Lei Yang finally got an offer in July, ending months of anxiety and many sleepless nights.

"During that period, I felt very lonely and stressed when I went back to my dorm. All others around me had secured a position," recalled Lei, who has just graduated from the school of Marxism, Wuhan University of Technology in central China's Hubei Province.

Lei is a bit shy and didn't perform well in job interviews in the beginning. The cycle of unpleasant experiences and outcomes of interviews further dented her confidence. She was not alone in this tough graduation season, when about 11.58 million college graduates swarmed into the job market.

Recognizing students' difficulties in finding jobs, Lei's university launched a special program to coach them in mid June, about two weeks before they were due to leave the campus. After five days of job-hunting training, Lei gradually found the confidence to present her strengths during interviews.

A total of 584 students participated in the program at Lei's university, and over 86 percent found jobs.

Supported by the Ministry of Finance, the career assistance program for university graduates was initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2021. During the past two years, more than 2,100 colleges and universities across China have benefited from the program, training 198,000 students offline and 757,000 online.  

However, universities are keenly aware that a training program alone is far from enough when the number of college graduates has repeatedly hit new highs in recent years – they also need to build a bridge between graduates and employers.

Finding a match

Wang Jian was busy finishing his graduation project in June, and so missed the window for suitable and ideal positions. He majored in automobile service engineering, and has just received a diploma from Jiangsu University of Technology in the city of Changzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Wang recently joined a tour of enterprises which was co-organized by his university and the city's Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) committee. These enterprises were selected according to the graduates' expectations and had positions available for graduates from Wang's major.

Together with other graduates, Wang visited the production workshops and offices of these enterprises, and communicated with the employers face to face. After the tour, Wang said he had reached a preliminary agreement with one of the companies.

This year, the CCYL committee in Changzhou has recommended nearly 10,000 positions to the city's college graduates through online platforms. Pei Xi, deputy head of the city's youth development department, said it aims to recommend at least five positions to each college student and respond within 24 hours if a student makes an inquiry.

Similar support for youth employment is being rolled out across China. In Beijing, more than 41,000 positions were introduced by the city's educational authorities in a recent campaign. In southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province, over 110,000 full-time and intern positions have been collected from 4,000 companies and public institutions. These job opportunities have been recommended to college graduates according to their majors, and special recruitment fairs have been held to help both sides find the ideal match.

Removing the hurdles

Yang Xiaojuan landed a job this summer in the city of Dezhou, which is over 170 kilometers from the university she graduated from in Liaocheng, east China's Shandong Province.

During her stay in Dezhou, Yang lived in a hotel for a week for free while she looked for job opportunities in the city. In the hall of the hotel, local companies put up recruitment ads to attract young people's attention.

"Staying at this youth station saved me a lot of accommodation costs. The place is managed and operated by the government, and I felt at ease," said Yang.

Known as "youth station," the accommodation program was launched in 2021 to facilitate college graduates' job-hunting trips across different cities. It also provides other services such as job recommendations and occupational guidance. So far, Shandong has set up 438 youth stations for newly graduated college students.

To attract young talent, cities have also unveiled other policies and programs to ease the financial pressure of starting a new life. 

In south China's Guangdong Province, a youth housing program has been in place since 2020, providing affordable housing and subsidies for young people who want to live and work in the province. By the end of 2021, more than 210,000 houses and 60.7 billion yuan (about $8.5 billion) of subsidies had been devoted to the program.

Elsewhere, small and micro enterprises are incentivized to hire college graduates. In Jiangsu, for example, an enterprise's share of social security costs could be exempted for two consecutive years if it hires new college graduates.

At the same time, college graduates are encouraged to start their own businesses in their hometown. In southwest China's Yunnan Province, college graduates who return to their hometown to start e-commerce businesses are given a subsidy of up to 30,000 yuan.