A Study on University Undergraduates’ Approach to Job Searching in a Region of China

Focus on the Effects of Family Backgrounds and Social Networks

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the effects of family backgrounds, social stratifications, social networks, and family backgrounds in relation to undergraduate students' approaches to job searching in Shandong, a region of China. As the job shortage problem for university graduates has worsened, many researchers focus on the job search practices of undergraduates. Only a few surveys investigated the effects of one's family backgrounds on his or her idea for job searching. It is especially difficult to find researches that focus on the effects of social networks and family power. In this paper, different family backgrounds were analyzed and the study reached the following conclusions: (1) undergraduates in the region attached greater importance to the welfare and comfortableness of a workplace, than their career perspective; (2) social networks and family power rather than the social status of their parents significantly affect the undergraduates' approach to job searching; (3) one undergraduate who considers his privileged family background a benefit to his job search, while the other, who without a privileged family background was discouraged.