Workplace reviews and discussion: 華頓智庫國際顧問有限公司

Hearing the interviewer, who is also the person in charge, share their extensive insights into the Chinese market. Of course, each person needs to judge the credibility of the information for themselves.

The location is a small subdivided office suite in a cramped office building. It was cluttered, poorly ventilated, and had an unpleasant odor.

First, the website on the recruitment site had not been updated and still contained business details from more than a decade ago. The job description was vague and unclear. Upon arrival, the person in charge immediately asked for my thoughts on the job. Since the only information available was on the recruitment webpage, naturally there was no correct way to answer.

Next, they presented one or two oral questions and asked me to propose solutions. Because they said they had experience and technical expertise handling projects worth tens of millions of RMB in China, it was naturally impossible for them to be satisfied with any answer, and they directly asked whether the interview should be terminated.

Basically, they said they had 25 years of experience building platforms in China, with experience in automotive sales from online to brick-and-mortar stores, including technology and content management. Toward the end, when discussing salary and the start date, the salary was very vague: they said it would start at 30,000, with performance bonuses potentially bringing it to 40,000, 50,000, or 60,000 later on.

As for the start date, they directly demanded that I meet a client the following Monday. Although I was still employed and had clearly indicated this on my résumé, and although I was not completely inflexible, this attitude—ignoring the circumstances and demanding an immediate response while expecting the other person to give up their current job and other interviews without any market information—felt extremely arrogant. It was even more baffling that they would decide to send someone who was not yet familiar with the work directly to a client for projects worth tens of millions or millions.

When they learned that I still needed a week to evaluate the employment offer, they immediately made it clear that they could not wait, while acting as though I, the interviewee, was being conceited and had no enthusiasm for the job. Regardless of whether they were interested in me, they did not even have the basic courtesy to stand up and see me out.

Unless you are already prepared to go and make a great success of it, do not expect too much.