Local media reported last week that a significant number of overseas returnee graduates become NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). At the job fair of marketing, finance and trade held last Friday, most returnee graduates in Shanghai were found to be unemployed and financially reliant on their parents for months.

The biggest reason for the negative attitude of the returnee graduates is that the salaries they are offered are too low. Returnee graduates think the salaries are a poor return on their family's investment in their education. The media reported that graduates with bachelor's degrees in liberal arts and management earned monthly salaries of 3,000 yuan ($482.70) to 5,000 yuan this year. While overseas returnee graduates of engineering and technology are more highly paid because of their advanced skills, employers hardly differentiate them from graduates who went to school on the Chinese mainland. Their salaries are based mostly on job performance and work experience.

However, it doesn't change things for the returnees to rely on their parents for a living. After frequent undesired experiences, they don't consider hunting for jobs until they find a decent position. In the meantime, they hang around at home and go out with their friends. Some graduates have to economically be on their own years later once their parents retire. Taking it for granted that their parents would unconditionally support them is unacceptable and slows down the development of their careers.

A long gap between graduation and employment leaves the graduates at a disadvantage. Employers worry that applicants who stay unemployed for long periods are lazy, inactive and picky, and will end up becoming undesirable employees. After all, their lack of work experience is hardly convincing for future employers. 

Furthermore, returnee graduates should recognize this fact and make decisions. According to the annual report on the Development of Chinese Returnees (2013) released by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), there were 6.99 million graduates in China last year but 15 percent fewer job vacancies nationwide. At the same time, the demand of the positions where international educational background is a must has barely kept up with the number of returnees.

The returnees should be aware that it's not the job market alone that is responsible for the gap between their expected salaries and the salaries they are offered. Despite such recruitment conditions, competitive returnee graduates will still excel. On one hand, media reports show that employers have become skeptical about whether those who are educated abroad make efficient use of international networks in their careers or they are more capable at accomplishing various duties. Some overseas returnees prove to have poor professional skills and persistence, and frequently job hop. Companies prefer qualified graduates from top national universities to less diligent returnee graduates. On the other hand, low-paid positions are not necessarily a poor start for a career. As they gain experience, employees will worry less about other opportunities.

As the Shanghai Service Center for Human Resources points out, the fact that overseas graduate returnees increasingly stay NEET is highly related to their motivation. Some graduates went for a degree abroad either in fear that they would not be admitted into a university in China or in an attempt to escape from the career after their undergraduate education. The media and agents for education abroad fuel the recruitment condition by diminishing the gap between high investment and graduates' expectation of its return. A better option for the graduates is to start doing things sooner rather than ignoring reality.