Officials and graduates of Shanxi University communicate with companies and institutions through video during the university's online spring jobs fair. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

Shanxi University?(SXU)?in North China's Shanxi province successfully held its first online spring jobs fair for graduates in 2020 on March 19-20, according to SXU officials.

A total of 363 companies and institutions from 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China took part in the online jobs fair.

They offered 16,193 posts covering 18 industries such as education, information technology, electronics technology, bioengineering and finance.

Graduates submitted nearly 16,000 resumes during the two-day job fair, which was visited and followed by around 100,000 people.

A glance at Shanxi University's innovative online service platform for the jobs fair. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

SXU officials said the recent novel coronavirus outbreak greatly challenged graduate employment in the spring, the peak period for graduates to seek jobs. Due to the current situation, Shanxi University launched timely employment work plans, carried out online employment guidance, opened online courses concerning exams for civil servants, institutions, teacher recruitment and military recruitment.

The university established an online jobs training platform and conducted online career assessments to minimize the epidemic's influence on its graduate employment.

To smooth things over for the first online spring jobs fair, Shanxi University issued invitations to companies and institutions half a month in advance, making full use of its long-established partnerships with them.

It also launched a platform guiding students on how to produce better video resumes -- helping them to showcase their best personal and professional side to prospective employers, in order to enhance their competitiveness in online job seeking. In addition, a 24-hour service hotline was opened in time to answer the questions of graduates and serve companies and institutions attending the online jobs fair.