With the unemployment rate in China reported to be anywhere from just over 4% up to a massive 20% (depending on whether you take into account migrant workers and the rural population) in 2009, it might be more or less easy to sympathize with the nation’s plight. Where it might be worth sparing a thought for the nation’s jobseekers, however, is with regard to the lengths that they obviously have to go to to get any decent career advice or help in finding work, especially when you read news headlines such as the one in China’s global newspaper, China Daily, which reads ‘Career Advice In Exchange For Blood’.
Apparently, in an unusual scheme to promote the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center, donors may be given assistance in finding jobs in return for their contribution to the city’s supply of blood. In some cases this might involve being supplied with letters of recommendation, while in others donors will be given access to searches for jobs advertised through the Beijing Red Cross. The director of the center stated that as most donors in Beijing are aged between 18 and 30, job opportunities might be viewed as a good form of encouragement.
The report brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘networking’ and it must surely make jobseekers in the US grateful for the wealth of career advice that’s right at their fingertips!
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