Workplace reviews and discussion: 行政助理

The office plays the radio, so even when no one is chatting, it doesn't get boring—you can listen to music.

Your salary is deposited very punctually.

The company's products are screen protectors for phones and tablets. They manufacture some products themselves using laser cutting and also resell imported products, so the business seems to have potential.

Employees take turns with their colleagues (two or three people in total) ordering lunch for the week, and you can choose a meal you like.

Although the position is called an administrative assistant, it is actually more like a sales assistant. During the first two weeks, you will first go to the warehouse to learn about the products, help pack and ship orders, and learn how to identify glass defects. (If you have poor eyesight, you may want to consider whether you can tough it out, because when work is not busy later on, you may still be asked to help inspect defects in the warehouse.)

There are a lot of company group chats—more than six. You may occasionally receive messages from sales staff placing orders on weekends, but you only need to deal with them when you return to work on Monday.

There is air conditioning in the office, but the company is essentially an office partitioned off inside a metal-sheet building, so there is quite a large temperature difference when going in and out. Be especially careful around noon, as the alternating hot and cold temperatures may cause heatstroke or a cold.

The official end of the workday is 6:30 p.m., but in practice it depends on the day's shipping volume. The average leaving time is around 7:00 p.m. (This was not mentioned at all during the interview, perhaps because the boss usually leaves even later or earlier.) The chances of leaving exactly at 6:30 are not very high. Even if all the packages have been packed, your departure may be delayed because the courier company has not yet arrived to pick them up (while people from other departments say goodbye and leave~). It is best to mentally prepare yourself for this to be a 7:00 p.m. job. The company's overtime pay only starts being calculated from 7:30 p.m.

You will always leave work together with colleagues from the warehouse department, so you do not need to worry about being the only person left waiting for the courier to collect the packages. Likewise, everyone will stay and leave with you, so you are also expected to stay and leave with everyone else. If there is no urgent matter, the “atmosphere” can make it somewhat difficult to clock out and leave on your own first. (Even when the courier has finished collecting the packages and you could leave, colleagues may occasionally chat for a couple more minutes, so you quietly smile along and slowly~ slowly~ pack your bag and leave with the group.)

In addition to briefly cleaning your assigned area every day, the company has a weekly deep-cleaning session on Fridays “after everything is finished.” In other words, after all the day's packages have been packed and before the courier arrives to collect them, you can go clean. Therefore, you may also leave even later on Fridays~

The company is a family-run business; the sales staff (the bosses) are siblings or relatives. The company feels like it is still growing, so some systems are not yet very well established. Perhaps this will gradually improve in the future.

As for relationships with colleagues, you will have to find out for yourself. Sometimes everyone is too busy to have time to train you; another issue is that they are not very good at teaching... They may explain something simple in a very vague way (not in the sense that they are unwilling to teach you)...

If you come to work here, you need to be comfortable with the fact that the systems are not yet fully developed and that the atmosphere among colleagues is somewhat subtle. (In short, it is not the kind of place where people warmly greet you and show concern for you.) The average leaving time is 7:00 p.m., so come with the mindset that you have a stable job to earn money...