fawei
After graduating from high school six years ago, Chen Jie left his home in Shenzhen to study abroad in England. After receiving his masters in architecture last year, he returned home. As a foreign exchange student, he didn’t feel as though he belonged, and he thought China would provide him with better job opportunities. “When I went abroad, I thought it was really easy for haigui to find a job (in China),” says Chen. Four months after his arrival home, however, he still hadn’t found employment. Only through his father’s connections was he able to secure a position as a design assistant at a Shenzhen architectural firm. “At my current salary,” Chen says evenly, “I could work for 10 years and still not be able to pay back the money my parents spent to send me to school in England.”
In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other large cities, 106 companies were surveyed on their hiring practices toward applicants who hold degrees from foreign universities. The resulting report, “The Competitive Advantage of 2006 Graduates Seeking Employment,” was released on China Central Television and zhaopin.com in March 2006. According to the survey, when other aspects of social status (age, education, requested salary level, etc.) are equal, companies that primarily recruit haigui only account for 35%. Companies that say they “make a case-by-case decision” make up 47%, but those that say that they mainly avoid recruiting applicants who have studied abroad were as high as 18%. Chen Jie says that when his classmates abroad see the lacking domestic employment possibilities, some say they might not come back at all.
Reports point out that there are several reasons for the change in newer enterprises’ requirements and opinions of haigui. First, haigui generally request salaries that are at least 20% higher than domestically educated employees. Second, they possess unstable attitudes toward their jobs — they are much more willing to change jobs if a better opportunity becomes available. Third, there is oftentimes a discrepancy between the theoretical knowledge these students acquire abroad and the actual practical applicability of these skills back home. Fourth, they are more particular about their working environment and have a tendency to complain. Finally, because haigui have been influenced by Western culture, they tend to keep their work and their personal life more clearly separated. This sometimes means that they don’t get along well with co-workers, which can cause communication problems in the workplace.
Furthermore, there has been a steady stream of “haiguis” using falsified foreign diplomas. Not surprisingly, this has also contributed to the continuously falling value of a foreign degree. Among the 106 companies surveyed, the number that consider a foreign diploma to be worth the same or even less than a domestic degree has increased to 73%. Among them a further 21.1% report that they have encountered instances of fake foreign diplomas during the recruitment process.
Manpower China East Regional Director Lan Gang says that today’s haigui don’t compare with those of years past: “Employers are very realistic. They need to deal with local industry—marketing, for example—so they are generally going to hire locally.” He also points out that in response to the opening of China’s financial sector the numbers of those with a foreign educational background in finance looking for work are only going to increase. In addition, some research and development centers are currently only interested in applicants who graduated from well-known foreign universities with degrees in science and technology. Lan Gang goes as far as to say that “haigui who studied at second- or third-string foreign universities, with the exception of those who studied subjects scarce among domestically-educated graduates, such as high-tech, aren’t going to be obviously superior.”
On September 4th, a haigui who studied art history in the U.S. posted an employment wanted notice on the Tsinghua University online bulletin board. The young man had exhausted himself with a nine-month job search before finally finding work as a telemarketer. There are countless others like him out there. “In spite of the fact that I’m earning decent money,” he says, “I’m really just watching for a chance at something better. I just think this isn’t a good way to live, and my parents are so disappointed.” Within half an hour of posting the notice, more than three hundred people had replied. One person exclaimed, “My goodness, even haigui who studied in America feel this way, that there’s more to it than money.” Many people also commented that aside from having good English, haigui don’t have any obvious advantages. Xiu Shiyu, a PhD student at the Tsinghua School of Management, says that even though he thought about studying abroad, “I also have to carefully consider the possible costs. Otherwise I’m afraid I’ll miss the opportunity to find a good job here in China.”
Even though the sun no longer shines as brightly on graduates from foreign universities, according to information released by the British Consulate’s Department of Culture and Education, the number of Chinese exchange students in Britain this year is predicted to rise over 31% from last year. As Chen Jie says, lots of young people are the same as he was at that age – full of wanderlust. “Studying abroad gave me a more international perspective, my approach to many different issues is very different from my colleagues who graduated from Chinese universities.” Chen has faith in his future, though it won’t necessarily be clear right away what the future holds. “These experiences will be my absolute advantage,” he says.
The Chinese National Ministry of Education announced in March of 2006 that in 2005 there were 35,000 foreign-educated students who returned to China. Among them, the number of returning students who studied on public or private scholarships increased by 15.6%, and the number who paid their own tuition increased 7.9% over 2004.
“海归”职场遇严冬
面对国内就业市场的巨大压力，“海归”已渐渐失宠并成为国内人才市场一个新的求职群体。
撰文／周敏 田发伟
陈杰(Chen Jie)六年前高中毕业后从深圳前赴英国读书，去年获得建筑专业硕士文凭，由于觉得留在国外没有归属感，因此他回来了。他说：“我出国那会，‘海归’（归国留学生）还是挺好找工作的。”然而他回来后，经过四个月的寻找并托了老爸的关系，最后才在深圳的一家建筑公司找到一份设计助理的工作。他坦言：“以我目前的工资，工作10年也不能偿还父母送我去英国读书的费用。”
据中央电视台(China Central Television)与智联招聘网（zhaopin.com）今年3月发布的“就业力——2006毕业生就业状况”调查的结果显示，在106家分布于北京、上海、广州等多个大城市的受调查企业里，表示会在同等条件下（如年龄、学历、薪资要求等）优先录取海归的公司只有35%，表示“看情况而定”者则有47%，而明确表示不会优先录取海归的更占18%。陈杰表示，他在国外的同学见到国内就业情况这样差，有的干脆不回来。
造成企业近年对海归的需求和态度的改变，报告指出主要因原包括：大部分海归要求的薪资要比国内应聘者高出20%以上；其次是工作心态不稳定，容易跳槽；第三是所学内容和国内实际情况有脱节，实际应用能力差；第四是对工作环境过于挑剔，爱抱怨；第五是由于受到西方文化的影响，工作和生活分得很清楚，无法与同事融洽相处，甚至沟通有障碍。
另外，近年不断地被揭发出来的“假洋文凭”和涉及海归的造假案件，亦令“洋文凭”的含金量不断降低。在受调查的106家企业中，认为洋文凭和国内文凭差不多者，甚至认为不如国内文凭者，加起来共有73%。而其中更有高达21.1%表示曾在招聘中遇到过“假洋文凭”的事情。
万宝盛华（中国）华东区区域总监(Manpower China East Regional Director)兰刚(Lan Gang)表示，海归的确今非昔比。他说：“用人单位很现实，需要和本地打交道的行业，如行销，他们一般都只会录用本地人才。”不过随着中国金融行业的开放，他指出有海外教育背景的金融人才，需求量将会增高。另外，一些研发中心目前仍比较倾向于海外名校毕业的科技人才。至于“国外二三流学校毕业的海归，除非他们学的是国内稀缺的专业，例如高分子技术等，否则再没有明显的优势。”
今年9月4日，清华大学BBS上出现了一条帖子，发贴人是一名在美国读艺术史的海归。他自暴历经了9个月才找到一份打电话营销的工作，并称和一群大／中专生干同样的活。“尽管我只想挣点收入，然后再伺机跳槽，”但他说“我仍觉得这样不对劲，也让我的父母失望。”半小时内，有三百多人回帖。网友惊呼“天啊，连美国海归都如此不值钱”，一些网友认为海归除了英文好，其他优势并不明显。在清华经管学院正在读博士的修世宇(Xiu Shiyu)表示，虽然想过出国，但“看来我也要仔细考虑一下机会成本，否则，恐怕会失去在国内找到好工作的时机。”
尽管海归已经失去往日的光华，但据英国总领事馆文化教育处透露，今年赴英留学的中国学生，预计仍会比去年增加31%。陈杰表示，很多年轻人都像他当年一样，希望到外面去看看，而“在国外的学习生活也让我有了国际的视野，思考问题的角度也和国内毕业的同事很不一样。”虽然在短期内显现不出来，但他对自己的未来充满信心，“这些经验将是我绝对的优势。”
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中国国家教育部2006年3月公布，2005年度留学回国的人数为3.5万人，其中国家公派与单位公派的留学回国者增加了15.6%，而自费留学回国者亦比2004年增长了7.9%。
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