China's leading e-commerce website Taobao, known for selling unconventional items, has added a new item in its “commodities”: new college graduates. The effort aims to help students link up with employers and find a job.
Ho Hua, China's youngest college president and head of the Kunming University in the southwestern province of Yunlin, set up the store on Taobao and served as the vendor for the talents. At the commencement ceremony on July 2, he announced the establishment of the "Kunming University talent store" on Taobao, where he offered the services of 65 excellent graduates.
The "Kunming talents" were selected from the university's 4,500 graduates this year, and with 7.49 million graduates across the country, finding jobs after graduation has become a struggle for many graduates.
The 65 "items" from Kunming University, who were wearing T-shirts with the university logo, were all priced at 1,000 yuan ($161) and are divided into four categories, "Belt and Road," "Manufacturing 2025," the "Internet of Things," and general elites. Each graduate has a profile with detailed descriptions and information that include the person's specialties, characteristics, desired jobs and desired pay.
A university official said that enterprises interested with the services of these talented graduates can book the "commodities" by paying a 1,000-yuan deposit before starting the recruitment process, which includes confirmation of the company's intention from the university, liaising with the graduates through phone conversations, online video interviews, and offline exchanges.
The 1,000-yuan deposit will be returned to the company after a week, regardless of whether a job offer is made or not, the official said.
Ho said that he wants to use Taobao, which gets millions of views a month, to build a link between companies and students. He said that it was just one of the many new other ideas he has for the university.
Recently, the university has also started a financing platform to provide students with outstanding entrepreneurial credentials with capital to realise their goals and ambitions.