Li Meilin had an embarrassing experience a week ago at her middle school class reunion. The 22-year-old finance major at Tongji University found that while most of her peers who studied science and engineering had already landed a job, she was still sending out applications without getting any hits.

一周前的中学同学聚会上，李美琳遭遇了这样的尴尬经历：这名22岁同济大学的高材生，发现大多数学习理工科的同窗都找到了工作，而学习金融学专业的自己却还在四处投递简历，没有收到任何回复。

“When my peers asked me about my job, I lowered my head to hide my reddening face. I regret choosing my major based merely on how popular it was,” she said.

她说：“当同学们问起我的工作情况，我都脸红，抬不起头。我真后悔当初仅仅因为金融是热门专业而选择了它。”

Li’s experience isn’t unique. There are quite a few hot college majors that attract a lot of applicants¹ but continue to have dim career prospects². For students with these majors, professionals suggest they develop a comprehensive set of skills they can market to employers.

李美琳并不是个例。事实上，有很多“热门专业”吸引了大批学生，就业前景却并不乐观。对于选择这些专业的学生，专家的建议是：只有锻炼综合能力，才能在求职时更具竞争力。

Slim returns

简单的回顾

Li’s major had a high entrance requirement. “In my year, there were so many students competing for limited spots that I had to score 100 points higher than usual just to make it into the school,” she said.

李美琳的专业入学门槛曾经很高。李美琳回忆说：“我高考那年，要和很多人竞争（那个专业）有限的录取名额，我考出比平时高100多分的成绩才被录取。”

However, despite its attractiveness to students, a finance major isn’t terribly appealing to employers. A Zhaopin.com report shows that in December 2013, there were over 3.5 million people searching for jobs in the finance field, while only 0.5 million positions were readily available.

虽然金融专业对学生很有吸引力，但该专业毕业生对用人单位并没有致命吸引力。智联招聘2013年12月的报告显示，超过350万人都想在金融行业找到一席之地，而金融行业实际上所能提供的岗位只有50万。

The same goes for other hot majors. A 2014 Zhaopin.com report shows that only 8.9 percent of bio-engineering graduates and 13.6 percent of computer science majors found jobs in their field of study.

其他的所谓热门专业的情况也并不乐观。智联招聘2014年的报告显示，生物工程学和计算机专业毕业生中找到专业对口工作的比例分别仅占8.9%和13.6%。

Fixed³ odds⁴

顽固的怪圈

The reason for this is that many students flock to hot majors while their related industries have fixed recruiting demands, according to Huang Ruoshan, senior consultant⁵ at Zhaopin.com. “Under such circumstances, graduates with hot majors either need to fight for limited positions or find work in other fields. That’s why nurturing⁶ a comprehensive set of skills is critical to the health of the job marketplace,” she said.

智联招聘高级顾问黄若珊认为，产生这种现象的原因是由于大量学生涌入热门专业，但该专业相关领域的岗位需求缺口却是固定的。她说，“在这种情况下，热门专业毕业生要么就要为有限的招聘名额拼的你死我活，要么就只能在其他领域另谋出路。这也就是为什么培养学生的综合素质对招聘市场的健康发展至关重要。”

Huang’s beliefs are echoed by other human resources (HR) professionals. According to research done by Engma HR Co LTD, 55.6 percent of HR professionals say they value a graduate’s abilities over their specific area of expertise⁷.

黄若珊的观点得到了其他HR的认可。据英格玛人力资源集团的调查，55.6%的HR更看重毕业生的能力而非专业知识。

Things like communication skills, innovative⁸ thought processes, strong ethics⁹ and good team management skills are highly valuable, says Liu Xiaolu, Engma’s marketing¹⁰ director. “We found that these comprehensive skills are more valued in state-owned enterprises than in private ones. But having these sort of abilities as well as a wide social network can help graduates leave a lasting¹¹ impression on employers,” he said.

英格玛的市场总监刘肖鲁表示，沟通能力，创新思维的能力，强烈的职业道德感，良好的团队管理能力等都是HR十分看重的。他还透露：“国企比私企更重视这些能力。拥有这些能力和广阔的人脉都能使毕业生给雇主留下很深刻印象”。

“More importantly, many jobs that are around today won’t exist in five years, and many that will exist in five, 10, 20 years haven’t even been invented yet. The content of what’s taught in the classroom is changing, but what really matters are the skills a graduate brings to the table,” Huang said.

黄若珊还说：“更重要的是，今天的很多工作可能5年后将不复存在，而5年，10年，甚至20年后的许多工作现在还没有出现。课堂上讲授的知识在不断变化，但是对于毕业生来说正在重要的是能拿得出手的能力。”