Workplace reviews and discussion: 台灣之星電信股份有限公司

The department manager emphasized that the base salary was higher than in other industries, although HR never told me what base salary had been approved.

I was accepted, but I didn’t go because, after going through the entire process, I felt that the manager and HR were too bizarre and unsettling. Thinking about it made me a little scared. It had already been two days since the last conversation, and I was still furious, so I had to come here and let everyone know!

At the end of the interview, the manager directly asked me to add them on LINE. A few days later, they told me via LINE that the process was already underway and directly asked me to undergo a medical examination and open a bank account. A few days after that, HR contacted me by phone and talked for about half an hour, asking extremely detailed questions about my previous job. They also asked whether I would decline the position if the approved salary was lower than my expected salary. I clearly said, “Yes!” HR then began the salary approval process for me. During the several days of waiting, the manager who had interviewed me repeatedly asked whether I had completed the medical examination and opened the bank account, which made me feel very pressured—but I hadn’t even received an offer! I really felt like the three parties were playing some kind of tug-of-war.

In the meantime, HR even called my current employer to ask about my work situation, again in extremely great detail. When HR contacted me again, they asked whether I would still come if the approved salary was not what I had initially expected (they had even forgotten what my expected salary was). I gave the same consistent answer: “Yes!” However, they did not tell me the salary approval result and instead tried to pressure me to set a start date. They said that if I wasn’t sure I would come, they wouldn’t proceed with the process for me.

By then, I had also been accepted by a more ideal company and didn’t want to keep wasting time with them, so I replied to HR that they should not hold the position for me. HR then changed their attitude and asked me to speak with the manager who had interviewed me. I very politely asked that manager not to reserve a spot for me. The interview manager actively tried to persuade me to stay and wanted to know why. I told them that HR had never given me an offer or told me the salary approval result, and that without knowing the compensation, I couldn’t agree to a start date.

The manager actually said, “First confirm that you’ll come. If the approved salary turns out to be lower than expected, then we can see what to do; it’s also fine if you don’t come.” I was completely dumbfounded. I told them I would consider it for a few more days. I thought that if I didn’t hear from them, they would stop contacting me, but I was completely wrong!

A few weeks later, that manager contacted me via LINE to ask whether I could start work in July. This time I gave a direct reply: “I’m not going to report to the company. Thank you, Manager, for giving me the opportunity to interview.” They also directly asked me, “What’s the reason?” As far as I was concerned, our interaction could end there, and I had no obligation to explain myself, so I chose not to read or reply. The next day, I was woken up by a phone call. Since I work in sales and might receive calls from customers, I answer calls from unknown numbers. It turned out to be the interviewing manager, calling from a personal phone to ask why I wasn’t going! They were really persistent! They also made several LINE calls!

I casually gave them a reason, and they finally let me go. I blocked them immediately after ending the call! About a month and a half had passed from the initial interview until then. It was an exhausting company to deal with.