New college graduates are not optimistic about their job prospects, expecting they will need an average of 2.66 months to land a job, according to a survey by the 1111 Job Bank released on Wednesday.
The wait is notably longer than the 1.9 months respondents to a similar survey last year expected.
The pessimistic outlook may be the result of the difficult labor market new graduates faced last year and some first-time job seekers’ lack of confidence in their marketability, the job bank said.
Last year’s graduates needed an average of 64.15 days after graduation to find a full-time job, the most since 2008, according to the job bank.
It took graduates an average of 24 to 42 days after graduation to find work in the previous four years.
The 1111 Job Bank surveyed 1,122 seniors this year and found that only 22.82 percent expect to land a job within two months of graduation, while 14.96 percent said the search would take between two and three months. The rest expected it to take longer.
Part of the problem may be that employers generally dislike hiring new graduates, the survey found.
Of the 627 businesses that responded to the job bank’s survey, about 51 percent said they do not hire recent graduates.
The job bank said young job hunters usually do not have clear career goals and have unrealistic expectations for themselves and jobs on the market, so it was not surprising that they have trouble landing a job or change jobs frequently.
New graduates need to adjust their mindsets, the job bank said, adding that having a career goal and being flexible can make the job search go more smoothly.
Meanwhile, a separate survey released by the job bank yesterday showed firms are offering an average of 2.64 percent more in starting salary to new graduates.
The starting monthly salaries offered this year averaged NT$25,671, an increase of NT$662 over last year, the poll found.
The average starting salary for junior college graduates is NT$24,989, an increase of 3.24 percent from last year.
However, the starting salaries for holders of bachelors and masters’ degrees have decreased 5.24 percent and 2.18 percent respectively, to NT$26,061 and NT$28,457.
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