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Grads not serious about work: survey

For 23-year old Jack Hsu (徐家傑), a recent graduate of National Chengchi University's computer science department, changing jobs within three months after landing his first job is no big deal. Like many students graduating this summer, Hsu doesn't plan to stay long at his new place of employment if things don't work out.

"If the boss gets on my nerves or I don't get along with my colleagues, I will jump to another company," Hsu said.

According to a 104 Job Bank Corp (104人力銀行) survey released yesterday, Hsu is not alone in that attitude. In fact some 51 percent of recent graduates say they are unlikely to stay in their first job for more than 12 months.

"Most college graduates lack stability and intend to quit when things don't meet their expectations," Rocky Yang (楊基寬), general manager of the online job-matching company said yesterday.

Between June 11 and June 15, the company polled some 2,500 college graduates regarding work attitudes and career expectations.

Less than 9 percent of respondents said they expect to stay in the same company for more than three years and 2.5 percent said they may quit before the standard three- month probationary period is up.

"The problem is that most college graduates don't know what they should do or what they really want to do," Yang said.

The lack of college counseling about the realities of the job market and career life may be partially to blame for the problem, he said.

Another human-resource executive said the high turnover rate of graduates has become a major concern for companies.

"Many companies told us they are not interested in hiring new graduates because they are not dependable," said Vivian Shen (沈瑋), an executive at udnjobs.com.

This attitude is expected to undermine graduate job opportunities this year, since jobs are scarce and companies may instead turn to older, more experienced people.

According to Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the unemployment rate last month was 4.98 percent, or 499,000 people, an increase of 6,000 people over April figures. The increase was due to increased factory closures and terminations of temporary jobs.

The unemployment figure is expected to rise above 5 percent this month as new graduates hit the market.

Shen said there is also a significant gap between what graduates believe they should be paid and actual market salaries.

Research from the job site earlier this month showed that the average monthly starting salary companies plan to give to graduates is NT$26,550, while graduates think they deserve, on average, NT$32,136.

"Due to the slow economy, many companies have cut salaries and not raised wages," Shen said.

Five years ago the average monthly starting salary for graduates was about NT$28,000, she said.

In an effort to find a suitable job, in terms of both salary and personal interest, Shen suggested graduates collect more information about the current job market and define their personal strengths.

Most of this year's graduates, born in the early 1980s, are aggressive, creative and computer-literate, but lack stability and do not handle pressure well, Shen said.
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