Han Ximin

As the English proverb goes: "The early bird catches the worm." With the Spring Festival period coming to an end, Shenzhen embraced a new surge of job seekers coming from different parts of China to this young and dynamic city.

This year, migrant workers in Shenzhen are benefiting from Spring Breeze campaign, a series of activities to help migrant workers find jobs and protect their interests.

Starting from March, Shenzhen Human Resources Market, the largest job market in the city, is organizing more than 80 job fairs, including 10 for would-be graduate students.

The first fair March 6, which marked the launch of the Spring Breeze campaign, attracted 7,000 jobseekers and 105 employers, offering 4,260 vacancies.

"This is a very migrant worker-oriented job fair," said a girl surnamed Zeng from Henan Province, hoping to find a company offering training courses. Zeng, who just has a primary school education, had worked in a Bao'an factory for two years. She said she hopes to learn more skills.

At the fair, there was a great deal of demand for skilled mechanics, auto repairmen and air-conditioning technicians. There were also a number of opening for mechanical and electronic engineers.

A female employee of Shenzhen Clake Automation Co. Ltd surnamed Zhang said the company needed workers skilled in mechanical design, but among 20 resumes she had received, no one applied for the posts. "We need skilled workers with one-two years of experience, but many applicants are fresh graduates from technician schools," said Zhang.

Zhang said that the company would fill the positions from among the applicants and spend time training the new recruits.

Also available at the market were many low-end posts in the service sector and vacancies for ordinary low-skilled workers in the manufacturing industry. Some companies listed salaries, welfare benefits, workload and working environment in detail to attract jobseekers.

A property company clearly stated its requirements for and benefits provided to security guards and electricians including rent, accommodation, food and monthly salary.

Shenzhen in recently years has unveiled incentives, including a minimum wage standard and training subsidies, to create a better environment for migrant workers. "Now our major task is to better serve the migrant workers and enhance our edge of attracting more skilled laborers," said Huang Zaoji, vice director of the Shenzhen Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau.