CRI听力:A Job Fair in a Beijing English-language Training Center

Helena He, English First's Advancement Supervisor in Beijing, is one of the organizers of the job fair. She said nearly 200 English First students attended the job fair, which included 17 major companies and foreign-funded ventures.

"EF English-language training center wants to assist its students in realizing their career pursuits in addition to just giving them English lessons. So we've arranged such a job fair enabling them to establish direct contact with those famous big companies."

Helena He says this year's job fair is the second such event EF has held after the first one last September in Beijing proved to be a great success and was warmly welcomed by both students and the participating companies.

Cheng Jing, the HR manager of Beijing Johnson Controls Company Ltd., said it was the second time that her company had participated in EF's job fair and that Johnson Controls could always find good English speakers there.

"Many of the employees in American enterprises like Johnson Controls are not very good at English, so we have high expectations for the students who have received language training from the EF training center. Those who can speak good English enjoy better job options and promotion opportunities. For instance, the ones who used to be engaged in local projects would be shifted to an international project if the employee attained a higher level of English."

Thirty-year-old Wu Qing, who has taken English lessons at the EF language-training center since last November, participated in the job fair. He said he wanted to evaluate his prospects of finding a suitable job after he completed his studies at EF.

"Our professional English-language training center offers us a good platform. Besides giving us English lessons, they also arrange job fairs that enable us to meet with famous enterprises in almost every sector, including the top 500 companies around the globe. By participating in the job fair, I want to assess the job offers I could have in the future."

To date, Nokia, TNT, Opel, IKEA, B&Q, and many other of the world's largest corporations have expressed a willingness to join EF's job fair project.

Besides Beijing, the EF professional English-language training centers in Shanghai and Guangzhou have also arranged similar job fairs for their students who long for a better future through sustainable progress in their English studies.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.