UNLIKE other college graduates who have to struggle to find a job in Shanghai - China's favourite place to work, Guo Sujie and 12 of his classmates from the Hebei Institute of Vocation and Technology experienced an "unprecedented reception" on their arrival in the city to seek work.

"Reporters from several media were 'startled' by their coming," Yang Min, the manager of Shanghai Shujin Household Company, said, recalling the scene when the graduates arrived by train.

It was the first time that college graduates had been introduced to the household job market in Shanghai. After 10 days of training, the students were able to work as "professional housemaids".

"We used to employ college students to do household work, but they were mainly engaged in family education," Yang said. However, Guo and his classmates have majored in home economics and are qualified to provide extra intellectual and personal services for their employers compared with the more traditional household services which emphasize physical labour.

Job gamble

For Guo, his coming to Shanghai was "a kind of a gamble".

About one year ago, the first batch of graduate students majoring in home economics entered the job market. Although home economics was a new speciality course in China, at first it did not seem to promise a good future for the newly graduated students.

When they arrived in Beijing, the first city inviting college students with professional household education, they received a warm welcome. However, when they discovered that their qualifications did not fit them for work that was not any different from that of ordinary housemaids - cooking and cleaning - their dreams of a new career were not realized.

"Being cleaners was not our original intention when we chose to study home economics," Guo said. After a year, all the graduates, one by one, had found other jobs. "It could be described as the complete destruction of an army," Guo said.

Yet, their fate did not deflate the determination of Guo and his classmates to explore more career opportunities. "Whatever happens, we are ready to go ahead," Guo said. "Students studying this speciality are looking at us and our school needs our feedback to test whether college 'housemaids' are able to meet the social demands."

Market potential

Yang said: "We should always keep in mind that what customers need is excellent service, not just someone with a good diploma."

Looking at market demand in the past two years, Yang said she did not think that China had reached the social phase where even housemaids were required to have a high educational background.

"The so-called 'high-quality' demand could not be simply reflected in a high diploma. It could only be reflected in service skills," Yang said.

The high requirements of customers comes out in many different ways, especially in the case of expatriate families. The language barrier and differences in culture and lifestyles required that housemaids learn more skills.

"In addition, household work is a profession to serve others and a healthy mentality is crucial in doing this job," Yang said. In China's traditional culture, many people still retained the idea that housemaids were there to wait upon them.

"Theory and practice are two totally different things, so schools should have a clear idea on their education to prepare students for household work," Yang said. Yang said she was worried that the students were too young to be prepared for the work. "Once they begin to work, they must forget their diplomas."

Unlike the students who suffered the severe setback in Beijing, Guo and his classmates have had a promising start to their new life in Shanghai.

At present, the feedback about their working performance has been focused on education at home and cooking, according to Li Rong, the manager of Shanghai Laibang Homemaking Service Co Ltd.

"These students came from North China. It is unavoidable that they will need some time to get used to local cooking tastes," Li said.

"To be honest, I was not sure whether these students would be welcomed in Shanghai's household job market, but I do feel there has been a change in people's expectations of the work they need housemaids to do. The traditional physical work of housemaids is being replaced by the work of modern 'knowledgeable' housemaids."

Every week, Li was receiving a couple of calls asking for "management-oriented" housemaids which encouraged him to take the risk of hiring the college graduates to work as housemaids. "Through communication with customers face to face, we can accumulate some relevant experience when training other housemaids," Li said.

"In fact, 'college housemaid' is not an appropriate term," said Fu Junwei, a teacher from the Hebei Institute of Vocation and Technology. Before establishing the speciality course, teachers from the school went abroad to do research and, at the same time, investigated China's changing market in human resources.

"In our country, household education was still a blank space. In order to fill this gap, we applied to establish this speciality course," Fu said. The purpose of the course was to train high-level service people not only for families but for whole communities. "They should not be just housemaids performing purely physical work," Fu said.

Low-end jobs

"But is today's society really in need of housemaids with such a high level of qualification?" asked Gu Jun, professor of the Sociology Department of Shanghai University.

College students in China used to be regarded as persons favoured by God. The popularization of higher education has changed the historical status of college students. "Now, they are becoming 'depreciated' and they have to try to find work in the low-end of the employment market," Gu said.

Gu thinks it is probably good for students to have to change their professional values. "But in view of their investment in education, it is very cruel on students. Will colleges train high-level housemaids to meet market demand? If the answer is no, is it fair to college students?"