Few can say they are as lucky as Ben Southall, who won a competition entitled "The Best Job in the World" to become caretaker of a beautiful tropical island on The Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, Australia. However, that doesn't mean most people do not aspire to a level of job satisfaction higher than that of another rodent in the rat race.

Now, thanks to more sophisticated human resource departments in Chinese businesses and the booming economy, job hunters are finding they can be spoilt for choice while at the same time finding stiff competition from their peers.

Typical is Wu Xiaoshu, a recent English literature graduate from a top Beijing university. She has spent many a day traveling from interview to interview during the hot summer. Dressed in a smart but uncomfortable suit and wearing high heels, she has carted her resume and photos back and forth in pursuit of the perfect position.

"Most of the vacancies I have applied for are at State-owned enterprises involved in education, culture, media or consulting sectors. I want to fully take advantage of my skills and personality and I prefer to have a stable working environment and income," she said.

Wu responded to a survey conducted by ChinaHR.com, the nation's leading online recruitment portal controlled by premier global online job finder, Monster Worldwide. It was drawing up an up-to-date picture of the attitudes of this year's new graduates towards their career planning and unveiled the 50 best employers as voted for by those surveyed.

According to the report, China Mobile is the graduates' first choice for a prospective employer, followed by Alibaba, Haier, Microsoft China and Bank of China. Some 60 percent of the listed employers were newcomers.

The annual survey, begun in 2002, polled more than 200,000 college graduates at 700 universities across China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.

Ouyang Hui, director of the Human Resource Research Center at ChinaHR.com, said: "With the growing success of Chinese enterprises, along with their great efforts to improve their status and brands, they occupied 46 positions on the 50 Best Employers list, becoming the biggest winners in the rankings."

The global financial crisis greatly influenced graduates' concerns about salary cuts and lay-offs at multinationals. Only four foreign firms - Microsoft, Google, Jardine Matheson and Procter and Gamble (P&G) - appeared on this year's list, down from 21 in 2009.

Forget diamonds, penthouses and antiques. The most valuable thing in the 21st century is skill. Human resource experts said that maintaining a pool of talent has become one of the biggest challenges for multinationals as their Chinese counterparts start to behave more competitively over recruitment.

It used to be the case that many Chinese graduates were more attracted to overseas companies with operations in China because they offered better compensation and more opportunities for training and promotion.

Vivian Fang, a postgraduate student in economics from Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, received four job offers and finally decided to work at a State-owned pharmacy company.

She said landing a job with a company such as China Mobile or Bank of China was now considered better than working for an international firm because it provided greater job stability and a better income.

"What's more, many Chinese companies also have 'big names' worldwide which is helpful for my future career improvement and job-hopping," she said.

Edward Lo, executive vice-president of Monster worldwide Greater China, CEO of ChinaHR.com, said: "Three years ago, Chinese enterprises had little sense of reaching out to potential employees and in consequence they did not figure significantly among the 50 best employers. However, thanks to the booming Chinese economy, many Chinese enterprises have become number one globally in their sectors - for example the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Many of them have started luring talent domestically and from overseas. We are helping them look for talent everywhere they've put their footprints."