Graduating from college and heading into the workplace can be a scary experience. Many young people stay unemployed for months, even years. But fortunately, the Chinese government has a program that helps recent graduates find work quickly, and for many, it starts with a positive, on-the-job experience.

Four years ago, Li Yunpeng was a recent college graduate in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. He was depressed about not getting a job right after school. But that's when his university brought him some good news. Several companies in the area were offering paid internships for graduates who hadn't found a job within two years.

Li applied. And he soon got a one-year internship opportunity at a car manufacturing company in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.

"I was lucky. I worked on the production line for the first six months. Then they transferred me to the management team. The salary was not bad. And I got subsidies that year," noted Li.

Li was one of the 200 interns at Haima Automotive in 2015. After the one-year internship, 70 percent of them chose to stay with the company, and the rest left to find other jobs.

Yin Ying, HR Director of Haima Automotive Co., Ltd, said, "We started this internship program in 2009. So far more than 2,000 people have interned in our company. They make up almost half of our technical and management teams. We're thankful for this platform."

In late 2018, a slew of measures were rolled out to keep China's employment market stable. One was that starting this year, one million people would get trained over the next three years. That number includes college graduates unable to find work within two years of graduation and unemployed people aged 16 to 24. They will get intern subsidies too.

Geng Yunsong, Deputy Director from the Human Resources and Social Securities Bureau of Henan Province, said, "It's not that all companies can launch such internship programs. They need to apply first. And we will check if they're qualified. Then we will help them connect with colleges and give them the subsidies."

Diversified services are now available to these job seekers and more job fairs are being organized. Those who remain unemployed after graduation will get job and policy information from their schools or colleges.