The number of employment opportunities for new college graduates has doubled in comparison with last year, a market watcher said yesterday.
"About 30 percent of job vacancies in our job bank, or 72,000 opportunities, are open to college graduates, while last year that figure was only about 16 percent," said Monica Chiu (
But this year, as an increasing number of seasoned professionals head to China, local companies seem to have little choice but to fill vacancies with new college graduates.
"New college graduates are, however, attractive because they command lower salaries, helping companies to reduce costs," Chiu said.
A 104 Job Bank survey has entry-level software engineers enjoying some of the highest starting-level pay of about NT$30,670 per month, while entry-level administrative positions can expect salaries near the bottom of the pay scale at about NT$26,118 per month.
The data was based on an April survey of nearly 2,200 companies.
"Taiwan is experiencing a shortage of high-tech professionals, so they can demand higher pay," she said.
The survey also offered salary-growth predictions, with international sales staff expected to see a 34 percent increase in pay by 2006.
Other positions with attractive growth rates over the next four years were software engineering at 33.1 percent, retail sales at 31.9 percent and positions in the information-technology sector at 29.7 percent.
Ironically, while more companies are inclined to hire college graduates this year, fewer students plan to look for jobs immediately after graduation.
"Our survey showed that only 26.8 percent of graduates plan to look for a job at this time, while about 31 percent said that they plan to continue their studies," Wayne Shiah (夏瑋), a spokesman at 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行), said.
Last month the company polled 7,114 college seniors about their career plans after graduation. A lack of confidence about job prospects seems to be keeping graduates out of the market.
"Although the government claims the economy is rebounding, most graduates still worry about the availability of job opportunities," Shiah said.
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