According to the 2020 Foshan Overseas Returnee Employment Survey Report launched by Zhaopin.com, a local job-hunting platform, the number of overseas returnees who submitted resumes to local positions or who intend to start a career back home has skyrocketed by 58.2% compared with 2019. That is much higher than the year-on-year growth rates in 2019 (5.3%) and 2018 (4.3%). Especially in the second quarter after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number went even higher by up to 195% on a year-on-year basis.
The survey also reveals that among all job-seekers on Foshan employment platforms, most expect to be paid for 4,000 to 6,000 yuan per month, with the highest proportion of 31%, followed by 6,000 to 8,000 yuan per month, with a proportion of 25%. But for overseas returnees, their expected salaries are inclined to a higher range, mainly pinned at 6,000 to 8,000 yuan (23.8%) and 8,000 to 10,000 yuan (21.6%) per month. 18.2% of them expect a per-month salary of 10,000 to 15,000.
After returning home for employment in 2020, satisfaction with salary has improved compared with 2019, but it is still far from what was expected. According to the survey, 57% of respondents’ salaries don’t live up to their expectation with a year-on-year decrease of 6%; 38% of them said their salaries were basically in line with expectations with an increase compared to the same period in 2019 (34%); and 6% said their actual salaries exceeded their expectations.
Given that overseas returnees spent a lot in education and living, they usually hold higher expectations for their first jobs. However, as returnees know more about the domestic job market, they might smartly adjust their expectations.
When asked about the reasons why they came back during the pandemic, 56.8% of overseas students chose “China’s done a better job in regulating/controlling the pandemic”, followed by “life is more convenient back home” with a share of 45.3%. For the sake of employment, a major amount of them stated that “the domestic economy is bouncing back well enough” and “there are more job opportunities back home”, with a share of 42.1% and 36.8% respectively.
Statistically, how overseas students plan their lives is intensively focused on “job-hunting and employment”, accounting for 87.5%. Options for further study, entrepreneurship and freelancing account respectively for 5%, 2.5%, and 0.8%, while 4.2% of the respondents don’t really have a plan.
Facing the choice of career, 71.4% of overseas returnees prioritized "salary and benefits", followed by “corporate culture” (41.9%) and “job promotion” (41%). At the same time, at the beginning stage of career, they placed "commuting time" and " balance between work and life" far behind, accounting for 5.7% and 8.6% respectively.