In China’s tough job market, anxious students spend thousands on internships

Accounting undergraduate student Wang Guilin faces a choice in her search for a winter internship: compete with thousands of applicants through standard recruitment channels or fork out thousands of yuan for a guaranteed placement. Wang considers her academic record average and, to improve her employment prospects after graduation, the second-year student hopes to add experience at a well-known company to her résumé. Yet even internships have become difficult to secure in China’s crowded...