AI becomes focal point for both employers, job seekers during China's spring recruitment

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a focal point for both employers and job seekers during this year's spring recruitment season, as China's burgeoning AI and robotics industries are undergoing rapid development with high demand for quality human resources.

According to data from major online recruitment platforms in China, the number of job seekers in the AI sector increased by 33.4 percent year-on-year so far in the spring recruiment season. The year-on-year growth rate for recruitment of robot algorithm engineers and debugging engineers both exceeded 30 percent. From the perspective of job requirements, 52 percent of robot algorithm engineer jobs require a master's or doctoral degree, while 45 percent require more than three years of work experience.

At the same time, the market's demand for knowledge spreading and talent development of AI has surged, driving a year-on-year increase of 112.4 percent in recruitment for AI lectureships.

At job fairs across the country, human resources in algorithm engineering and robot research and development are all sought after by companies. 

Leveraging their advantages of industrial clusters, cities like Hangzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province and Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province have become hubs for AI talent aggregation.

"This year, probably more than 90 percent of the jobs are technical posts, mostly related to algorithms, such as AIGC, large model, and natural language processing. With the rapid rise of AI this year, about half of the posts we have today are related to AI," said Wang Lin, official in charge of campus recruitment for a company in Zhejiang.

At the first large-scale offline talent acquisition event in Hangzhou so far this spring, 830 companies offered 21,000 positions, with half of them focusing on AI algorithms and AI large model development.

"Hardware-related posts generally offer salaries ranging from around 20,000 to 40,000 yuan (about 2,754 to 5,509 U.S. dollars) per month. With the addition of annual bonuses, the potential income for each individual may reach up to 600,000 to 700,000 yuan (about 82,638 to 96,412 U.S. dollars) per year," said Zhang Dongdong, recruitment manager of Hangzhou Yushu Technology Co., Ltd.

"I've been waiting in line for tens of minutes. I want to apply for a position in mechanical structure. Now, robotics has been a developing trend," said Zhang Chaogang, a job seeker.

In order to attract high-tech talents, various cities across the country have rolled out a series of preferential policies. The Chengdu High-tech Zone in southwest China's Sichuan Province has launched a "settlement allowance for AI talent" program, while the state-level East Lake High-tech Development Zone in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province, widely known as Optics Valley of China (OVC), has included AI skills training in the "New Craftsman Plan".

AI becomes focal point for both employers, job seekers during China's spring recruitment

Pakistani warplanes struck several locations across Afghanistan on Thursday night and Friday, killing at least six people, including a woman and a child, and wounding more than a dozen others, local officials said.

The strikes hit a fuel depot near the country's Kandahar Airport, areas in the capital Kabul, and the eastern Nangarhar Province.

A Pakistani security source said the strikes targeted hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In Kabul's 21st police district, one of the areas hit, a market was left in ruins. Several cars were destroyed, and windows of buildings in the market and nearby areas were shattered. A crater caused by the Pakistani airstrikes was also visible.

"This is my car. I had parked it here, and it was the only way I could bring food to my family's table. It was my sole source of income and my only means of employment. Now my car is in this condition, and I have no other way to provide for my family," said Mohamad Ghulam, a taxi driver.

The airstrikes destroyed a house, killing four members of a single family. More than a dozen other households in the area reported their homes either fully or partially destroyed.

One of the victims was 22-year-old Hedayatullah, who had just been married. He was killed alongside his pregnant wife, as well as his brother and sister.

"Hedayatullah got married nine months ago. His brother was 18 years old. He himself was 22 years old, he also had a 12-year-old sister, and his wife was about 19 years old and was pregnant," said Ghulam Sakhi, a relative of the victims.

"This neighbor of ours was a family of five. Their mother was not present at the moment of the bombardment, but the rest of them lost their lives. It was Hedayatuallah's family. From my own family, two of my daughters, my sister-in-law, my brother, and two nieces got injured," said Mohamad Homayoun, a survivor.

In the past weeks, scores of people from both sides have been killed or injured in the conflict between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, according to officials from the two countries.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has called for an immediate halt to cross-border clashes, warning that the escalating violence is driving a surge in civilian casualties and deepening a humanitarian crisis.

At least 6 killed, more than a dozen wounded in Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan: officials