THE rapid growth of Shanghai's maritime industry has put graduates of maritime-related university programmes in hot demand.
Tang Yichi, a senior HR manager at Shanghai Yuanyang Shipping Company, which is part of Cosco, said in a China Daily report that shipping companies now have to compete to find qualified professionals, with competition becoming intense among the smaller operators.
"A lot of shipmen and engineers leave their jobs because of the hardships associated with working on a ship, and the number of new graduates with maritime majors is not enough to meet our growing demand," he said. "This labour shortage will probably continue for some time."
Shipping companies are said to be so desperate to find recruits that they have started chasing students with marine-related majors months before they qualify.
"Some recruiters came to our dormitories to promote their companies, and some kept handing out business cards to us even when we were having classes," said Gao Yang, a student at Shanghai Maritime University (SMU).
At a recruitment fair earlier this month at SMU, most undergraduates of marine courses received job offers.
The report made an example of marine engineering senior, Xie Yiwei, who said he spent just a few minutes talking to personnel from Shanghai Jinjiang Shipping Corporation, and the next day he was offered a job.
"Nearly all of my classmates who were looking for a job got offers," he said. "Finding a job does not seem to be hard for us."
Mr Gao, a navigation major, was offered a job as a ship pilot. Both he and Mr Xie can expect to command monthly salaries of at least US$1,000 during their first year's internship, which is said to be far higher than the average wage for an entry-level Chinese graduate.
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