Human resources officers of a company conduct an online interview with a graduate student in Shanxi. [Photo by Liu Bin for China Daily]

Due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, graduate students in Shanxi's universities and colleges have resorted to attending online fairs to look for jobs.

Since the graduate students returned to school on April 10,Shanxi University in Taiyuan has organized two job fairs for them.

At the second fair held on Thursday, a total of 6,534 vacancies from 170 companies from Shanxi and the rest of the country were available for the students.

Yuan Siming, a graduate student at the university, attended the two online job fairs.

"The situation is unusual compared to the previous years as the epidemic poses great pressure on the job market," Yuan said. "I was very anxious when I was staying at home to wait for the school's reopening."

He said the anxiety was relieved when he returned to school and was told there were a number of online job fairs available.

"We submitted resumes and took interviews online. This is a totally different experience but it is actually even more efficient than on-site events," Yuan said, adding that he has received offers from several companies.

Huang Xu, a graduate student from Taiyuan University of Technology, also succeeded in finding a job through the online job fairs.

"I think there are a lot advantages in online fairs. You can quickly identify your target employers and thoroughly research them," Huang said, adding he received offers from seven or so companies.

Majoring in civil engineering, he decided to work with China Construction Sixth Engineering Division Group.

Taiyuan University of Technology's online job fairs have attracted more than 2,900 companies, including 191 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, with more than 60,000 vacancies available, according to the university.

Li Xiangyan, a student from Shanxi University, shared the same opinion with Huang on the efficiency of online events.

"At the noisy and crowded job fair venues, it's not easy for you to calm down to study your target employers and to communicate with human resources officers,"Li said.

On the contrary, the student said she has more time to prepare when attending an online event.

Liu Liyan, HR manager at China Construction Sixth Engineering Division Group, said online job fairs are among the best options in the circumstance of the epidemic.

However, he admitted that "it's a regret that we cannot have face-to-face communications with interviewees for a better understanding of their characters and potentials".

The online job fairs are held according to the requirements of the Shanxi Department of Education for dealing with the novel coronavirus epidemic, according to Wu Junqing, head of the department.

More than 220,000 students will graduate from Shanxi's universities and colleges this year, Wu said.

He noted that the department has cooperated with a number of information technology companies to ensure the success of the job fairs.

The official said his department has demanded all universities and colleges in Shanxi pay special attention to students in difficulty, especially those from Hubei, a province that was hit hard by the epidemic.

Li Xiang, an official at Taiyuan University of Technology, said the school's officials have kept in touch with all 130 graduate students from Hubei, to help them access various online job-hunting platforms while they are still at their homes.

Li Yali contributed to this story.