Workplace reviews and discussion: 卓彥企業股份有限公司

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1. The location is extremely remote, in a community on a hillside somewhere along Yongchun East Road in Nantun. (I took the bus there and even got off at the wrong stop. Eventually, another kind standby driver took me to the intersection leading to the company.) I walked the whole way, with overgrown weeds on both sides. Fortunately, it wasn't around Tomb-Sweeping Festival or dusk; otherwise, it would have felt creepy. After walking a few hundred meters, there were one or two old communities on the left, and occasional dog barking. It was terrifying. In broad daylight, I still forced myself to walk as agreed to the company located at a residence halfway up the mountain for the interview. Strange. I sent a message through the digital banking platform asking how this company could have no Google Maps landmark, and they actually replied that there simply wasn't one and that it couldn't be found. Strange.

2. When I rang the doorbell, someone came out to open the door. It was a four- or five-story residence, with the kitchen on the first floor. A thin, listless woman came out to interview me. She did not seem like a business manager, much less the owner's wife.

3. We went to their meeting room on the third floor. It was very hot, and I had walked a long way, so I only wanted to rest and catch my breath. The house was beside the mountain, and after sitting down to rest, a gentle breeze came in. I really felt like falling asleep. They didn't even pour me a cup of tea. My first impression was already not very good.

4. She looked at my résumé and asked one by one why I had left each job, while making notes in front of me. This clearly showed that she was a novice interviewer who had not read the interviewee's information in advance. She was somewhat aggressive. I patiently gave brief, superficial answers, and she then continued to the next topic.

4. What's going on lately? I keep encountering interviewers whose business English is only at an elementary-school level. She took out an email and asked me to look at it and tell her the main points. I glanced at it: it was written by a Taiwanese person (I assume it was her). It was long-winded and had no focus (that was my immediate internal reaction). If I were a foreigner, I wouldn't have the patience to finish reading it either. Overheated and dizzy, I even got the trade terms wrong. She immediately caught my mistake and looked very pleased with herself.

5. Finally, she asked me to tell her my expected salary. I asked in return, “What budget does your company expect to allocate for hiring this person? Or could you provide the current employee's salary as a reference?” She immediately began pressing me again: “Then how much did you earn previously?” My internal reaction was, “I refuse to answer.”

This company is definitely not a team I want to join. I only wanted to leave politely as soon as possible and get to my afternoon interview.

When she saw that I absolutely would not give her any figure, she immediately wrote down a random number at the top without my consent, then quickly crossed it out and said, “Let’s write a higher number. My boss will see it.” My personal question is: Can you make that decision on your own regarding something like this? From beginning to end, I couldn't figure out what position she was representing the company in when conducting the interview. They don't provide lunch, either (and the company is halfway up the mountain). She said some colleagues bring their own lunch or ride to the Ling Tung area to eat. In the middle of nowhere, they would still have to go up and down the mountain just to eat lunch in winter or during typhoons. It didn't feel like a very humane company either.

*P.S. If you're preparing to interview at this company, remember to fill up your gas tank. Going home after work at night must be pretty terrifying in such a remote area.

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