BEIJING, April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zhaopin Limited (NYSE: ZPIN) ("Zhaopin" or the "Company"), a leading career platform in China focusing on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle, has expanded the use of its innovative and proprietary National Employability Test ("NET") with the active support of the All-China Women's Federation and other governmental and social resources.
Across May and June 2016, Zhaopin and the All-China Women's Federation will run a NET project. It is expected to cover 200 universities and aim to assist over 1 million university students in their job seeking or starting their own business within two years. The NET also benefits from the active support of several renowned organizations, including the China Children and Teenagers' Fund, the Education Management Information Center of the Ministry of Education, Renmin University of China, and the Investment Association of China, as well as Xiaoming Huang, a Chinese celebrity, as the project's brand ambassador.
This project will provide assessment tests for university students at no cost to help them understand their strengths and determine their employability and potential suitable career path.
Zhaopin will leverage its big data and analytical capabilities to provide participants suitable job or internship opportunities. In addition, the project will provide free professional training to university career development staff.
Zhaopin and Mr. Xiaoming Huang will jointly donate RMB10 million in cash and testing software with a fair value of over RMB70 million to the China Children and Teenagers' Foundation in support of the project during 2016 to 2017.
Mr. Evan Guo, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Zhaopin, commented that, "Thanks to its highly successful initial project in 2015, the NET is emerging as an innovative solution that helps address some of the challenges facing the labor market. It has started to attract the attention of a growing number of Chinese governmental institutions which recognize its potential in creatively reducing the mismatch between demand and supply in the labor market."
"The NET has also begun to generate interest outside of China among social and academic institutions as many emerging economies face or will face similar challenges. I am particularly proud of our ability to play a small part in china's economic rebalancing by focusing on the needs of job seekers and employers, on innovation, and creative technology," commented Mr. Evan Guo.
About NET
According to the results of the "2015 University Students' Employability Survey" conducted by Zhaopin, university graduates are faced with great challenges while seeking first jobs and employers also encounter difficulties in correctly evaluating the characteristics and potential of fresh-graduate candidates.
The difficulty of university students in seeking jobs is believed to be attributable to their lack of understanding of their capabilities, their over-optimistic career expectations and the mismatch in information between supply and demand on the job market. Over 40% of surveyed participants lack a clear vision of their future career and life, while over 70% of them fail to realize that their capabilities and personality do not match their professional aspirations.
NET, which involves both graduates and employers, was developed by Zhaopin in conjunction with academic authorities from a number of universities and has the full support from the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. The NET program is designed to help graduates develop a better understanding of their overall potential including an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, and their skills, independent of their matriculating institution. It provides employers with a baseline measure to evaluate participating graduates as the test assesses and focuses on the intrinsic talents of graduates. NET offers employers an independent means of identifying talent irrespective of a graduate's academic credentials, including the prestige of his or her university. Zhaopin believes NET helps address a major weakness in the current system of recruiting new university graduates whereby many college graduates are not being assessed on their true merit and talent.
About Zhaopin Limited
Zhaopin is a leading career platform in China, focusing on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle. The Company's zhaopin.com website is the most popular career platform in China as measured by average daily unique visitors in each of the 12 months ended December 31, 2015, number of registered users as of December 31, 2015 and number of unique customers for the three months ended December 31, 2015. The Company's over 109.7 million registered users include diverse and educated job seekers who are at various stages of their careers and are in demand by employers as a result of the general shortage of skilled and educated workers in China. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, approximately 25.6 million job postings[1] were placed on Zhaopin's platform by 418,423 unique customers including multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and state-owned entities. The quality and quantity of Zhaopin's users and the resumes in the Company's database attract an increasing number of customers. This in turn leads to more users turning to Zhaopin as their primary recruitment and career- related services provider, creating strong network effects and significant entry barriers for potential competitors. For more information, please visit http://www.zhaopin.com.
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[1] Zhaopin calculates the number of job postings by counting the number of newly placed job postings during each respective period. Job postings that were placed prior to a specified period - even if available during such period - are not counted as job postings for such period. Any particular job posting placed on the Company's website may include more than one job opening or position.
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Safe Harbor Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Zhaopin may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Zhaopin's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Zhaopin's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to retain and grow its user and customer base for its online career platform; the growth of, and trends in, the markets for its services in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; competition in its industry in China; its ability to maintain the network infrastructure necessary to operate its website and mobile applications; relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry; and its ability to protect its users' information and adequately address privacy concerns. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Zhaopin does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
For more information, please contact:
Zhaopin Limited
Daisy Wang
Investor Relations
ir@zhaopin.com.cn
Christensen
In China
Mr. Christian Arnell
Phone: +86-10- 5900-1548
E-mail: carnell@christensenir.com
In US
Ms. Linda Bergkamp
Phone: +1-480-614-3004
Email: lbergkamp@ChristensenIR.com