Beijing hosts autumn job fair with around 20,000 jobs available

An autumn job fair opened in Beijing on Sunday at the China National Convention Center, drawing more than 400 employers with around 20,000 job openings.

Hosted by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, together with multiple government departments, the job fair was designed to better match job seekers with employers in line with the capital's industrial planning and talent needs.

The venue was divided into 11 dedicated zones, covering various sectors, such as next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and biomedicine, to allow job seekers to speak directly with recruiters about job requirements, salaries and benefits.

To improve job matching, the fair also featured a new occupations experience area to show 10 recently developing roles, including robot data collectors and patient companion service providers.

"With the economy grows, especially the development of AI, many new occupations have emerged, for example, the generative AI trainers and data collectors. Some job seekers may not know much about new occupations, so we've brought these new careers here at the job fair to help job seekers better understand the prospects and the current state of these jobs," said Du Yang, director of the Beijing vocational introduction service center.

On site, many vocational skills training institutions cooperated with employers in such areas as AI and elder-friendly services to offer job seekers skills training and employment recommendations as part of a one-stop service to combine skills training, career experience and on-site recruitment.

"I often see this [AI comic drama producer] job mentioned in shorts of video apps, so I'm really interested in the workflow, the tools they use, and the current standard of the industry. I come here to see what the specific training process looks like and where it leads afterward. It helps me gain a further understanding of what the job market will demand in the future," said Yuan Yicheng, a job seeker.

Beyond offline job fair, all job openings from the fair have also been posted on the job service platform of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security's website. Job seekers can search openings and submit resumes online, with related services running through October 20.

Beijing hosts autumn job fair with around 20,000 jobs available

Asia-Pacific economies are stepping up cooperation to adapt to an employment landscape being reshaped by artificial intelligence, APEC Secretariat Executive Director Eduardo Pedrosa said on Sunday, urging governments to strengthen social safety nets so that the benefits of technological advancement are widely shared. The transformation that AI will bring to industries and daily life took center stage at the 8th APEC Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting, which kicked off Monday in Nanjing, east China, where delegates exchanged ideas on creating better jobs and strengthening vocational training to help workers keep up with a shifting market.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) ahead of the meeting, Pedrosa said education reform is a key priority in addressing AI's disruptive effects on employment, and that governments must play a crucial role in connecting workers with emerging opportunities.

"So we undertake projects, policy dialogues to improve understanding of how other regional economies are developing their education sector in response to the digital revolution. There are also those that APEC members are undertaking, and this includes, for example, partnerships between universities. We're here in Nanjing. Nanjing is working with a number of different universities to set up an innovation center," he said.

Pedrosa noted that while AI can boost productivity, serve daily life and advance health research, some groups will inevitably bear the brunt of the transition. Building a robust social safety net is therefore equally critical, he stressed.

He praised China's efforts to build an employment-friendly development model that coordinates employment targets with fiscal and industrial policies, saying the approach offers valuable lessons for other APEC economies.

"AI is such a rapidly evolving technology. We have to make sure that everybody benefits from this, that we have this sense of shared prosperity. We know that it will improve productivity. We know that these technologies can help us in everyday life. We know that it can help us in health research. But how do we make sure that those benefits are really there for everybody and not just a select group of people?" said the official.

APEC official urges AI benefits be shared by all