Egyptian students attend a recruitment fair at the Suez Canal University in Egypt's Ismailia Province, April 15, 2019. Chinese companies operating in Egypt held an employment fair on Monday at the Suez Canal University (SCU) in Egypt's Ismailia Province, east of the capital Cairo. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

ISMAILIA, Egypt, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies operating in Egypt held an employment fair on Monday at the Suez Canal University (SCU) in Egypt's Ismailia province, east of the capital Cairo.

About 20 Chinese companies participated in the one-day event which was organized by Confucius Institute at the SCU, offering hundreds of job opportunities for graduates and students in various majors.

It is the second edition of the job fair, which was held in cooperation with the SCU.

"There are 44,000 Egyptian students in the SCU. The unemployment rate in Egypt is about 10 percent, so it is very important to host the job fair for the university students and graduates," Zhu Tingting, Chinese director of Confucius Institute at the SCU, told Xinhua.

She said the institute invited Chinese companies such as China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), which is helping to build Egypt's new administrative capital.

"Vivo smart phone company, which has just arrived here three months ago, is also taking part in the fair and the company has many job vacancies in Egypt," Zhu said, adding that industrial, chemical engineering and agricultural companies have also joined the fair.

Zhu pointed out that many companies prefer to employ the fresh graduates because "they are young and more loyal to their companies."

"The SCU is one of the most famous public universities in Egypt with many departments here, which makes it easy for Chinese companies to find every talent they want," she added.

According to Egypt's official figures, about 1,080 Chinese companies are presently operating in Egypt in various sectors, notably in industry, information technology and economic zones.

Meanwhile, Manager of Administration and Human Resources Department of CSCEC Egypt Guo Xiangyu said that his company needs talents for the administrative and engineering management.

"This is the first time that we come to a campus for a job fair. We used to employ those who have work experience in society," Guo told Xinhua.

"Now we need more staff to help us with the project of Egypt's new administrative capital. We have job vacancies for 20 persons but now we've received about 100 resumes," Guo added.

Guo revealed that the company will select the candidates for the interview carefully, noting that the number of the current Egyptian employees of the company "cannot meet the need of our long-term development."

The fair attracted several hundreds of students and graduates of various majors, such as the Chinese language, business and English language.

Nourhan Mustafa, a sophomore student at the Confucius Institute at SCU, said that she came to the event to prepare herself for the future employment.

"I'm very much interested in a Chinese cosmetics company in today's job fair," she told Xinhua.

Mustafa's classmate, Hagar Afify, said that she has applied for a translator position with a Chinese company operating in Egypt.

"I do not expect to earn a high salary at the very beginning ... As a student, experience matters more than income," she said.