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University students visit a big data exhibition in Huainan, a city in eastern China's Anhui province. Jobs in Big Tech remain the most attractive employment for many university students, according to a new Universum survey. Photo: Xinhua
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China’s Big Tech still most attractive employer for university students despite Beijing’s scrutiny of the sector

  • Huawei and Alibaba ranked as the two most attractive employment destinations for mainland Chinese university students, a new survey says
  • Tencent, ByteDance, Xiaomi, Baidu and JD.com also ranked high as students’ preferred employers
China technology
Xinmei Shen
Xinmei Shen
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China’s Big Tech companies remain the most attractive employers for university students across several different college majors, despite Beijing’s increased scrutiny of the sector.
Huawei Technologies Co, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendor, and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding held the top two spots as the most attractive employers to students with majors in business, engineering, natural sciences and even humanities, according to Swedish employer branding firm Universum’s latest survey, which covered 58,644 students from 108 universities.
Since 2018, Huawei and Alibaba have been the annual survey’s top-ranked picks for students in those majors. The only exception was in 2019, when smartphone vendor Xiaomi was the No 2 choice for engineering students. Alibaba is the parent firm of the South China Morning Post.
Other Chinese Big Tech companies that ranked at the top of the latest Universum list included video gaming and social media powerhouse Tencent Holdings, TikTok owner ByteDance, Xiaomi, mainland internet search leader Baidu and online retailer JD.com.
Nearly 9,000 graduating students attend their commencement ceremony at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, on June 13, 2021. A new Universum survey found that Big Tech remains the preferred employment destination for many mainland university students. Photo: Agence France-Presse
Universum’s latest survey results highlight the increasingly important role played by China’s digital economy, which made up nearly 40 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2020, as consumers and businesses moved many of their daily activities online amid the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

That segment of China’s economy amounted to 39.2 trillion yuan (US$6 trillion) last year, an increase of 3.3 trillion yuan from 2019, according to the white paper Digital Economy Development in China (2021), published in April by the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Jobs related to information technology and the internet have been the most popular pick for new graduates over the past three years, while graduates who become live-streamers and independent content creators recorded the highest average monthly income, according to a recent survey by Chinese online classifieds platform 58.com.

A report published last year by Boss Zhipin, operator of a popular online recruitment platform, found that college graduates who have tech and live-streaming skills are the most in-demand, as the country continues to deal with disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Why 996 prevails in China’s tech world despite deaths and protests

Still, university students who get employed in China’s Big Tech must eventually deal with the dark side of working for the industry. The culture of 996 – working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week – has become an unwritten standard for many of the country’s tech firms.

Age discrimination in the country’s technology industry is also particularly acute. Employees aged 35 and older, who are not in a management or high-value position, are at high risk of being laid off when cost-cutting rounds are announced.

A survey of 339 companies across all industries found that 5.4 per cent of those in the tech sector experienced job cuts, while 12.9 per cent reduced the number of their contractors, interns, part-time employees and outside experts, according to a report released last year by professional services firm Aon.

Those issues, however, have made civil service jobs – known for their regular hours and other perks –more appealing to China’s university graduates.

More than 1.58 million candidates registered for China’s national civil service examination this year, up from 1.05 million in 2009 and 125,000 in 2003. They will compete for about 25,700 jobs at ministries and state agencies, putting the chance of landing a government job at about one in 61.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Big Tech remains top pick for graduates
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