Southeast University is one of the most prestigious universities in China. Recently, the school caused a stir when it posted a recruitment notice for the position of cafeteria manager on its official website.
According to the announcement, candidates need to have a doctorate degree, be fluent in English and use some popular office software. The school gives priority to those who have experience in jobs related to the culinary field.
The job description shows that the successful candidate will be responsible for the school's canteen development plan, supervising food preparation activities, managing contractors involved in canteen operations, ensuring food safety criteria, handling administrative tasks related to canteen operations...
Southeast University (China) is looking for a canteen manager with a PhD (Photo: SCMP).
Immediately after the recruitment notice was published, the Chinese online community was heatedly debated. Many people thought that requiring a PhD for this job position was unnecessary.
Many people believe that this is a typical example of the fierce competition in the current job market in China. Many times, the competition between candidates wanting to get the same job position becomes so fierce that it is ineffective, making the people involved tired without creating corresponding value.
In fact, the phenomenon of employers setting overly high standards for a job position is becoming more and more common in China. Many workers have complained about unreasonable educational requirements in recruitment.
This pressure forces many young people to pursue advanced degrees such as masters and doctorates, even though job opportunities that match their degrees are still very limited.
As of April 2025, the unemployment rate among urban youth in China (aged 16 to 24, excluding students) remained high at around 15.8%.
An official from Southeast University told Chinese media that candidates for the position of cafeteria manager do not necessarily have to be chefs, but the school gives priority to those who have majored in or have work experience related to cuisine, nutrition, or have a cooking certificate.
The expected salary for this job position is 180,000 yuan/year (650 million VND/year). This is a high salary compared to the average salary in 2024 in urban areas of China (124,110 yuan/year in state-owned enterprises, 69,476 yuan/year in private enterprises, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China).
For many people, the position of canteen manager at Southeast University is likened to a "golden bowl of rice", with a highly stable job, good salary, good benefits...
Many netizens even speculated that the position of canteen manager must have been “tailor-made” for a certain individual. “For someone who has both a PhD and knowledge and experience in the culinary field, I feel like the criteria set out seem to have been “tailor-made” for someone,” one netizen wrote.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/dai-hoc-tuyen-quan-ly-cang-tin-co-bang-tien-si-tieng-anh-thanh-thao-20250530201455372.htm
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