BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 164 An empirical study on college students' career psychology under the epidemic situation -- A case study of three universities in Changde City Yonghong Peng, Yuling Wang, Xinhui Huang, Fangliang Zhu School of Marxism, Hunan University of Arts and Science, Changde 415000, China Abstract. Taking college students from three universities in Hunan Province as the research object, using the sampling method, the research team conducted a survey on 320 college students with the theme of "career choice psychology under the background of epidemic". The results showed that college students' career choice psychology tended to be stable, and the operability of career choice planning was weak. Using Spss25 as the tool, the difference analysis results of year, occupation type and career choice concern factors showed that under the background of epidemic normalization, college students' career choice tended to seek stability, career choice concern factors tended to guarantee stability, and career choice paid more attention to shallow self-needs. The thinking on the development of the research mainly includes the guidance of college students in the aspects of employment concept, career choice ability and career planning. Key words: Empirical study; College students; Career choice psychology. 1. Introduction COVID-19 broke out suddenly at the end of 2019 and has not ended 22 years ago. The damage and difficulty of prevention and control are immeasurable. Due to the impact of this public health emergency, the global economy is in a downturn, and all walks of life are affected to varying degrees. In this context, the employment of college students is facing severe challenges, and their career outlook has also changed. Therefore, it is of certain practical significance to explore college students' career choice psychology, so as to promote them to establish a rational career choice outlook and provide a reference for promoting college students' employment. 2. Research design 2.1 Data sources In November 2021, a questionnaire survey was conducted among college students from Hunan University of Arts and Science, Hunan Institute of Applied Technology and Hunan Preschool Normal College, and 320 questionnaires were distributed. After removing invalid samples, the effective sample size was 314, reaching a questionnaire recovery rate of 98% and an effective rate of 100%. The research data refer to the Employment Quality Report of Hunan Graduates for the classes of 2018, 2019 and 2020. 2.2 Analysis framework: College students' career choices have changed This team combined the survey data of students from the three schools and the data from the Employment Quality Report of Hunan Graduates for the classes of 2018, 2019 and 2020 to make the following assumptions. 1) The types of college students' career choices have changed Hypothesis 1: College students tend to choose traditional employment. 2) The concern factors of college students' career choice change Hypothesis 2: College students pay more attention to stability when choosing a career. 3)There is a slight change in the employment units of college students Hypothesis 3: College students pay more attention to the shallow needs of individuals when choosing careers BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 165 2.3 Relevant variables 2.3.1 Variable factors For the changes of career choice psychology and career concern factors after the outbreak of the epidemic, variable factors were used as the subjective judgment of college students' career choice direction, and college students' choices of related questions in the questionnaire were used to make judgments. For example, "In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which type of employment do individuals prefer? “The alternatives are "A= freelance work, B= stable work, C= self-employment, D= further education". In view of the change of college students' career choice psychology, variable factors are taken as the key factors of career choice. For example, "What factors will be given priority when choosing a career? “The alternatives are "A= personal interest, B= working environment, C= income and benefits, D= job stability, E= physical and mental health, F= room for personal growth, G= career freedom, H= job prospects, and I= social status". 2.3.2 Data processing The bivariate correlation analysis method in SPSS25.0 statistical analysis software was used to analyze the data of college students' career selection. The judgment criteria were P value greater than 0.05 was not significant difference, P value less than 0.05 was significant difference, P value less than 0.01 was very significant difference. Firstly, in view of the question of whether college students' career choice psychology has changed, from the data of career choice types of college students after graduation in Hunan Province in 2018 ,2019 and 2020, the number of people in 2019-2020 increased by 127 936 compared with the traditional employment sample data in 2018-2019. The sample data of flexible employment decreased by 146 926, while the sample data of free autonomy (mainly referring to free entrepreneurship) fluctuated more smoothly. The sample data of unemployed increased by 10 892, and the sample data of continuing to study also increased by 13 678. Table 1 and Table 2 are based on the analysis of relevant data of the employment quality report of Hunan graduates of the Class of 2018, 2019 and 2020. According to the data shown in the table, there is no significant difference in the choice of career types in 2018 and 2019. However, in the occupational choice types of 2019 and 2020, there is a significant difference in the traditional occupational type, while there is no significant difference in other occupational types. Table 1. Analysis of differences in the types of post-graduation career choices of college students in Hunan Province in 2018 and 2019 2018 2019 M + / - SD M + / - SD t p The traditional employment 0.09 + / - 0.68 0.82 + / - 0.52 0.151 0.887 Flexible employment 0.56 + / - 0.22 0.44 + / - 0.37 0.457 0.671 Continue studies 0.07 + / - 0.04 0.05 + / - 0.06 0.347 0.746 Self-directed 0.007 + / - 0.001 0.006 + / - 0.004 0.407 0.705 Temporarily unemployed 0.10 + / - 0.03 0.10 + / - 0.08 0.162 0.879 Table 2. Differences in the types of post-graduation career choices of college students in Hunan Province in 2019 and 2020 2020 2019 M + / - SD M + / - SD t p The traditional employment 0.49 + / - 0.14 0.82 + / - 0.52 4.743 0.009 Flexible employment 0.23 + / - 0.66 0.44 + / - 0.37 0.989 0.379 Continue studies 0.10 + / - 0.04 0.05 + / - 0.06 1.133 0.321 Self-directed 0.004 + / - 0.001 0.006 + / - 0.004 0.884 0.427 Temporarily unemployed 0.17 + / - 0.05 0.10 + / - 0.08 1.464 0.225 BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 166 Secondly, in view of the changes of the factors that college students pay attention to in job hunting after graduation, Table 3 takes the year as the variable to conduct the difference test with the proportion of the factors that college students pay attention to. The significant difference indicates that college students pay more attention to salary level, job stability, development space, social security and other factors after the epidemic. Table 3. Analysis of differences in factors of concern for college students seeking jobs after graduation in Hunan Province in 2019 and 2020 2019 2020 M + / - SD M + / - SD t p Pay levels 0.26 + / -. 007 0.56 + / - 0.23 21.37 0.001 Job stability 0.15 + / - 0.02 0.36 + / - 0.03 11.16 0.000 Development space 0.17 + / - 0.01 0.34 + / - 0.18 13.21 0.000 The social security 0.13 + / - 0.00 0.31 + / - 0.23 12.76 0.005 The work environment 0.12 + / - 0.02 0.16 + / - 0.08 1.79 0.148 Employment Geography 0.11 + / - 0.04 0.16 + / - 0.08 0.96 0.392 Unit social prestige 0.02 + / - 0.01 0.02 + / - 0.01 0.65 0.549 Parents want 0.01 + / - 0.00 0.10 + / - 0.00 1.19 0.299 Employer Training 0.02 + / - 0.00 0.02 + / - 0.01 0.935 0.403 other 0.005 + / - 0.00 0.006 + / - 0.00 0.53 0.622 Finally, as shown in Table 4, the employment choice of college students in 2019 and 2020 is dominated by enterprises and public institutions. Is this a career choice made in the context of stable career choice? This is similar to the impact of employment environment on employment positions. For example: "The degree of influence of employment environment on the choice of employment". The alternatives are "A= post labor intensity, B= post comfort, C= post freedom, and D= post substitutability". The results were 67.83%, 70.38%, 79.62% and 41.08%. respectively. When choosing a career, college students pay more attention to the comfort and freedom of labor. They choose jobs based on the shallow needs of individuals, and do not put the jobs that can better realize their self-value in the first place. Table 4. The distribution of employment units selected by some college students after graduation in Hunan Province year In 2019, In 2020, In 2019, In 2020, Grassroots Employers A total of 6209 6209 2.09 2.30 National Grassroots Program 775 1021 0.26 0.38 Local grassroots projects 5135 4893 1.73 1.81 Urban community 247 237 0.08 0.09 Rural organized village 52 58 0.02 0.02 Business Employer 48944 40815 16.5 15.14 Business Employer 234706 208511 79.1 77.33 A combined 289859 255535 97.69 94.77 3. Analysis of the survey results on the psychological changes of college students in choosing a career 3.1 Career choice tends to traditional employment As shown in Table 1, college students' career choice tended to be stable from 2018 to 2019, and there was no significant difference in each type of employment. As shown in Table 2, there is a significant difference in traditional employment from 2019 to 2020, and college students prefer traditional employment, which indirectly indicates that college students pay more attention to BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 167 "stability" and "welfare" when choosing a job. There are many factors that lead college students to choose traditional employment. On the one hand, it is affected by the epidemic and the instability of the socialist market economy, and the main influencing factors are China's traditional culture and traditional employment outlook. “From the psychological perspective, it is easy for college students to have the idea of 'moderation' and 'rank' classification when choosing a career. In the process of choosing a career in China, it is still common for college students to yearn for a fixed career and to choose a career once to ensure a lifetime." From the perspective of the long-term development of individuals and society, excessive reliance on traditional employment substantially hinders not only the development of college students themselves, but also the progress of the whole society to a certain extent. Under the dominance of traditional ideas, college students' employment concept will be suppressed to a certain extent, and their own potential cannot be well released. In the traditional concept, teachers, doctors, civil servants and other occupations are considered to be the most reliable occupations, but in the process of the rapid development of modern society, any occupation is likely to be reformed, blindly using traditional ideas to pursue traditional occupations will only make the employment situation become more severe. “Stability" and "profit" are not the standard to measure all occupations. Reasonable and rational view of all occupations and considering whether to choose traditional employment according to specific needs and circumstances is the attitude college students should have towards traditional employment in their career selection. 3.2 Career psychology tends to pay attention to stability factors As shown in Figure 3, among the factors of concern for job hunting after graduation of college students in Hunan Province from 2019 to 2020, college students' attention to the four factors of salary level, job stability, development space and social security showed extremely significant differences. However, there were no significant differences in working environment, employment location, social prestige of the unit, parents' expectations, employer training and other factors. This indicates that college students in Hunan Province from 2019 to 2020 pay more attention to the four factors of salary level, job stability, development space and social security in the process of job selection. College students tend to choose stable and risk-resistant jobs psychologically. To some extent, this indicates that college students pay more attention to "progress while stability" in the process of job selection, that is, to find a job with good job stability, social security and salary level and development space. College students tend to choose jobs with stable and strong resistance to risks. The above changes in college students' career psychology are closely related to the current employment environment. Affected by the epidemic and the global economic downturn, on the one hand, the number of jobs has decreased, which makes it difficult to meet the employment needs of college graduates. On the other hand, the number of college graduates is increasing year by year, intensifying the competition for jobs. The combination of these factors makes the current job market full of unpredictability, which makes college students prefer to "seek progress while maintaining stability". The employment competition in the current job market is increasingly "gaokao", that is, thousands of soldiers and horses are going through a single-log bridge just for a "job security".How to win a place in the fierce job market, strengthening the employment strength is the key."In the process of job hunting, graduates who have richer and more skilled professional knowledge and stronger practical ability are more likely to be recognized by employers." The employment competition of college graduates in the final analysis is the competition of college students' employment strength, which requires college students in the employment competition can not stay at the level of "waiting for", waiting for colleges and universities to take the initiative to introduce jobs and social major market players to provide jobs. On this side, college students need to learn professional knowledge and take the initiative to strike out in the job market to find employment opportunities. 3.3 Career selection tends to meet the individual's shallow needs As shown in Figure 4, enterprise employers still account for the main body, followed by public institutions, and the smallest proportion is grass-roots employers.Under the condition of socialist BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 168 market economy, enterprises provide jobs is still the most, choose the reason mainly has three kinds of enterprise employment, first of all, the demand of the enterprise has injected fresh blood, next the graduates have successfully find a job, the last graduates keen to enterprise employment environment and the job satisfaction of wages.Public institutions and grassroots employers also accommodate some graduates, for everyone to pursue a stable system work is the best choice under the epidemic, so we are very hot to apply for the relevant positions.In the specific data of grassroots employers, it can be seen that the number of national grassroots units and local grassroots employers is very obvious comparison, because the requirements of national grassroots employers are relatively high, so the number of employment is less than the local grassroots.From 2019 to 2020, there was a large increase in national grassroots employers, so college students have a strong sense of stability when choosing a job.The comparison of the number of urban communities and rural areas choosing employment is also very obvious.There is a big difference between the working environment of the urban grassroots and the local grassroots, so the number of employment at the urban grassroots is relatively more.This can also reflect the dual requirements of excellent work environment and easy employment for college students. In summary, college students generally pursue salary and environment, meet the shallow needs of individuals, and temporarily do not play to the limit of personal value. In the context of cultural diversity, the Eastern and western cultures interact with each other, and the western individualism has invaded the collectivism of Chinese culture and gradually germinated into refined egoism on the cultural soil. When college students seek employment, they show low effort and expect high return, and do not put collective interests in the first place.As for individuals, they should improve their ideological awareness and enjoy the happiness and sense of accomplishment brought by labor.For social employment, not only need to increase the quantity, but also need to improve the quality, to help college students have a good job, stable employment.Although this is also a process of career psychology as an objective trend, the education of labor outlook and values can help this trend to develop in a better direction. 4. Reflection and discussion 4.1 Keep up with the pace of The Times and establish a diversified employment outlook In today's era of rapid development of the network developed society, any occupation is the existence of society cannot be ignored, The Times are developing, social needs are constantly changing, college students should be based on social needs, follow the pace of national and social development to choose their own career. At present, the state for college students to grassroots employment is very support and need, which the state has issued many policies to encourage college students to grassroots solid work. Grassroots work in the society and college students themselves are a vast world, the country is also very need to have the ability and ability of college students to take root at the grassroots level, the construction of grassroots, grassroots development, especially for the western region of China, the country is now very urgent need of talent to develop the economy in the western region. College students are the new blood of the construction of the motherland, and the grassroots service is also required by The Times, college students can not only learn the theory and practice combined, but also play their own value in the grassroots, open up their own stage, at the same time, also meet the needs of the country and society, this is two birds with one stone. Grass- roots work is only part of the social need, also found in other class society needs talents, such as network era for the information technology industry talents under the background of the society is also very need, at this time if the students can keep up the required in accordance with their own situation, the right attitude towards career choice, that is pushing society forward. Contemporary college students are trained as "socialist successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, body, beauty and labor". Their characteristics and strengths are different, and in each occupation, there are college students in bloom their own unique luster. The occupation is diverse, college students' employment concept should also be diversified, the new era college students should abandon the traditional concept of not in line with the development of The Times, in the BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 169 multicultural creation of diverse possibilities. "Setting up diversified employment values can not only avoid certain employment risks, but also be a realistic problem that college students must face and solve in the current era" . When choosing a career, college students can consider more social needs and their own interests, and pay attention to their own development and value embodiment while inheriting and carrying forward China's excellent traditional culture. 4.2 Consolidate the professional foundation and be brave enough to meet challenges Affected by the epidemic and the global economic downturn, as well as the expansion of college enrollment in China, the number of college graduates is increasing year by year. Many college graduates are faced with unemployment as soon as they graduate, and college graduates are faced with severe employment pressure. The employment of college graduates has become a common concern in the current society. Employment is the foundation of people's livelihood. Whether college graduates can get full employment and achieve high quality employment is related to the expectations of each family for the future development of society, and also related to the recognition of the quality of college graduates from all walks of life. Therefore, to do a good job in the employment of college graduates is an important matter related to the national economy and people's livelihood. In terms of how to strengthen college student’s employment, college students themselves, family, university, government and society have corresponding responsibility and obligation to help college student’s successful employment, but the students strive to consolidate their professional ability, actively participate in the competition for jobs is to realize the college students' employment within, key factors of success. Therefore, the first thing is to enhance the professional foundation of college students and enhance their employment strength, which is the key to achieve full employment of college students. At present, with the expansion of college enrollment, the number of college students is increasing year by year. The number of college students has increased in quantity, but has not been significantly improved in quality. Employment education and career planning education in many colleges and universities have not been implemented to people one by one. Many college students do not study seriously and obtain work experience from relevant employment practice out of coping, but in order to save trouble and do not take the course work seriously. College students are faced with severe employment pressure, this pressure is the result of a variety of factors, but in these factors, college students themselves are an important factor. At present, one of the important reasons for the employment difficulties of college students is that the ability and quality of college students cannot meet the needs of economic and social development and enterprises. The reason is, "In recent years, higher education in our country has developed greatly, but there is a widespread phenomenon that the education mode emphasizes theory over practice, and the cultivated college students often lack practical ability, and the comprehensive ability needs to be further improved. "therefore, the ability of college students for their own literacy should have a comprehensive and objective, rational evaluation, students groups in colleges and universities attended, should not only pay attention to consolidate the theoretical knowledge, more should be to strengthen the theoretical knowledge in practice achieve mastery through a comprehensive study, in the combination of theory and practice of professional ability and quality, so as to enhance their core competitiveness in the job market in the future. 4.3 Carry out labor education to realize the value of life For the development of labor education, the implementation stage should not only be in the stage of employment, but also in the whole process of receiving education. In addition, labor education should be carried out in an all-round way. Schools can elevate the status of labor education to the height of morality, intelligence and physical beauty. Families should understand and absorb the relevant content of labor education, and lead the children to take action; Communities can organize family competitions related to labor education to select outstanding labor education models. Labor education should include all workers and foster a good labor atmosphere in the whole society. Legal BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ECSS 2022 Volume 19 (2022) 170 labor with one's physical and mental strength should be respected, especially labor that is willing to sacrifice part of one's personal interests for the better development of the collective. This type of labor should be praised by all. Under the trend of good development of labor education, realize that individual ideal should be integrated into the common socialist ideal, sincerely love the highest ideal of socialism, and contribute their own strength for the realization of the common socialist ideal. As a member of the construction of the motherland, willing to go to the most needed places of the motherland, such as: poor villages when the village official, hard western areas to participate in the construction. In a word, to realize their own value of life, to reach the stage beyond self. 5. Conclusion In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the employment situation is indeed not optimistic, but the new era belongs to young people, and young students should still be hopeful about the employment situation. They choose to accept the current phenomenon of stable occupation internalization and believe that the job market will be prosperous again with the end of the pandemic. Acknowledgements This study is supported by the innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Student in Hunan Province in 2021. Project title: An empirical study on the evolution of college students’ employment values in the post-epidemic era--a case study of Hunan University of Arts and Sciences, Project Number: S202110549033. References [1] Changzhong Jiang et al. Annual Report on Employment Quality of 2018 Graduates from General Universities in Hunan Province [Z].2019,1. [2] Shaoquan Meng; Guifen Li. Analysis of traditional cultural factors of university students' job market dysfunction[J]. Higher Education Forum, 2011, (05):119-122. [3] Baoqiang Hao. The employment situation of college students in Liaoning Province under the influence of epidemic and countermeasures [J]. Journal of Liaodong College (Social Science Edition), 2021, 23 (06): 122-126. [4] Qingxiu Liu; Jing Yang. Diversified view of employment is an inevitable choice for colleges and universities to guide students to avoid employment risks [J]. Heilongjiang Higher Education Research,2007, (04):87-89. [5] Yuxian Chen; Zhicong Lin. Social work intervention: an innovative solution to the employment difficulties of college students under the new epidemic[J]. China Student Employment, 2021, (19):34-40. [6] Xueyuan Tian. Learning from history: Returning labor to its proper position in moral education [J/OL]. Journal of Hainan University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition):1-8 [2022-08-04]. 1. Introduction 2. Research design 2.1 Data sources 2.2 Analysis framework: College students' career choices have changed 2.3 Relevant variables 2.3.1 Variable factors 2.3.2 Data processing 3. Analysis of the survey results on the psychological changes of college students in choosing a career 3.1 Career choice tends to traditional employment 3.2 Career psychology tends to pay attention to stability factors 3.3 Career selection tends to meet the individual's shallow needs 4. Reflection and discussion 4.1 Keep up with the pace of The Times and establish a diversified employment outlook 4.2 Consolidate the professional foundation and be brave enough to meet challenges 4.3 Carry out labor education to realize the value of life 5. Conclusion Acknowledgements References