Geez a Joab!

All over China, students are about to graduate from universities and colleges and seeking work. This is enormously difficult.

Before graduating, they are required to fill in all sorts of forms. This one asks, among other things, the following: 

List all your family members.

Indicate if any have been murdered.

Indicate if any have been arrested or imprisoned. And for what.

What is their occupation and precise position?

Are they Communist Party of China (CCP) members or have other political affiliations?

State your exact relationship. 

What is your name?

Ethnicity?

Are you a CCP member or have other political affiliations?

Describe your health.

What was your birthplace?

If you are a returned “Overseas Chinese”, state where you have returned from.

If you are a member, who introduced you to the CCP / Youth League? When? Where?

Are you married? If so, state your partner's name, politics, workplace and precise position.

What is your family’s economic status? What is your family’s source of income?

List any special awards or punishments you have received.

Once you’ve worked your way through that lot, you troop off and try to get an interview. The only way to do this is if you are extremely lucky, bribe someone, or have good guanxi (connections). Preferably all three.

 

At the interview you will be asked many interesting questions and be given many interesting rejection reasons.

One friend was told that she couldn't possibly get the civil servant’s job she wanted because she wasn’t tall enough. How tall do you have to be to push bits of paper round a desk and drink tea?

Another, a trained teacher looking for a first job was asked how much rice wine or beer she could drink in one sitting. Nothing about teaching! They really only wanted someone to prettify their banquet tables as they ate and drank their way through the education budget.

Even if you are offered the job and sign contracts, there is still the possibility that someone who offers a bigger bribe or has greater guanxi will come along and they will tear up your contract and give the job to someone else. This has happened to many of my friends.
 
There is also a huge amount of sex discrimination. Employers openly state that they only want male staff who are “good at drinking”. One female friend was interrogated about her boyfriend until the questions got so personal that she refused to answer any more and left – still jobless.

The problem grows each year as more and more people are going into higher education. China’s unemployment level is a huge problem which they will have to deal with some day.