College students find money by "selling time" online

Source: Xinhua | 03-11-2009 08:17

BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The economic downturn coupled with the pressure of finding employment after graduation has driven many college graduates to explore new ways of finding jobs.

Zhang Li, a sophomore student at a vocational school in the central Hubei Province, opened a Web store at Taobao.Com, a leading e-shopping Web site in China, to sell "her spare times," Hubei based newspaper Changjiang Times reported Tuesday.

She will stand in lines for you, if you hate waiting in too long a line; if you were tired, she could go shopping for you; she might buy you coffee, or a ticket -- the one you desperately needed ahead of the country‘s Spring festival when it took too much time and energy to buy one.

"I just want to sell my spare time doing meaningful things for others. I can earn some pocket money, or even more important, I may create my own business," Zhang said.

Finding work for college graduates is a growing problem in China. It became an even harder task for the 6.1 million June graduates after the country began to feel the affects of the global financial crisis.

Compounding the problem is around 1.5 million graduates who failed to find jobs last year, a half million increase from 2007.

Zhang has done two jobs since the opening of her store in early March, at a rate of ten yuan for an hour and 100 yuan for a day.