Workplace reviews and discussion: Sisley Paris_香港商希思黎化妝品有限公司台灣分公司

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For the initial interview, they provided four time slots for applicants to choose from. You first had to fill out their company’s standard résumé and personal-data consent form, allowing them to check whether you had a criminal record or debts. The résumé itself was essentially the same as any other—just your education and work history. What puzzled me more were the questions on the second page:

They asked whether you smoked, whether you had any tattoos, whether you were sensitive to essential oils, whether anyone in your family or you personally had debts, and whether you had been hospitalized or taken medication for more than two weeks within the past three years.

I chose the first interview session, which was held at a department-store counter in southern Taiwan. Very few people attended—only three of us, including me.

I was the first to be interviewed. They initially asked me to introduce myself. They barely looked at my résumé and just kept asking me questions.

First, they asked what I expected from this job, why I had chosen this place, and whether I knew anything about their brand. Then they asked how I would receive customers, since their company’s products were expensive and their customers were all at the high-end, affluent-lady level.

Finally, they told me that the interview at the counter was the initial interview, during which she would screen suitable candidates for the head office. If I received notice of a second interview within seven days, it would mean I had been accepted. For the second interview, I might have to go to Taipei, or I might interview again when their HR manager happened to come to Kaohsiung for a meeting. Those who did not pass would not be notified.

Here’s the important part: she asked whether there was anything I wanted to know. Of course, as applicants, we want to know about the salary system! Otherwise, why would I be applying?

However, this supervisor never mentioned the salary from beginning to end. It felt as though their pay was a secret, so I said there was nothing I wanted to know for now, and that they could tell me about the salary system after I passed the initial interview.

Most of their sales associates were relatively older, perhaps because they had to serve affluent, high-end customers, so they needed auntie-aged staff to hold down the fort. In any case, at the cosmetics counter on the first floor, the two employees at this counter were probably over a hundred years old combined… So when hiring, they may not want people who lack experience or are too young (at least 30 years old).

Overall, there was nothing particularly good or bad about it. After the interview, I still had no idea about the company’s salary or days off, but you definitely had to be prepared to be asked a whole lot of questions.