This document summarizes the results of a survey of 225 disabled students in China regarding their employment situations and intentions. Key findings include: - Over 80% intend to seek jobs after graduation, with multi-national companies being the most popular choice. However, many lack sufficient English skills. - Students face challenges like employers not fully appreciating disabled employees and lacking recruitment information. Top needs are recruitment information, career guidance, and direct communication with enterprises. - Recommendations to help include providing training to improve skills, rewarding employers who hire disabled students, and building communication channels between students and employers. United efforts are needed to realize higher employment of disabled graduates.

1. CHINA PWD STUDENT
EMPLOYMENT
SURVEY WHITE PAPER

2. CHINA PWD1 STUDENT
EMPLOYMENT
SURVEY WHITE PAPER
This white paper’s copyright is jointly reserved by CDPF2
Employment Service Center and IBM. Not for commercial use.
CDPF Employment Service Center
is one of the subsidiary agencies of CDPF, reports to CDPF
Executive Council and take guidance from CDPF education
and employment department, mainly responsible for PwD
employment, training and other related affairs.
IBM (International Business Machines)
IBM, founded 1911 in the United States, is the world's largest
company for information technology and business solutions.
Running business in over 170 countries and regions and nearly
400000 employees world wide. Diversity recruitment has
long been embraced by IBM as a company culture. IBM has
offered job opportunities and an extensive career development
platform to many PwD talents.
1
PwD: People with Disability
2
CDPF: China Disabled Persons’ Federation
2

3. CONTENTS
02 FOREWORD
04 SITUATIONS AND INTENTIONS
16 DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES
23 WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
33 AbOUT THIS SURVEY
37 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1

4. FOREWORD
2

5. Summer 2009, thousands of special students will
graduate from college and join in China’s labor
market. They all suffered from some forms of
dysfunctions, either physically or mentally. They are
PwD students. This small group is easily neglected
when put into the 2009 big picture of totally SIX
millions of graduates. PwD students, like all
graduated youngsters, is in for a harsh labor market
and fierce competition. However, as a unique kind,
they probably will face more problems than ordinary
people could perceive, or even imagine.
Without doubt, we all would like to offer some help.
The CDPF Employment Service Center and IBM
jointly lunched a survey at the end of 2008, in an
effort to understand the living situation of PwD
students, understand their needs and offer practical
help. The survey covered fifty eight colleges or
universities, and collected data from 225 PwD
students. The result will hopefully provide a
guideline and some constructive suggestions for the
future work of both employers and government.
3

6. SITUATIONS AND
INTENTIONS
4

7. Situations and Intentions
83.1% PWD STUDENTS CHOOSE
TO SEEK EMPLOYMENT AFTER
GRADUATION
Others
3.3％
Pursue higher
education
13.3％
Seek job
opportunities
83.1％
83.1% of participants will seek job opportunities after
graduation, 13.3% pursue higher education. Among the rest,
1.8% participants choose to start their own business.
5

8. Situations and Intentions
1.8% PWD STUDENTS CHOOSE TO
START THEIR OWN bUSINESS
12.8%
Gen Y PwD students
Compared to a prior study on Gen Y3, PwD students seem less
eager to start their own business than their peers.
6

9. Situations and Intentions
MNC IS THE FIRST CHOICE
4
MNC 50.2%
Govn. 21.8%
5
SOE 18.7%
6
NGO 3.6%
Others 3.6%
7
POE 2.2%
50.2% of participants take MNC as their first choice, 21.8% of
participants prefer governmental authorities and institutions.
The result matches that of a parallel survey report of 2009
college graduates employment, which stated 46.44% students
prefer MNC and 26.78% students prefer governmental
authorities and institutions.
3
Gen Y: generation Y, commonly defined as those who were born during 1980 to 2000. The survey
participants are also Gen Y, but with disability, in this article, Gen Y specially refers to PwD students’peers.
4
MNC: Multi National Company
5
SOE: State Owned Enterprise)
6
NGO: Non-Government Organization
7
POE: Private Owned Enterprise
7

10. Situations and Intentions
ENGLISH SKILL IS bELOW THE bAR
Didn't pass
CET4/6
29.0%
TEM4/8 9
4.0% CET4/6 8
67.0%
93% of participants are at college level or higher, but only 71%
(including those who passed CET-6 or TEM4/6) passed CET-
4, which is a minimum requirement for college graduates. It
implies that their average English skill is below the bar.
8
CET4/6: College English Test band4/6
9
TEM4/8: Test of English Major band4/8
8

11. Situations and Intentions
INTERNET IS A MAjOR jOb SEEKING
CHANNEL
84.9%
Internet
80.5%
76.0%
Job Fair
40.5%
CDPF 32.9%
0.0%
Relatives/ 20.90%
Friend referral
91.90%
Gen Y PwD students
PwD students take internet as a major job seeking channel, just
like Gen Y. Compared to Gen Y, PwD students reply more on
job fairs, especially those PwD employment job fair. Referral
channel is apparently effectively used by Gen Y than PwD
students.
9

12. Situations and Intentions
39.0% OF THEM DON’T KNOW THERE
ARE SPECIAL AGENCIES TO HELP THEM
FIND jObS
Do you know there are special agencies dedicated to help PwD
find jobs？
No
39.0%
Yes
61.0%
10

13. Situations and Intentions
MOST OF THEM PREFER bEIjING,
SHANGHAI AND GUANGzHOU AS WORK
LOCATION
Where do you prefer to work at？
80.4%
65.3%
47.1%
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou
11

14. Situations and Intentions
76.9% OF THEM WANT A STEADY
POSITION
What kind of position do you prefer？
Research job (R&D) 27.6%
Administration and
back office job
(HR, financing, 49.3%
accounting, PR, etc)
Frontline and challenging job
(sales, marketing, 13.3%
consulting, etc)
12

15. Situations and Intentions
LOWER ExPECTED SALARY
How much salaries do you expected (monthly):
52.0%
23.6%
20.0%
4.4%
1-2K 2-4K 4-8K 8K+
Most of PwD students expect 2-4k per month, which is
approximately 20-50k per year. While in average 70-100k is a
starting salary offered by most MNC and large SOE.
13

16. Situations and Intentions
Comparison of Education Background and Expected Salary
69.8% Education Background
Expected Montnly Salary
52.0%
23.6%
20.0%
7.1% 18.7%
4.4%
1-2K 2-4K 4-8K 8K+
Diploma Bachelor Master PhD
Salary expectations are compared with a previous report of
graduates ’actual salaries survey. As 1-2k represents the
average actual salary of diploma graduates, those who have a
bachelor degree averaged 2-4k, masters averaged 4-8k and
PhD averaged 8k+. We analyzed the correlation between the
salary expectancy level of PwD students and the actual salary
of the same academic degree. The salary expectation of PhD
graduates best match the actual figure in the job market. Some
college level graduates seem expect lower than they actually
made.
14

17. 15

18. DIFFICULTIES
AND
CHALLENGES
16

19. Difficulties and Challenges
INSUFFICIENT ENGLISH SKILL
AND LOW CONFIDENCE
What is the most difficulty for you to get an offer from MNC?
Limited English skill 67.6%
Lack of confidence 64.4%
MNC are preferred by most of the survey participants, while
when they were asked what kind of difficulties may hiders them
from getting into MNC, large portion of then mentioned low
language skill and confidence.
17

20. Difficulties and Challenges
NOT FULLY APPRECIATED bY
EMPLOYERS AND LACK OF INFORMATION
In your opinion, what is the most challenge for PwD students to
o find a job?
Some companies do not fully
appreciate the idea of 83.1%
having PwD employee
Lack of
60.9%
recruitment information
83.1% of participants mentioned their concern is that some
companies are reluctant to take PwD employees. Another
major issue is they can’ get enough recruitment information,
t
especially those with positions that are open to PwD.
18

21. Difficulties and Challenges
FREqUENTLY MENTIONED HELP
What kind help do they need from government?
Recruitment
information 68.6%
Career guidance
and planning 56.5%
Communication: 48.2%
Professional
training 50.2% English: 13.5%
Computer: 10.0%
19

22. Difficulties and Challenges
What kind of help do you expected from your future employer?
Fully covered
medical insurance 57.8%
Flexible work time 49.3%
Psychological council
and career guidance 49.3%
The top three needs signified the uniqueness of PwD, and
could be taken by employers as good incentive factors.
What kind of help do you need to find a satisfied job?
Direct communication channel
with enterprises 84.4%
Career guiding 72.0%
PwD recruitment information 65.3%
Nothing could be more effective than a communicating platform
that links the PwD students and enterprises directly. This need
is mentioned by 84.4% of the survey participants.
20

23. Difficulties and Challenges
Which kind of learning and training opportunities do you want
from your employer?
English skill training 78.0%
Introduction of accessibilities 74.0%
Communication skill training 72.2%
Pursue higher education sponsored
77.8%
by the company
Obtain new knowledge and technical skills
65.8%
through job rotation
64.9% Take Face-to-Face in-house training
Gen Y PwD students
The training needs are quite different between PwD students
and Gen Y. Career development and competency improvement
are most valued by Gen Y. Meanwhile, PwD students have
more pressing issues to attend to, like adapting themselves to
accessibilities in workplace, and psychological issues caused
by their physical disability.
21

24. 22

25. WHAT CAN WE DO
ABOUT IT ?
As the survey has revealed, PwD students are not that different
from their unimpaired peers, but there are certainly some
unique situations and challenges they need to attend to. This
report only offers an insight of how PwD students visualize
future and what changes can be made. The aiming point is
to provide guidelines for all parties, whether it ’ employer,
s
employee, government facility or NGO, to promote high level
PwD employment.
23

26. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
OFFER TRAINING
PwD want no charity but to be equally treated. Teaching a man
how to fishing is always better than simply give him the fish. Some
English training programs could give them sufficient skills to meet
the standard of foreign companies. Developing new teaching
techniques and accessibilities could help a lot, essentially for
those with hearing and language disabilities. PwD students tend
to be less confident and more sensitive about communication
and interpersonal skills. Coaching and consulting programs
specifically made for PwD students may help them to improve.
PwD students showed an urgent need for career guiding and
planning. Employers may provide valuable information for PwD
students by representing the voice of market demand. Joint effort
made by the CDPF and employers may benefit PwD students in a
more effective way.
24

27. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
CASE STUDY
Exampled by a recent training program held by IBM GCG HR
recruitment team and CDPF Shijingshan branch on April 2009 at
Shijingshan District, where PwD students are lectured on how to
self promote, how to enquire job information, how to construct a
CV and prepare for an interview.
Lecture of “Marketing Yourself” launched by IBM to PwD in Shijingsha District
25

28. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
REWARD EMPLOYERS AND SUPPORT
PWD TO START THEIR OWN bUSINESS
Top preferred cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou,
are more capable of accommodating PwD students. If local
government could be a vital role in PwD employment.
26

29. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
CASE STUDY
April 2009, two acts were jointly launched by Beijing CDPF, Labor
and Social Security Bureau , Civil Affairs Bureau and Finance
Bureau to offer friendlier environment for PwD talents. They are
Financial Rewarding Provisional Rules for Hiring PwD Employees
and Provisional Rules for PwD Starting New Business, two acts
intended to encourage PwD employment and entrepreneurship,
respectively. This initiative effectively eased the PwD employment
pressure under the global economic recession.
Press conference of Policy to promote Beijing PwD stable employment
27

30. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
bUILD UP A COMMUNICATION CHANNEL
FOR EMPLOYERS AND PWD STUDENTS
Nothing could be more effective than a communication channel
that links the two parties directly. It has been a long term goal
for both CDPF and IBM to build such an information exchange
mechanism between employers and PwD students.
28

31. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
CASE STUDY
IBM has set up two annual programs that focalized on PwD
students. One is IBM Excellent PwD Student Scholarship, which
offers financial support to PwD top students. The other one is Blue
Pathway Summer Internship Program. Extra resources and intern
experiences means the beneficiaries may have a better chance to
pursue high level employment. In 2009, IBM has set up another
funding to offer more internship opportunities to PwD students. In
this case what the company earned is not merely reputations, but
also a collection of real valuable potential employees.
09 Blue Pathway Campus Talk IBM Excellent PwD Student Scholarship
Award Ceremony
29

32. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
UINITE AND IMPROVE PWD HIGHER
EMPLOYMENT
Even if we are socially ready to offer equally opportunities to PwD,
there are still questions like how to make it happen. There are
a lot of modes to be discussed. Some employers (like Hi-Tech
companies) are more than willing to recruit PwD students while
facing a situation of lack of a qualified PwD candidate pipeline.
Cooperation between employer and college is a potential way to
solve this puzzle. Like employers provide the required skill and
knowledge for PwD candidates and CDPF, or other authoritative
NGO and college would help to work out a training program
specially to fulfill the job requirement of positions open to PwD
students.
Education may have given PwD more options. But it still requires
a mature social mechanism to make PwD high level employment
actually happens.
30

33. WHAT CAN WE DO AbOUT IT
CASE STUDY
IBM and CDPF have keep a good cooperation for a long time. They
co-sponsored a various initiative to promote PwD employment.
Such as China Information Accessibility Forum, Activity of One
Hundred Thousands of Blind People Learn Computer Skill, Barrier-
free education", etc.
CDPF leaders visit IBM Innovation Center BJ and CDPF leader join round table
communication with IBM PwD employee.
31

34. 本调研反映了当今高校残疾学生的现状，需求和亟待解决的问题。另一方
面，企业雇佣残疾人存在哪些困难和顾虑，目前的招聘和雇佣模式是怎样
的？需要哪方面的政策支持？针对这个问题，请关注我们后续的调查报
告。这个系列的调查报告将为残疾大学生和企业以及残联搭建一个沟通
的桥梁，找到残疾大学生和企业需求之间的差距，为残疾大学生就业开拓
新的局面。
32

35. ABOUT THIS SURVEY
33

36. ObjECTIVES AND METHODS
OBJECTIVES
• Acquire reliable information for further reference on PwD
students’education, career training, recruitment and career
progress.
• The survey serves as an action correspond to prior letter of
intentions signed on November 2007 by the two parties, namely
the employment guiding center of CDPF and IBM. It is also a
materialization of IBM’ supportive effort on China PWD affairs.
s
METHODS
225 Participants from 58 colleges and universities were invited to
fill an online questionnaire.
34

37. PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS
GENDER HANDICAP TYPES
Female Hearing Mental
33.8% 11.6% 0.4%
Mute
0.9%
Vision Physical
12.5% 74.6%
Male
66.2%
EDUCATION BACkGROUND MAjOR
Diploma
Others
PhD 7.1%
18.0%
4.4% IT
related
Master Basic
33.0%
18.7% Subject
6.0%
Humanities
18.0%
Business
Bachelor 25.0%
69.8%
35

38. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Dan Wang (IBM)
GCG Diversity Recruitment
wangdbj@cn.ibm.com
010-63618823
Furong Yang(CDPF)
Employment Service Center
yanruo2003@126.com
010-68025652
36

39. ACkNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all the 225 PwD students’ participation of this
survey, and Chinahr.com’s facilitating to make it happen. In particular,
we appreciated the support from the faculty members of 58 colleges
and universities.