Pursuits

China Grads Sharpen Skills as Bigger Paychecks Prove Hard to Get

  • Students turn to loans for vocational training and better jobs
  • Starting pay for new grads fell versus last year, survey shows
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
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After three years of study at a medical college in Shandong province led to a "boring" job doing quality control for a medical manufacturer, Zhang Jinghan took night and weekend classes to learn about air-conditioning technology.

Her moonlighting paid off, helping her land a sales role at Hisense Electric Co., one of China’s biggest appliance makers. "I don’t mind working harder because I have a promising career here," said Zhang, 22, adding that the new job doubled her annual salary to about 96,000 yuan ($14,400).