Workplace reviews and discussion: 臺灣芝寶股份有限公司

I didn't see any advantages.........

On the day of the interview, I was arranged with a group of young women in a meeting room to fill out personal information and take a logic test. Later, the supervisor who interviewed me was a stylish woman who occasionally used English when speaking. She said she was six years older than me (which would probably make her around 40), although in reality she looked about the same age as me.

At the beginning of the interview, she asked about my previous work experience and what I knew about the company and the position. However, later on she kept emphasizing that, because of the location, they had hired many students from National Taiwan University and National Taiwan Normal University. They were very capable, easy to work with, and had strong foreign-language skills. But considering your age and whether you have experience in a related industry, can you get up to speed quickly?

So I said, “Those with experience in makeup products should probably have graduated from a beauty and hairdressing program, right?” To my surprise, she said, “Oh~ We don’t hire people who come from beauty and hairdressing programs.” Then I said, “In that case, none of the employees should have related experience either, right?” She replied, “We provide training.”

Toward the end of the interview, she kept circling back to my age and lack of professional makeup expertise. I finally got straight to the point and said, “If you’re looking for someone between 25 and 30, then it’s obvious I’m not the person you’re looking for. But that’s okay—we can just consider this a chance to make a friend.” That woman then seemed to panic or something and said that wasn’t what she meant; they were looking for someone capable who could adapt immediately.

After the interview, I felt that this woman kept contradicting herself. I thought she might simply be looking for a young girl who would accept NT$22,000 and be cheap and easy to control, because she couldn’t handle someone with too much experience. I just treated the interview as a joke.