When college students born after 2000 enter the summer part-time job market, they get far more than just salary, but also a ‘first experience’ in the workplace. Currently, summer part-time jobs are shifting from "selling time and energy" to more "technical" positions such as NPCs in scenic spots and AI creation. Experts remind that the positions have become new, but written agreements, labor safety, remuneration settlement and responsibility boundaries cannot be blurred.
‘I used to think that NPCs in scenic spots just put on costumes and play with tourists, but I didn’t expect that there are so many ways to do it. ’ September is approaching, and the heat in Kaifeng, Henan Province has not yet receded. Zhu Luyuan, a second-year graduate student at Northeast Normal University, sat in front of the mirror and adjusted his makeup. About to return to school, she told reporters about her achievements during her part-time job during the summer vacation, with a smile on her face.
This summer vacation, there are many post-2000 college students like Zhu Luyuan who are looking for gold in the "trend". They are no longer satisfied with traditional internships that "sell time and energy", but flock to more "technical" positions such as scenic spots and AI creation studios to complete a real "first experience" in the workplace in new occupations and new skills.
From ‘selling time’ to ‘growing skills’
In early July, major universities in Jilin Province pressed the ‘summer button’ one after another. Zhu Luyuan, who returned to his hometown in Henan, started planning a part-time job during the holidays early.
‘As a student majoring in drama and film, I hope that my summer part-time job is not just to go through the motions and sell my time, but to truly make use of what I have learned in my major. ’ She saw an advertisement for NPCs (non-player characters) in the scenic spot and decided to give it a try.
During the interview, the examiner asked her to play the role of a penguin, and everyone was silent. She was the only one who moved and screamed, performing freely, and successfully applied for the job. ‘Line recitation, image suitability, on-the-spot reaction and performance in front of the camera are also key areas of examination. ’ Zhu Luyuan said.
Zhu Luyuan’s classmate Zhou Yukun also didn’t want to do odd jobs. Because of her high enthusiasm for AI comic production, she returned to Chongqing and joined an animation company as an intern. The interview went well. She analyzed that she came across her strengths in drama, film, television and literature as an undergraduate while talking about script adaptation.
Zhou Yukun is involved in the production of emotional comic dramas, which appear to be ‘one-click production’, but in fact the process is complex: from story adaptation, script compression to storyboarding, image generation, video synthesis, to dubbing, editing and review, each episode must go through a complete audio-visual production chain. Screening, retouching, parameter adjustment and rework often take up a lot of time. Through continuous training, she grew into a qualified participant in AI comic production.
Compared with these trendy tracks, Qi Xiaomeng, a first-year teacher majoring in a university in Jilin Province, chose the position of a care class teacher, responsible for teaching, care, communication and safety management.
‘Part-time jobs during holidays are an important bridge between campus and society. They not only allow students to understand industry needs and make up for their shortcomings, but also lay a practical foundation for subsequent study and career development. ’ Wang Tianyu, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that currently, the rapid development of new technologies has given rise to a variety of summer job opportunities, which not only meets the needs of young people to experience the workplace and hone their skills, but also provides a good entrance to the society.
‘I hope to exchange my professionalism and interest for real growth. ’ Qi Xiaomeng said, ‘For those born in 2000, no matter whether the track is new or old, every effort is paving the way for the future. ’
Transformation in challenges
The on-the-spot test of the interview is just the first hurdle. After taking up the job, Zhu Luyuan has to deal with emergencies almost every day - tourists may challenge her to compete, they may ask her to shoot short videos, and children may ask, "Do you live in the palace at night?" All these must be handled with ease. Memorizing lines is just a basic skill. How to interact well and provide emotional value to tourists is the difficulty of NPC work in scenic spots.
With the explosive growth of immersive cultural tourism, NPC has changed from a "dispensable condiment" in scenic spots to an "indispensable signature dish". More and more college students are setting their sights on summer part-time jobs here.
‘We have received more than 10,000 resumes. ’ Feng Yan, deputy general manager of Kaifeng Long Live Mountain Martial Arts City, said that there are more than 1,000 working NPCs in the scenic area, most of whom are between 20 and 28 years old. There are more than 3,000 performances every day, and NPCs participate in about 50% of the performances.
The competition is fierce and the pay is equally impressive. According to reports, NPCs in Long Live Mountain are paid according to their levels, and the highest monthly income can reach 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. The scenic spot also allows live broadcasts without affecting work, and rewards will belong to the actors themselves.
‘You can earn more than many part-time jobs. The key is that you can take the skills you learn here with you. ’ Zhu Luyuan said that what she gained the most was expression, adaptability and emotional management. Now she has changed from a nervous novice staring at the script book to an ‘ancient person’ with ease.
Zhou Yukun's challenge comes from the other side. At nine-thirty in the morning, she stared at the two pictures of people on the computer screen without taking the next step.
‘Sometimes I feel that as an AI creator, I am actually controlled by AI. Given a lot of generated words, the effects may be completely different. ’ Behind the seemingly ‘one-click generation’, there is a tedium beyond imagination – how to give keywords, how to adjust parameters, how to make the generated character expressions match the mood of the plot, every step is a difficulty. AI can quickly generate basic images, but if you want to fit the script and match the character, you have to manually adjust it little by little. Sometimes a storyboard needs to be debugged dozens of times.
This internship allowed Zhou Yukun to put the screenwriting theory into practice and feel the pulse of new media content production. More importantly, through reworking day after day, she gained an intuitive understanding of the advantages and limitations of AI - no matter how powerful the tool is, it is human aesthetics and judgment that ultimately determine the quality of the work.
Guard growth with rules
Working from 9 a.m. to 6 a.m. every day, with one day off, and a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan, Zhou Yukun is quite satisfied with the work pace and income of this part-time job. But she had a confusion in her mind: ‘I signed a confidentiality agreement before joining the company. I want to use internship videos to build a portfolio, but I’m afraid of violating the agreement. ’
Manager Dong, the company’s human resources manager, responded: The main requirement of the confidentiality agreement is that the video generated by the company’s computing power cannot be used commercially, but the company supports it if it is used for personal resume or portfolio display.
The company's statement made Zhou Yukun relieved, but not all interns are so lucky - the boundaries of authority and responsibilities often need to be understood and fought for by oneself. Industry insiders say that AI comics provide college students with a low-threshold path to enter the film and television industry, but whether they are cultivating "composite creators" or fixing people on the "repetitive generation and partial repair" assembly line depends on whether they can be exposed to planning, design and decision-making, and whether they can obtain reasonable remuneration and benefits for the results of their labor.
This year, the AI industry has entered a period of expansion. New positions such as ‘AI ethics intern’ and ‘prompt word optimizer’ have emerged. The daily salary of interns in some AI companies is as high as thousands of yuan.
‘In the face of new opportunities that are constantly emerging, remuneration guarantee and safety issues are the bottom line that must be maintained. On this basis, if healthy cooperation and continuous participation can be formed, it will be a positive boost to college students’ learning accumulation and future employment. ’ Wang Tianyu said.
He said that summer internships for college students do not constitute a labor relationship and cannot be protected by labor laws. Therefore, another way to protect rights and interests needs to be found. In terms of remuneration guarantee, payment standards, settlement cycles and specific methods should be clearly agreed with the employer in advance to ensure that wages are paid in full and on time to avoid the risk of wage arrears; in terms of personal safety, students should take the initiative to enhance safety awareness, require the employer to provide necessary safety training and qualified production conditions, and promptly prompt operational risks. At the same time, because interns are unable to participate in work-related injury insurance in most provinces and cities, they should negotiate with the employer to purchase daily personal accident insurance as a safety net.
‘In addition, it is recommended that both parties sign a written employment agreement to fix core terms such as remuneration standards and safety responsibilities. Once a dispute occurs, a written agreement can be used as effective evidence to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties and reduce the potential for disputes. ’ Wang Tianyu said.
Our reporter Liu Shanshan Peng Bing Our correspondent Zhang Ruiting
"Worker Daily" (September 07, 2026, Page 06)
