Zhaopin: 70% of China White Collars Aim to Land New Jobs

BEIJING, March 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform in China focused on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle, found in its 2018 spring survey that about 70% of white-collar workers in China were taking actions to seek new job opportunities, while confidence in their career outlooks declined.

Spring is traditionally the peak season for job-hopping in China, as workers explore their options following the Chinese New Year holiday. Zhaopin conducted its spring survey to gauge white-collar workers' confidence in their careers, and their intentions to change jobs. More than 50,800 white collars participated in this nationwide survey.

Highlights of Zhaopin's survey for spring 2018:

• About 70% of white-collar workers were taking actions to seek new jobs this spring. The figure declined from 80% a year earlier, but still remained at a high level.
• Salary was by far the most important reason for white-collar workers to change jobs, with 55.8% indicating dissatisfaction with their current salary packages.
• Emerging first-tier cities overtook first-tier cities as the top destination for white-collar workers seeking new jobs.
• More and more white-collar workers in China were taking a positive attitude on job-hopping. About 35.9% believed that job-hopping demonstrated the courage to explore new possibilities.
• The confidence of white-collar workers in their career development dropped to 3.71, compared with 3.95 for spring 2017. The confidence index is measured from 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest.

70% of white-collar workers taking actions to seek new jobs

March and April are the most active season for white-collar workers to change jobs. Zhaopin's survey found that about 70% were taking actions to seek new jobs this spring. The figure declined from 80% a year earlier, but still remained at a high level.

According to Zhaopin's survey, 12.9% of white-collar workers were in the process of quitting or onboarding this spring, and 56.7% were looking for new opportunities with updated resumes. The other 23.6% of white-collar workers indicated intentions to switch jobs, without having taken any action yet. Only 6.8% had no intention, or were not decided.

Salary was by far the most important reason for white-collar workers to change jobs, with 55.8% of them indicating dissatisfaction with their current salary packages. Uncertain prospects at their companies and limited promotion opportunities were also key concerns that caused white-collar workers to quit their jobs and seek new opportunities.

White-collar workers born in the 1980s and 1990s were the most active job-hoppers, as they were seeking faster growth in their career development. Those born in the 1970s and 1960s were relatively more stable with their current jobs.

In terms of work experience, employees with 5 to 8 years of experience were the most likely to change jobs, with 72.5% taking actions. Many of them were facing bottlenecks in their career development, and would like to seek better opportunities.

White-collar workers in smaller companies were not as stable as those in big companies. Small companies with fewer than 100 employees found that 71.6% of their workers were looking for new job opportunities.

With the booming economy, the job markets in emerging first-tier cities were very active, and more white-collar workers in these cities were taking job-hopping actions.

Emerging first-tier cities also overtook first-tier cities as the top destination when white-collar workers were looking for new jobs. About 33.2% of them would target jobs in emerging first-tier cities, compared with 32.7% preferring first-tier cities.

As to job-hopping frequency, 34.8% of white-collar workers would change jobs every 1 to 3 years, while 19.1% chose to get a new job every year. Still, there were 24.1% who were very stable and had never changed their jobs.

More and more white-collar workers in China were taking a positive attitude on job-hopping. About 35.9% believed that job-hopping demonstrated the courage to explore new possibilities.

Confidence of white-collar workers in their careers declined

This spring, the confidence of white-collar workers in their career development dropped to 3.71, compared with 3.95 a year earlier. The confidence index is measured from 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest. The confidence still remained at a relatively high level, with 26.4% and 32.8% of white-collar workers identifying as "very confident" or "confident" in their career opportunities this year.

Employees in joint ventures had the highest confidence, with an index of 3.75 in the survey, followed by 3.72 and 3.71 for wholly foreign-owned enterprises (including HK, Macao and Taiwan) and private companies.

In terms of demographics, the more work experience, the more confident white-collar workers became in their careers. Employees born in the 1960s had the highest confidence, with an index of 3.95, while those born in 1990s were the least confident in their careers, with an index of 3.65.

White-collar workers in the IT/telecom/electronics/internet sector enjoyed the highest confidence, with an index of 3.79, followed by 3.78 for real estate/construction sector.

For more information, please contact:

Zhaopin Limited 
Ms. Serena Sun
[email protected]

ICR Beijing
Mr. Edmond Lococo
Phone: +86 10 6583-7510
[email protected]

SOURCE Zhaopin Limited