帝寶工業股份有限公司

The company is very large and won’t go under.

The immediate supervisor seems like a nice person.

It’s really extremely frightening. When I went for an interview some time ago, I also encountered a very frightening senior manager. As soon as I arrived, they started harshly criticizing young people for not being able to withstand hard work. To push salaries down, 104 deliberately posted a lot of openings, tricking applicants into coming in.

Then one senior manager even proudly said that the company only lacked customers from the North and South Poles.

The job duties sound extremely demanding. It feels like the company expects employees to be unable to leave their positions and to work frantically all the time.

Overtime is paid, but it feels like they don’t want employees to work overtime; even an eight-hour workload that is explosively heavy has to be finished.

This company wants machines that work crazily.

The company is very large.

Last year, I received a phone call from the company proactively inviting me to an interview. That day, the interviewer was a chubby manager, accompanied by a thin, bespectacled man. Throughout the entire interview, their attitude made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

First, the chubby manager only glanced at my résumé before starting to talk about the company's benefits and working hours. Then, he went on to make remarks about how young people nowadays cannot handle pressure or criticism, as if he were lecturing me. Come on, I was there for an interview, not to be scolded! The atmosphere had already become rather tense.

I actually had a stable sales job at my previous company, and my monthly performance was consistently among the top three in the company. So I directly talked back to them:

I said, “An interview is simply a process of discussing potential cooperation. Besides, it was your company that proactively invited me here. I neither lack money nor a job. The lady who initially invited me was very sincere over the phone, which is why I came.”

Then I looked the chubby manager straight in the eye and added, “Isn’t it just because you’ve been here too long that you’ve started to think you’re on the employer’s side?”

The chubby manager’s face instantly turned bright red. He let out two dry laughs but couldn’t say a word. At that point, I pulled my résumé back from the table without hesitation, turned around, and walked out on the spot.

▲ Just a few days after submitting my résumé, I was invited to an interview and was able to start work soon afterward.

▲ The environment is very clean.

▲ You can wear casual clothes.

▲ Some supervisors are weak, while others are very irritable—it depends on your luck.

▲ Many people seem to work under a lot of pressure. I feel that wearing a mask at work would make it easier to relax and feel comfortable.

▲ The female employees like to speak ill of others and also enjoy sowing discord.

▲ There are quite a few unreasonable requests that you have to accommodate; you cannot refuse to do them. Sometimes, they do not even come from the department or team.

1. Convenient transportation

2. Annual salary increases (ranging from 500 to 2,000; a 2,000 increase is relatively unlikely)

3. Normal working hours (officially; in practice, it’s not that simple)

4. In addition to the year-end bonus (usually 45–60 days’ worth, paid in three installments), employees who have completed two years receive an annual bonus (approximately 20 days’ worth)

5. Stable business performance, so the company probably won’t go under easily

5. Colleagues generally get along fairly well

1. There is an exam every month on the company’s products. If you perform poorly, management will take notice, and occasionally everyone’s scores are displayed on a screen during meetings and criticized.

2. Officially, work ends at 6 p.m., but due to explicit and implicit pressure from management, everyone clocks out first and then returns to continue working. Of course, if you’re thick-skinned enough, you can leave on time; you’ll know what I mean after attending a meeting. A famous saying: “If you’re in sales, you leave when it’s time—what kind of sales professional does that?”

3. Overtime must be requested in advance and compensated with time off (there is no overtime pay), and the request must go through multiple levels of approval. A famous saying: “The company pays for you to have lunch with clients, and you don’t even reciprocate? You want to apply for compensatory leave just for that?”

4. Employees have to clean the office themselves, with assigned areas of responsibility.

5. Once a week, employees must start work 15 minutes early for the weekly meeting.

6. You need to be highly tolerant of being berated and train yourself not to be affected by it.

7. There are a great many reports to prepare.

8. Sales staff handle everything under the sun; their work is not finished simply by taking orders and collecting payment. They must also be involved in inventory management and production management.

9. There are almost no benefits such as company trips.

10. There are surveillance cameras aimed at employees in various corners of the office.

11. The company has no SOPs; whatever management says goes. But when something goes wrong, they claim they never gave such an instruction. Also, this company has no sales department—instead, everyone is the manager’s sales assistant. Sales staff’s duties include entering data, chasing the factory for updates, booking shipments, and putting management’s verbal instructions into writing and emailing them to customers. Once the customer replies, they have to ask management how to respond. If the response does not please the manager, be prepared to be yelled at.

12. Unreasonable demands of all sizes occur frequently. What is frightening is that this has become part of the company culture: frontline employees all remain silent and comply. For example, as mentioned in point 2, everyone knows that they can clock out at six but cannot leave, yet they still laugh and rush to clock out, afraid of missing the company-mandated clock-in time. Perhaps after being oppressed for so long, this is the only way they can survive at the company.

Company Name *: DEPO Auto Parts Ind. Co., Ltd.

Job Title *: Engineer (Tainan R&D Center)

Industry Category *: Automobile and Parts Manufacturing

Work Location *: Tainan

Monthly Salary *: 28,000

Relevant Work Experience *: 0

Highest Education *: University of Science and Technology

School Department: Department of Mechanical Engineering

Interview Date:

2018/01

Annual Salary: 12–13 months

Working Hours: 07:30–16:45

Year-end Bonus: 0–1 month (not guaranteed)

Job Description:

Responsible for work related to vehicle light development. Coordinate and assess the feasibility of CAD design drawings from the RD (R&D engineer), then proceed to downstream mold injection manufacturers and production manufacturers to supervise and coordinate the process until full production is completed and specifications are met. This work involves turning the designer’s vision into reality. Plans and arrangements should be made thoroughly in advance so that execution afterward will be easier.

Review: Labor and health insurance, two days off per week, free dinner when working overtime. Salary transfers are made through Taiwan Business Bank. Annual salary adjustments are 3–5% (based on total salary). Salary structure: 24K base salary + 3K occupational allowance + 1K–15K (variable allowance, performance bonus, experience bonus). The amount discussed in the interview is guaranteed for the first six months; afterward, the variable allowance is adjusted based on attitude, self-learning ability, and performance. Overtime is optional, but supervisors and senior management will use this to assess work attitude, and it will be reflected in performance evaluations. There is no training; you go straight into the field. Employees are generally expected to self-study, take initiative, and ask and learn more. You need to be able to drive a manual-transmission truck. The interview includes questions on orthographic projection drawings. The development department is divided into AM and OEM. During the interview, the supervisor presents the company’s realities and shortcomings very seriously and repeatedly challenges candidates to test their stress tolerance. They also ask questions about professional knowledge in the candidate’s field of study to assess their level. In the previous interview, the question was: “What is the definition of a rigid body?” This time, with a different supervisor, the questions were: “What are the two types of molds?” “What are the two types of plastics used in plastic molding?” and “What does the company do?” (Giving only a general answer will result in further grilling.) Those who are applying indiscriminately need not bother. Lunch break is from 12:00–12:45. After the interview, they ask whether you are interested in accepting the position. (The initial intimidation is frightening enough; afterward they see whether the interviewee can handle it.) Acceptable candidates will be notified within one week. The leave system and overtime pay follow the Labor Standards Act and government regulations (if the Labor Standards Act is revised for the worse, don’t even consider it...). The company’s standard interview form must be completed accurately; do not leave blanks. If you are unsure, find a way to fill everything in—the interview supervisor places great importance on appearances. The work is complex and diverse, and dealing with different vendors requires good communication and coordination skills. Morning exercises are held every Monday and Wednesday. It is recommended to arrive at the company at 7:30 to be absolutely safe. This supervisor recommends clocking in at 7:30 every day, so you do not have to remember that 7:30 applies specifically to Mondays and Wednesdays. The preparatory bell rings at 7:50, and the work bell rings at 8:00. The overall atmosphere during this supervisor’s interview was terrible... Candidates without experience who want to change career paths will be repeatedly grilled.

During the interview, they kept grilling me about my level of expertise, and despite my lack of experience, they repeatedly said that young people nowadays are “strawberries.” The overall impression was very bad; even when asking questions, they seemed very disdainful in their responses.

Company name *: DEPO Auto Parts Ind. Co., Ltd.

Job title *: Development Engineer (Tainan R&D Center)

Industry category *: Automobile and Parts Manufacturing

Work location *: Tainan

Monthly salary *: 28,000

Relevant work experience *: 0

Highest education level *: University of Science and Technology

Department: Department of Mechanical Engineering

Interview date:

2018/01

Annual salary: 14–15 months

Working hours: 08:00–16:45

Year-end bonus: 2 months (not guaranteed)

Job description:

Responsible for work related to automotive lamp development. Coordinate and assess the feasibility of CAD design drawings provided by R&D engineers, then supervise and coordinate with downstream mold-injection and manufacturing vendors through to full production in compliance with specifications. This is a job that turns the dreamer's wishes into reality. Planning and arranging tasks in advance makes the subsequent execution easier.

Personal review: Labor and health insurance, two days off per week, free dinner when working overtime. Salary transfers are made through Taiwan Business Bank. Annual salary adjustments are 3–5% (calculated based on total salary). The salary structure is a 24K base salary + 3K occupational allowance + 1K–15K (variable allowance, performance bonus, and experience bonus). For the first six to nine months, the amount discussed during the interview is guaranteed; afterward, the variable allowance is adjusted based on attitude, self-directed learning ability, and performance. Overtime is optional, but supervisors and senior management use this to assess work attitude, and it is reflected in performance evaluations. Training is provided with someone to guide you, but it is very brief; most of the time, you are expected to study independently, take initiative, and ask and learn more. You must be able to drive a manual-transmission truck. The interview includes a test on orthographic projections. The development department is divided into AM and OEM. During the interview, the supervisor describes the company's actual conditions and negative aspects very seriously, and also tests professional knowledge related to your field to assess your level. They will additionally ask about your family's financial situation and whether you need money (say that you do if you want to get hired). They may also investigate where you live and how much your parents and siblings earn to judge whether you will actively come to work for the company. Those applying indiscriminately need not bother. Lunch break is from 12:00 to 12:45. After the interview, they will ask whether you are interested. (The intimidating tactics are frightening, and they then assess whether the interviewee can handle them.) Candidates who are acceptable will be notified within three days. Leave policies and overtime pay follow the Labor Standards Act and government regulations (if the Labor Standards Act becomes less favorable, don't bother looking...). The company's standardized interview form must be completed accurately without leaving blanks; if you are unsure, find a way to fill everything in. The interviewing supervisor places great importance on appearances. The work is complex and varied, and requires dealing with different vendors, so good communication and coordination skills are necessary.

The lunch break is one hour. A senior technician with six years of experience reportedly could not accept the 45-minute break and resigned (not sure whether this is true).

Impressive facade

I interviewed for a Spanish-speaking sales assistant position. At the beginning, they asked me to fill out a lot of information and write a Spanish letter, and also gave me a sheet listing the job duties. They also asked me to sign a consent form related to the Personal Data Protection Act. (The receptionist said that if I disagreed with any item, I did not need to sign it, so I didn’t.) The first two interviewers were fine, but the third was a strange senior manager who immediately said that I had no experience, couldn’t do this or that, didn’t understand the products, and wouldn’t know how to respond to customer complaints.... This manager was extremely self-important and clearly hadn’t even looked at my résumé. After speaking for less than three minutes, they stood up and left without even waiting for the interviewee to get up first. They just walked away, which felt extremely disrespectful to the interviewee! I’ve been through many interviews, and this was the first time I encountered someone like this.

I sincerely think there’s no need to waste your time interviewing at this company. It is a company that is all show and no substance.

The company catering is great, with lots of choices.

They offer minimum wage but want graduates of national universities—utterly shameless.

Being a sales assistant is a shitty job; the manager has no sense of responsibility, and you’re made to work endless overtime until you’re dead, while they even turn off your air conditioning—so damn stingy.

A long-established automotive lighting company that makes aftermarket lights in a traditional industry. The headquarters has nearly 1,000 employees. Excluding foreign workers, the age range is around 35–40.

The probationary period is three months. At the beginning, the interview mentioned a base salary of 24,000, but the salary is lower during the probationary period and takes about half a year to reach 24,000. There are two days off per week, you won’t lose any of the holidays you’re entitled to, and overtime is flexible.

However, I studied an engineering-related field, so I should work in northern Taiwan for a reasonable salary.

Sorry, I can’t say which department; there are too few people in that unit. Anyway, it’s related to intellectual property law. > o<