China's millennials are hustling for part-time gigs instead of traditional jobs

BEIJING (Feb 21): With a fur-lined jacket and a Miu Miu shoulder bag, Zhang Chen isn’t your traditional Chinese migrant worker. She huddles with about 40 others in the frosty, polluted air of North Beijing, waiting to apply for a two-day job guiding visitors at a sporting goods convention.

“The money is little,” the 21-year-old accounting student said of the short gig that pays about 240 yuan ($50). “But I want a more interesting life.”

Chen was lined up for the work through DouMi, a startup that focuses exclusively on part-time positions and blends elements of a temp agency with an internet jobs board and marketing service. With backing from web giants Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., monthly active users have doubled to 20 million in just six months as China’s youth warm to short-term employment and bloated state-owned enterprises trim their labor force.

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