Job hunting has been particularly difficult for new graduates this year, as 64 percent of new graduates are still looking for jobs three months after graduation, online human resource agency 104 Job Bank’s (104人力銀行) latest survey showed yesterday.
Despite less than 40 percent of new graduates having been employed, surprisingly, 16 percent of surveyed respondents said they gave up the job opportunity after being hired, over job expectation, career growth and salary concerns, the report said.
The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said the nation’s unemployment rate reached 4.06 percent last month. The unemployment rate for college graduates climbed to 5.03 percent last month, the highest rate in two years.
“The ratio between job seekers and employment opportunities was 1:1 three years ago when Taiwan’s economy awoke. But now with the economic downturn, the ratio has risen to 2:1, meaning that two job seekers are competing for one job vacancy,” Monica Chiu (邱文仁), marketing director of 104 Job Bank, said at a press conference yesterday.
Also, a lot of companies opted to leave vacancies unfilled this year, which makes the job market more competitive, Chiu said.
In fact, aside from new graduates, companies also reported difficulty in finding qualified job applicants this year.
Despite 59.4 percent of Taiwanese companies surveyed saying they are recruiting new graduates this year, companies reported they had to go through on average 18 resumes to find one qualified job interviewee, and determined whether to keep a resume within 40 seconds.
When asked why they had not found a job, 45.2 percent of new graduates said it was their lack of experience, which Chiu disagreed with, citing the 52.1 percent of companies that said they liked to hire new graduates because it is easier for them to develop the right attitude towards work.
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