Workplace reviews and discussion: 萬泰國際物流有限公司

Large company with a commercial office building interior.

This is a fairly large logistics company handling land, sea, and air freight. Before the interview, HR emailed the materials you needed to complete, including: 1. Applicant Information Form; 2. Employee Personal Data Collection, Processing, and Use Notification and Consent Form; and 3. Personality Puzzle Test. What was relatively unusual was that the information questionnaire asked many highly private personal questions, including health conditions—not only whether you had undergone surgery or taken medication, but also your mental state, whether you had sought medical treatment, and whether it had affected your work. It also asked about civil and criminal records, among other things. In addition, the personality test was printed double-sided, with 90 questions on one side and 8 on the other, so it took some time to complete before sending it back.

On the day of the interview, the company was in a standalone commercial building with building security and access control. You had to take an escalator to the second floor before taking the elevator to the office floor. Inside was an office area of roughly 2,000–3,000 square feet, somewhat like a bank, with service counters and a number-ticket system. There were rows of desks and several large meeting rooms or offices. Overall, it looked quite busy and noisy. After arriving, you told the reception desk that you were there for an interview and exchanged an ID for a visitor badge. HR only appeared at that point to take you through the access-controlled area. There was a small reception area in front of the office, and HR had already printed the three forms you had completed and returned online, asking you to check them and then sign them.

Next, HR asked you to introduce yourself and describe your previous work experience. HR only briefly explained some benefits and the working hours, simply stating that there was one month of year-end bonus, subject to having worked for three months or perhaps six months or more. Everything else followed the Labor Standards Act. HR also said that the company was preparing for a stock-market listing, so the workload would be very heavy.

After that, there was a second round of interviews. The interviewers appeared to be employees from the department—two women who looked to be in their thirties. The process was essentially repeated from the conversation with HR, and they mainly discussed the responsibilities of the position. They also said that the role would be very busy, and because it involved air-freight matters, deadlines were often extremely tight. As a result, you would frequently receive inquiry calls from clients. In addition, because the accounts handled were very large—reportedly involving revenue in the hundreds of millions—the accounts had to be audited twice a month. During that period, you would also need to reconcile figures with internal colleagues or other companies in the industry, so it sounded very tedious. When asked how often overtime was required for this type of work, they only said that naturally there was no need to work overtime once the work was finished, but that you should try to complete the day’s tasks. Overtime was paid, but the calculation started at 7 p.m.; the period from 6 to 7 p.m. was considered break time.

That still was not the end—there was also a third interview, this time with the department manager. The same matters were therefore discussed for a third time. The manager also asked about details of your work experience, why you wanted to join their company, whether you had applied to other companies, your job search, and your expectations and plans for your future work. Finally, they said that the interview results from the next few days would be submitted to the vice president, and that you would be notified by phone after the approval process was completed.

Overall, it felt just as described online: a workplace where overtime was common. In addition, the interviewer’s comments strongly implied that it was a very demanding job. Online reviews also mentioned meetings that were not brought up during the interview. The number of people at the site also made the company appear quite large, and the overall workload seemed likely to be as enormous as they described. Therefore, it seemed likely that, before becoming fully accustomed to the job, you might need to leave very late for some time.

As others online have said, this is a large-scale company, so there are many tasks and frequent overtime. It does not seem particularly suitable for someone looking for a good work-life balance. Given the way overtime is calculated, you might not leave until 8 or 9 p.m. at the earliest, meaning you could spend nearly 12 hours at the company. Air-freight cases may also frequently involve problems that need to be handled, and the time pressure may require you to deal with various issues involving clients, other companies in the industry, and the sales team. If you join, you should be mentally prepared for this.