Zhaopin: China White Collar Career Confidence Drops Sharply in Fall

BEIJING, Sept. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited (NYSE: ZPIN) ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform^[1] in China focused on connecting users with relevant job opportunities through their career lifecycle, found in its 2017 fall survey that the confidence of white-collar workers in their career outlooks waned sharply, and that they were less likely to change jobs compared with this spring.

Zhaopin conducted its fall research and survey in August 2017 to gauge white-collar workers' confidence in their careers, their intentions to switch jobs and their sense of belonging to the cities where they live. More than 24,300 white collar workers participated in this nationwide survey.

Highlights of Zhaopin survey for fall 2017:

• The confidence of white-collar workers in their career development dropped significantly to 2.99, compared with 3.95 in the spring. The confidence index is measured from 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest.
• Only 32% of white-collar workers were confident or very confident in their career opportunities, plummeting from 69.7% this spring.
• More than 60% of white-collar workers were taking actions to seek new jobs in the fall, down from nearly 80% in the spring.
• The most important reason for job-hopping was still salary/welfare, with 59.3% of white-collar workers considering a change in jobs because of unsatisfactory pay and welfare packages.
• White-collar workers had a strong sense of belonging to the cities in which they live. The index for sense of belonging was 3.42 out of 5 in the fall 2017.

Sharp decline in confidence

The confidence of white-collar workers in their career development dropped significantly to 2.99, compared with 3.95 this spring. The confidence index is measured from 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest. In fall 2017, only 32% of white-collar workers were confident or very confident in their career opportunities, plummeting from 69.7% in the spring. Meanwhile, 34.5% of white-collars had low or no confidence in their careers in the fall, compared with only 8.6% in spring 2017.

Dongguan (3.27) enjoyed the highest confidence from white-collar workers in the fall of 2017, followed by Hangzhou (3.21), Suzhou (3.12) and Nanchang (3.10). Compared with the heavy pressures in first-tier cities, white-collars workers in emerging first-tier and some second-tier cities were more confident and enthusiastic in their careers.

In terms of work experience, the more experience, the more confident white-collar workers became. Those with over 10 years of experience had the highest confidence of 3.23, while those with less than one year of experience suffered the lowest confidence of 2.78.

A more cautious approach to switching jobs

With decreasing confidence, white-collar workers became more cautious in switching jobs in the fall. There were still more than 60% of white-collar workers taking actions to seek new jobs in the fall, but that was down from nearly 80% in the spring.

According to Zhaopin's survey, 13.7% of white-collar workers were in the process of quitting or onboarding in the fall, and 51% were looking for new opportunities with updated resumes. The other 31.7% of white collar workers indicated intentions to switch jobs without any action taken yet. Only 3.6% indicated that they would not consider job-hopping.

Guangzhou was the city with the highest percentage of job-hoppers (70.9%) in the fall 2017, followed by Wuhan (68.7%) and Shenzhen (68.6%).

The most important reason for job-hopping was salary/welfare, according to the survey, with 59.3% of white-collar workers considering a change in jobs because of unsatisfactory pay and welfare packages. Also, 44% wanted to quit their jobs due to the uncertain prospects of their companies. Promotion limits and imbalance of work and life were also key concerns for white collars to jump ship.

The fall survey found that 50.2% of white-collar workers would join start-up companies when they considered different job-hopping opportunities and 27.8% would not consider start-ups. Instability and high risk was the top reason that deterred white-collars from joining start-up companies.

Strong sense of belonging

Zhaopin's survey found that white-collar workers had a strong sense of belonging to the cities in which they live. The index for sense of belonging was 3.42 in the fall 2017. The belonging index is measured from 1 to 5, with 5 as the highest.

Chongqing (3.78) enjoyed the strongest sense of belonging from white-collar workers, followed by Changsha (3.74) and Shenyang (3.73). None of the four first-tier cities edged into the top 10 for sense of belonging because of their fast pace of living, high costs and competitive pressures.

The biggest contributor for sense of belonging was "good medical facilities" (57.6%) in their city, Zhaopin's survey found. Other key reasons included "parents, relatives and friends living in the same city" (48.5%), and "convenient living" (35.6%).

The top reason for lacking a sense of belonging was "still renting without own apartment" (52.8%), followed by "high living cost and pressure" (50.2%) and "lack of significant other" (33.6%), according to Zhaopin's survey.

Zhaopin's survey found that 37.4% of white-collar workers would move back to their hometowns when there's an opportunity, 23.2% already live in their hometowns and 25.1% would not go back to their hometowns.

The key reasons for willingness to return to hometowns were to be "close to parents" (78.2%), "enjoying life without much pressure" (31.1%) and "better environment" (29.7%)

"Used to current life and do not want to start all over again" (47.1%) was the top reason for not being willing to go back to one's hometown. "Don't want to give up current job" (40.2%) and "enjoy current convenient life" (37.9%) were also reasons that kept white-collar workers from going home.

About Zhaopin Limited

Zhaopin is a leading career platform in China, focusing on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle. The Company's zhaopin.com website is the most popular career platform in China as measured by average daily unique visitors in each of the 12 months ended June 30, 2017, number of registered users as of June 30, 2017 and number of unique customers^[2] for the three months ended June 30, 2017. The Company's over 140.0 million registered users include diverse and educated job seekers who are at various stages of their careers and are in demand by employers as a result of the general shortage of skilled and educated workers in China. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017, approximately 49.3 million job postings^[3] were placed on Zhaopin's platform by 613,083 unique customers including multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and state-owned entities. The quality and quantity of Zhaopin's users and the resumes in the Company's database attract an increasing number of customers. This in turn leads to more users turning to Zhaopin as their primary recruitment and career- related services provider, creating strong network effects and significant entry barriers for potential competitors. For more information, please visit http://www.zhaopin.com.

Safe Harbor Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Zhaopin may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Zhaopin's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Zhaopin's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to retain and grow its user and customer base for its online career platform; the growth of, and trends in, the markets for its services in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; competition in its industry in China; its ability to maintain the network infrastructure necessary to operate its website and mobile applications; relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry; and its ability to protect its users' information and adequately address privacy concerns. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Zhaopin does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For more information, please contact:

Zhaopin Limited 
Ms. Daisy Wang 
Investor Relations
ir@zhaopin.com.cn

ICR Beijing
Mr. Edmond Lococo
Phone: +86 10 6583-7510
Edmond.Lococo@icrinc.com

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