Recently, inside the exhibition hall of Jiangxi Copper Corporation, a group of university students paused in front of rows of screens and models. Intelligent mine management and control, green smelting, and the copper-based new materials R&D system — the full industrial chain layout spanning mineral mining and processing, metal smelting, high-end new materials, and intelligent manufacturing — unfolded before their eyes. This was a snapshot of the Nanchang stop of the 2026 "Career Future" Employment Enhancement Initiative's enterprise visit and job exploration activity.
The event was jointly organized by China Youth Daily, the China Youth Development Foundation, Jiangxi Copper Corporation, the New Oriental College Student Learning and Development Center, and the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center. During the same period, the center also participated in organizing three employment open classes at the Nanchang stop.
To help university students achieve higher-quality and more sufficient employment, in April of this year, with support from the New Oriental College Student Learning and Development Center, the China Youth Development Foundation joined forces with China Youth Daily to jointly launch the "Career Future" Employment Enhancement Initiative for university students.
The initiative provides employment guidance and career planning support for young people. It will invite employment guidance experts to conduct 30 employment exchange activities across universities nationwide, including 10 enterprise visit and job exploration activities and 20 employment open class activities. In Jiangxi, the initiative is being implemented on the ground by the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center.
After the tour concluded, an interactive exchange session began. Facing nearly 40 university students in the audience, Li Yang, Quality and Metrology Department Manager at Jiangxi Copper Copper Foil Technology Co., Ltd. and a young employee representative, shared three insights from his eight years of work experience: "First, experiences are the most precious — knowledge can be replicated, but experiences can only be lived by yourself; second, never slack off in continuous learning — opening a book always benefits you, and books on professional subjects, management, literature, and other topics all contribute to personal growth; third, life constantly presents choices — you can adjust your job based on how well you adapt, but you should not change jobs too frequently."
Liu Yanfeng, General Manager of the Rare Earth Magnetic Materials Team at the Nanchang R&D Center of Jiangxi Copper Corporation and a young employee representative, spoke about how young people can take on responsibilities and grow within a team. "Only by rooting yourself in the industry can your growth have depth. Only by writing your thesis on the production line can innovation have value," Liu said. His team initially had only two people and lacked equipment. From team formation, experimental line construction, production line planning, and equipment selection to process optimization and technological breakthroughs, they started from scratch and did everything hands-on. In less than a year, the team built an industry-leading new materials R&D experimental line, equipped nearly 50 pieces of R&D equipment, and grew to more than 20 members, including 13 PhDs and 8 master's degree holders. "Looking back now, the platform wasn't something we waited for — it was something we built together through collective effort; growth isn't something that comes from simply enduring — it's accumulated by solving one specific problem after another," Liu said. He used this to encourage the students in the audience to integrate their professional expertise into the broader development of industry and to plan their research topics within the context of real industry chain needs.
Guo Haifeng from the Admissions and Employment Office of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics shared a kind of "cognitive gap" he had observed. "This visit to Jiangxi Copper — its digitalization, intelligentization, and modern capabilities in smart ore dressing and smart mining — refreshed students' perceptions of traditional enterprises," he said. He advised university students to step into society and enterprises as early as possible, participate in similar activities more often, and calibrate their career perceptions and narrow cognitive gaps through hands-on experience. In addition, he suggested that students adopt a career philosophy of "understand first, then choose, and prioritize growth," give priority to industries with growth opportunities and development prospects, and persist in continuous learning to build up their capabilities for the transition from campus to society.
"I hope universities, enterprises, government departments, and social organizations can deepen their collaboration," Guo said. Universities should feed enterprise talent needs back into the entire talent cultivation process, and enterprises should open up more visit, internship, and employment opportunities to jointly build a supply-demand matching platform.
For each enterprise visit and job exploration activity, the organizers bring a group of university students to visit well-known local state-owned or private enterprises for on-site tours. The event not only includes interactive exchange sessions where enterprise leaders share hiring criteria and career development advice, but also features an employment presentation salon where employment experts deliver talks on "strategies for enhancing employment competitiveness," covering resume optimization, interview techniques, industry trend analysis, and more, with on-site Q&A. Through this design, university students are helped to deepen their understanding of enterprises and the job market and to clarify their career direction.
At this Nanchang stop, the employment presentation salon was led by employment guidance experts from the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center. Meanwhile, the "Career Future" employment open classes were also being advanced in parallel. By inviting HR professionals from well-known enterprises, employment guidance experts, and career planning mentors onto campuses, the initiative uses employment lectures, resume workshops, workplace etiquette seminars, and professional quality training to precisely respond to the diverse needs of young people and enhance the employment competitiveness of young university students.
During the same period, the employment open classes successively visited Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology, and Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics. The three open classes were co-organized by the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center. Employment guidance experts from Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang University, and other institutions taught alongside renowned teachers from the center's college upgrade program team, with a cumulative participation of 2,000 students, delivering precise and practical job-seeking "know-how" to university students.
Regarding "employment competitiveness," Xing Yunke, a renowned teacher from the college upgrade program at the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center, offered a straightforward assessment: what employers ultimately pay for is not the certificate itself, but the transferable and verifiable abilities behind the certificate. At Nanchang Institute of Technology, Xing Yunke delivered a special lecture titled "Solidify Your Abilities, Build Your Future" on enhancing core employment competitiveness. From three dimensions — ability awareness, improvement pathways, and action planning — he helped students identify the gaps between themselves and the workplace and spend their university time on things that truly add value.
It is understood that the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center has long provided postgraduate entrance exam preparation planning and university-major selection guidance for students at Jiangxi universities. At the three open classes, a cumulative total of 300 students registered on-site to receive study materials. At Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology, Zhong Mei, Director of the College Student Career Development Teaching and Research Section at the Admissions and Employment Management Office of Nanchang Hangkong University, approached career planning from the angle of resumes. Using the theme "What Color Is Your Resume," she presented relatable cases with strong practical value, helping students find their positioning and improve their job-seeking practical abilities.
"Today's class won't discuss complicated career assessments — it will only target your confusions, speak heart-to-heart, and share real cases." On September 23 at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Shen Song from the School of Engineering and Construction at Nanchang University spent half an hour clearly explaining three things: learn to make choices, take the initiative to explore, and take solid action. He encouraged the students in the audience: "Many students don't start thinking about employment until their senior year, but we can learn about industries and do internships and practice as early as our lower years. Planning one step earlier gives you one more measure of initiative and one more measure of confidence on the path to employment."
In Jiangxi, such employment services are not a one-time activity. Relying on the teaching and research resources of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, the New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center has long provided public welfare services for students at universities across the province, including postgraduate entrance exam preparation planning, university and major selection guidance, resume diagnosis, and career planning consultation, and has established cooperative relationships with multiple Jiangxi universities in employment guidance and further education planning.
Next, the 2026 "Career Future" Employment Enhancement Initiative will visit more cities and universities. It not only opens a window for young students to get closer to new quality productive forces, allowing them to truly feel cutting-edge technology and the pulse of industry, but also builds a channel for collaborative talent cultivation between universities and enterprises, helping university students transform what they see and learn in practice into employment competitiveness — achieving both personal value and responding to the needs of the times and society in their future careers. The New Oriental University Division Nanchang Center will also continue to deliver employment guidance and further education planning resources to local universities, giving more students greater confidence at the critical crossroads of further education and employment.