China's job market is also expected to feel the effect of the novel coronavirus. The time after Spring Festival is normally busy for job seekers, but the high demand for graduates has been cooled down by the ongoing epidemic. The government is now stepping in to try and stabilize the labor market.

China's Ministry of Education said that the number of college graduates is over 8.7 million this year, 400,000 more than last year. As the novel coronavirus spreads, and when graduating on time is a concern, graduates are looking around for help.

"I'm quite worried about how to attend recruitment exams and following interviews. I just wish the recruitment methods can be more flexible and humanized," one college graduate said.

Spring job fairs have been suspended because of the epidemic, while the government-owned human resource consultancy CIIC said that in a recent survey of 170 companies nearly half had plans to shift to online recruiting, including online interviews and contract signings.

"Job seekers need to prepare for online interviews beforehand, as the companies will probably shorten their recruiting procedures, for example by combining several rounds of interviews into one. Schools will be hosting online job fairs as well," said Guan Kun, CMO of CIIC.

According to a survey from online job seeking site Zhaopin.com, 70 percent of companies are positive about online interviews. However, the bad news for graduates is that the CIIC survey found that 27 percent of firms are considering lowering employees' salaries, especially companies in the catering, tourism and hospitality sectors. Experts have said that the priority for most graduates now will be just finding a job, rather than continuing to search for the perfect job.

"The number of job hoppers has dropped a lot, and the talent flow in the overall market is low for now. If the situation comes under control smoothly, I would expect a strong rebound in September, when employment needs should be more robust than they were last fall," Guan said.

Even now, Zhaopin.com says that demands from the medical care and education sectors are bucking the trend due to the epidemic, and corporate consulting service providers are talking about increasing demands for staff as well. In many ways the trend may be similar to that encountered by the employment market when SARS broke out in 2003, gradually picking up from a low point.