Vocational training still needs to be honed further

Since 2004, when the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security decided to publish a list of new jobs in China, the number of officially recognized professions has climbed to 122. Many of these jobs have been recognized by companies and several new professions are attracting a greater amount of attention in the job market. But there are many new occupations that are struggling to get a foot in the door.

Given the emergence of new professions in China, the official publication of new jobs is the government's effort to better explain the titles and details of these new occupations, to improve national career classifications and standards, and to train highly skilled people to meet the demands of the labor market. The government also hopes to expand on vocational training while promoting jobs and competitiveness.

But there are problems with the development of new professions in China. Since 2008, the government has slowed down on the announcement of new jobs, partly because of the high unemployment rate during the global economic downturn. Data from 51job.com, a human resources solutions provider in China, says although there may be new professions, there are not enough jobs in these professions. The data also showed that the average salaries are comparatively low and that a talent gap still exists since vocational training does not meet the demands of the employers.

The following are four general problems with the development of new occupations in China:

First, several new professions are just reinvented names for old professions. For example, among the new occupations, the position of locksmith (made official in 2004), the toy designer (official in 2005), and professions such as a lifeguard and coach driver have already existed with different titles in different organizations. The government merely took the opportunity to establish national standards to these vocations. Unfortunately, the new standards have not been widely accepted.

In 2006, for example, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security officially named the certified brand management professional (CBMP) as a vocation, the equivalent to the position of a branding manager in marketing. Now if you search for a CBMP on 51job.com for a job application, there are only three positions. If you search for a position as a branding manager, there are 9,000 jobs available. We can see that although the ministry has brought national standards to certain vocations, the standards have not been widely accepted and used by companies in China.

A second problem is that several new vocations are still ahead of market needs. Several new professions used to be fashionable, such as public dietician, candy processing engineer and entrepreneur consultant, but have still not been fully fleshed out. What is a public dietician anyway? These professions are limited to a fairly small number of applicants. People who want to be corporate culture consultants or customer service professionals cannot find relevant jobs in companies. Most of those who have been trained to work as a corporate culture consultant are not seeing any opportunities.

Yet another problem is that several new vocations that do not require a great deal of skills are in huge demand. The new vocations with the highest demand are for call center operators. In the 51job recruiting platform, 18,235 applicants are needed to work as call center operators every day. But the people in this line of work need training for several weeks before starting the job. The monthly payment for operators is under 2,000 yuan. Young people don't like to take this kind of job since the salary is comparatively low and the job attrition levels are at 40 percent, which is higher than in other professions. Other new professions, such as real estate agents, are also facing a dire situation with low salaries but high demand.

Lastly, there is a shortage of talent in some new professions that cry out for more advanced skills. Among the 122 new vocations, highly skilled senior positions such as jewelery designers, landscape designers and exhibition designer are short in supply on the labor market. Part of the reason comes from the shortage of vocational training. Those jobs require intensive professional training and profound industry experiences. In the Pearl River Delta region, a jewelry designer is in short supply because jewelry processors and manufacturing companies have started to build their own brands. The average salary for a jewelry designer ranges between 6,000 yuan and 8,000 yuan per month. The salary for a jewelry designer who can work independently is even higher. Five years of training and experience is needed for a jewelry designer to grow and work independently, but so far, most of the jewelry designers only have two to three years experience. Students who graduated from universities with degrees in jewelry designing are still weak in design and innovation skills.

Training schools and private institutions are using the concept of new professions to recruit students to make a profit although they may not understand the job opportunities in China.

The author is an expert of human resources from 51job.com.