High unemployment
China’s youth are even looking for jobs on Tinder
September 22, 2023, 4:02 p.m
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The difficult labor market in China forces young people to use unconventional methods. On the dating platform Tinder, users are no longer just looking for true love. The app now also functions as a job exchange.
Never before have so many university graduates been unemployed in China. In order to find a job, young Chinese have to be creative. Since the job portal LinkedIn withdrew from the Chinese market, more and more people looking to work have switched to other platforms. According to a report by the Chinese online magazine “Sixth Tones”, the dating app Tinder has proven to be particularly popular.
According to the report, the difficulty for Chinese people who can only access Tinder via a VPN connection makes the dating app an ideal networking platform. The application is aimed more at users who have studied abroad or work for international companies. In contrast to the dating app Hinge, it is also possible to get in touch with people outside of your immediate social environment.
According to “Sixth Tones,” actual instructions are now circulating on how to find a job on Tinder. Back in June, a user on the Chinese platform Xiaohongshu shared a post titled “Tips on how to find a job on Tinder.” It is now recommended as the ultimate Tinder networking guide. The post includes six pieces of advice: Only meet people from your industry, start the conversation by asking the other person about their job, share your problems and ask for advice, make your conversation partner feel successful, show gratitude with an invitation to dinner and try to work with certain Myers personality types -Briggs type indicator to convince. This is a personality test that is very popular in China.
This year it is particularly difficult for university graduates to find a job, according to Katja Drinhausen, head of Chinese politics and society at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. “There are over 11 million new university graduates who are now entering the job market. And this at a time when unemployment among young workers is already very, very high at over 20 percent,” she said in the ntv podcast ” Learned something again.”
Youth unemployment has recently reached a new record level: in June, 21.3 percent of 16 to 24 year olds in the cities were without a job. The figures since July were no longer published. The statistics authority justified this by revising the methodology.
Speaking to “Sixth Tone”, the human resources manager of a Shanghai company, Yang Yutong, shows understanding for the new Tinder networking trend. After all, young people today have to take advantage of every advantage to get hired. “I personally think that using dating apps to connect with people in the same industry and find job opportunities is creative and suitable for the young generation,” the online magazine quoted Yang as saying. However, it is important to be careful of scammers.