Every year, more graduates face the uncertainty of getting employment with the opportunities getting limited.
One student by the pseudonym Xiao Jiang is a second-year graduate student at Beijing International Studies University. She studies in the library every day from 8 am to 10 pm.
She is one of about 4,000 candidates who are eyeing a spot at the Foreign Ministry in the 2017 round of civil service recruitment.
She is hoping to be one of the 44 applicants that will be offered this position. She will have to undergo several rounds of written exams, oral exams, and interviews.
"I am currently doing exercises for the recruitment like crazy," Jiang said. "I don't think much about how many people have applied for this position. I just want to make an effort for it."
According to Li Zhong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, there was 2.1 million people who registered for the process for the 2017 round of civil servant recruitment.
There are only 27,000 vacancies in about 120 central departments and agencies, with around 1.48 million then judged to be qualified to take the first round of exams on Nov. 27.
"Most Chinese people like stable and long-term work," an employee from the Foreign Ministry said.
Another civil servant with the surname of Ye, said, "I feel very lucky to be enrolled through the civil servant recruitment."
"Even though I earn a little bit less than before," he added.
The most popular positions are those that are offered by the central government, especially for jobs requiring little experience.
"The most popular position changes every year, but in general they are the vacancies provided by the central government with relatively fewer limitations on the candidates' academic background and work experience," said Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute.