Is the sooner the better? Countdown to the employment season for the class of 2024, college students are looking for internships

It’s graduation season again, which means the countdown to employment season for fresh graduates has also begun…

The number of college graduates in my country in 2024 is expected to reach 11.79 million, a year-on-year increase of 210,000. In Shanghai, this number is expected to reach 240,000, continuing to grow year-on-year. At present, there are still many job-seeking students who are struggling to sprint through the employment season; at the same time, there are also more students who are waiting for their internship to officially join the job...

"How was your first job?" A reporter from Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News recently interviewed a number of different subjects, from fresh and non-fresh graduates to "bachelor's and master's degree" students to experts in subject planning and employment guidance. They observed that colleges and universities The school can neither be "Buddhist" or "flat", nor can it be a vocational training center. As a school running body, it should match majors according to needs and improve the quality of education; and as college students, they should also plan their own paths, internship positions, etc., in order to avoid being In the year of graduation, we blindly advance with many goals, causing unnecessary "involution".

Zeng Junjun, a 2021 graduate student in the School of Marxism.

[Get out of the homogeneous major and plan a different self]

In daily employment guidance, Li Hong, chief career counselor of the Baoshan District Employment Promotion Center, noticed that the current typical problems faced by fresh college graduates when applying for jobs are insufficient career preparation and insufficient career maturity.

“For example, they have a vague understanding of themselves and do not know what they are good at and what they are interested in; there is also insufficient external career exploration, and there is no exploration and experience such as on-campus practice and off-campus internships, resulting in insufficient information in the career decision-making process; In addition, there are insufficient decision-making skills, or lack of job search skills and experience.” She suggested that students can gradually explore career planning from their freshman year to improve their career maturity and readiness.

At university, you can choose to pursue a double major, or you can become proficient in one skill. You can also take the first step towards finding a job across majors through career experience and exploration.

At the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, there are girls from science and technology colleges who have become middle school teachers through theoretical improvement and practical training. During this time, Zeng Junjun, a third-year graduate student at the School of Marxism at Shanghai Polytechnic Institute, was doing an internship in the middle school affiliated to the university. She not only has to prepare and attend classes, but also correct homework, which will become her official job after graduation.

Prior to this, from October last year to March this year, Zeng Junjun submitted resumes to more than 30 schools, received offers from 3 schools, and participated in the admissions examinations in 3 districts. In the end, Zeng Junjun chose to attend the High School Affiliated to Science and Technology and become a high school ideological and political teacher.

Being a teacher has always been her dream. He was admitted to a normal college in Jiangsu Province for his undergraduate degree, majoring in ideological and political education, and passed the teacher qualification certificate in his junior year. “In the first semester of my senior year, I worked as an intern at a local junior high school for three months, teaching ideological and political courses for the first graders.” She said frankly, “The teaching teacher Zhou Jing is a special teacher in Jiangsu Province. It can be said that she is my Guide."

Since you want to become an ideological and political teacher, you must have a solid and thorough theory. So, while doing her internship in her senior year, she prepared for the postgraduate entrance examination, and was finally admitted to the School of Horse Racing in Shanghai Polytechnic Institute. During her graduate studies, her mentor Niu Hai encouraged her to participate in the "National Ideological and Political Course Open Class Exhibition Event for University College Students". She used the animated film "Chang'an Thirty Thousand Miles" as the topic and material to create a 10-minute ideological and political micro-lecture. After being uploaded to the school’s official B site, it received thousands of views and likes. In addition, I also worked as an intern at the Experimental Junior High School Affiliated to Science and Technology for three months, teaching political classes to the first-year students. Because of the combination of theory and practice, all the offers she received came from middle school.

Zeng Junjun is an intern at the Experimental Junior High School Affiliated to the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.

Compared with Zeng Junjun's professional span, Zhao Ruirui, a second-year student majoring in business English at a higher vocational college in Shanghai, almost "changed careers." Her career ideal is "to become a national A-level Latin dance teacher", which is somewhat surprising. Because business English and Latin dance teachers sound like they are in completely different directions; but for Zhao Ruirui, it is very clear that she has formed a career planning path around "the ideal in her heart".

Zhao Ruirui loved dancing since she was a child, so her mother took her from Shandong to Shanghai to study almost every weekend. At the age of 6, she went to London to participate in a world-class ballroom dancing competition and won second place. In middle school and high school, Zhao Ruirui went to Beijing to learn dance and won the championship in the 6-18 year old group of the China GLDC International Standard Dance Competition. "In my dance career, I have competed in a total of 274 competitions, and won 221 of them."

Due to long-term high-intensity training, Zhao Ruirui was injured in her senior year of high school. During her free time to heal, she began to reflect on the path she had traveled. She found that the teachers she came into contact with could translate fluently for foreign teachers anytime and anywhere. “Their skills are international.” She also made up her mind to make up for her “shortcomings” in English.

So, Zhao Ruirui returned to Shanghai to study at university, ranking first in her major for three consecutive semesters. In her freshman year alone, she won the first prize in the national English academic competition. In daily practice, Zhao Ruirui teaches part-time and has taught more than 2,000 students. All of them have passed the Latin Dance Gold Star Certificate, and more than one-third of the students have won the Children's Latin Dance Championship in the China Regional Competition. She has also taught many He was invited to serve as a referee for the provincial Latin dance competition for the first time. "In the future, I may open my own dance studio." Zhao Ruirui said with a smile.

Although you and I are on different roads, all roads lead to Rome. In the eyes of Jia Lijun, an employment expert at the Office of the Employment Leading Group of the State Council and Professor from the School of Economics and Management of East China Normal University, the key to career planning lies in improving self-awareness and social awareness, rather than looking for an internship or a job in the narrow sense. Jia Lijun said, "There are no two identical leaves in the world, nor are there two identical people. Career planning is to find your own unique characteristics and avoid the 'involution' of homogeneity."

[Internship, employment and entrepreneurship, the paths are not contradictory]

If “the grade at which employment begins” varies from person to person and from major to major, then from an internship perspective, is the earlier the better? As the general manager of Zhaopin recruitment in East China and the general manager of Shanghai branch, Yang Juan told the Liberation Daily Shangguan News reporter that according to market data, most companies tend to accept junior, sophomore, second or first graduate students when recruiting interns. s student. "We do not recommend that students go for internships in the first half of their studies. They can prepare for future internships and society by studying professional courses and actively participating in clubs and student work."

Yang Juan believes that an internship can help students understand society in advance, become familiar with the workplace environment, and understand the characteristics of the industry. “Many companies, especially large companies and foreign-funded companies, often have rigid requirements for internship experience during the resume screening stage. Good internship experience Definitely a plus when looking for a job.”

For college students, internships can actually lead to and contribute to many paths, and can even form a parallel "walking on two legs". In mid-May, He Meishan, a 2024 graduate, flew to Kunming because her team was preparing for the third "Dokemon" animation exhibition to be held in June at the creative landmark Yunnan Coffee Factory. As the champion of the Shanghai Municipal Competition, He Meishan went on a business trip just after finishing the finals of the first National College Student Career Planning Competition, because in addition to the "employment track", she was taking three paths at the same time - undergraduate study, employment, and starting a business, and she was successful in each of them. .

This Sichuan girl born in the 2000s came to Shanghai from Chengdu to study digital media technology at the Shanghai Vocational College of Arts and Crafts because she loves animation so much and her grandfather is in Shanghai. In 2020, He Meishan entered the only art and design school among the 100 national model higher vocational colleges and learned skills from rendering, modeling to CAD. She told a reporter from Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News that since she studied in Shanghai, she can basically "support herself" with her craftsmanship and "hasn't asked for a penny from her family."

Internships in the industry where you have to work hard and practice real skills are a must and standard. In order to establish her own business, she worked full-time as a "Comic Expo Project Manager" in the organizing committee of the China International Digital Entertainment Expo hosted in Chengdu for more than a year. She often "played the same role without entering the family" and became the team leader in charge of the project. I also received an offer through this, and I can earn more than 200,000 yuan a year. During this period, she also participated in the 9th "Internet" competition with her entrepreneurial project "Good American Style Digital Entertainment Exhibition", and finally won the gold medal in the Shanghai Division Vocational Education Track. As a result, she was recommended to an undergraduate college to study in an art environment. Design professional.

However, the "price" He Meishan paid for this was to drop out of school. With support from her family and college, she took a break from school to start a business. During the year, He Meishan ran around talking about projects and organizing exhibitions herself. From early planning to post-execution, from repeatedly encountering obstacles in inviting big-name guests in the industry to successfully signing a popular cosplayer, this newbie who was in a hurry to deal with emergencies has grown into the backbone of a core team of more than ten people.

In October last year, He Meishan officially founded Shanghai Manying Interactive Entertainment Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and incubated digital entertainment exhibition brands. The following month, the company completed angel round financing and received a million-dollar investment from Qian Chen, chairman of Eagle Venture Capital and partner of Hanli Capital. In the No. 8 Bridge Creative Industry Park on the bank of the Pujiang River, He Meishan Entrepreneurship provides dozens of square meters of incubation space. So far, they have opened more than 20 two-dimensional themed exhibitions, with IP manufacturers ranging from King of Glory to Line Puppy participating in the exhibition, with audiences ranging from thousands to tens of thousands. "Last year, we made more than 8 million yuan for exhibitions and conferences; this year, we have done more than 2 million yuan through May."

"Watching the students' projects 'from 0 to 1' implemented step by step, and witnessing the team's continuous transformation and maturity, I am very happy for 'Manying Interactive Entertainment'," said Wang Weixi, a teacher at the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Shanghai Vocational College of Arts and Crafts , and also hope that more students who are willing to innovate and start businesses can see real cases and promote the cultivation of innovation and entrepreneurship awareness. "Follow your own path" and "don't take the ordinary path". These experts in job hunting or entrepreneurship will also bring good plans and good connections to their peers who are about to enter society and the workplace.