誠品股份有限公司

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Today I went to interview for the 【Eslite】 Senior Procurement Administrative Specialist (IT) position.

The salary is very low, and the manager seemed difficult to get along with. An IT department with more than 40 people has only one procurement specialist. In addition to procurement duties, this person also has to handle all kinds of miscellaneous tasks for everyone in the IT department.

Can't think of any

During the interview, the manager mentioned that the company regularly provides training, offers many online courses, has young and harmonious colleagues, and has cross-departmental clubs that employees can join. They paint you an endless picture of all these wonderful benefits, but the actual company benefits (pay raises, bonuses, annual salary, leave, subsidy policies, etc.) are not disclosed until your first day on the job. Basically, they just comply with the Labor Standards Act, so don't get your hopes up. For the three traditional holiday bonuses, they provide Eslite gift vouchers, keeping your spending tied to the company^^. Employee training is mostly useless online courses that you might as well skip. There is no overtime pay for working overtime; you can only apply for compensatory leave, but employees generally don't dare to actively apply for it even after working overtime. In short, it's low pay and long hours. Also, managers still send Line messages on weekends and after work, and they do so very frequently, even when the matter isn't urgent.

The office doesn't provide toilet paper, so you have to bring your own. There is no free snack bar like those at startups, and there are no company trips.

The pay-raise system is extremely opaque. After the three-month probation period, if you don't proactively ask for a raise, the amount they give you will basically be completely arbitrary (I only got an extra X00, which was outrageous. During the interview, they said it would be X000. If my work performance had been poor, they had told me so, I could have accepted it, but HR and the manager said nothing and simply gave me this amount.)

The office internet is incredibly slow, the computer systems are outdated, time is wasted, and all kinds of reporting procedures are inefficient. Workload varies greatly depending on the department. The department I was in was very idle; colleagues could even take on freelance work during office hours, while the people next door were so busy they couldn't eat lunch until three or four in the afternoon.

Everyone just does their own thing at work, and there isn't much opportunity for growth or creative sparks. Colleagues aren't proactive either and often talk about quitting:). The hierarchy is strict—about as traditional as it gets. Managers try to appear open-minded, but in reality they won't accept your opinions. You have to accept the culture here yourself, but don't expect to change it—you won't be able to.

The managers' abilities are very average (to put it politely), and they don't seek to improve either. Seeing them become managers really makes rookies question their lives:). Most of them rose through the ranks because of their seniority, so newcomers should not expect managers to teach them anything. When I asked where my project proposal needed revisions, he only said, “Make the picture bigger” (That's it??). In short, he neither knows how to teach nor has the ability to teach.

The company's finance department is extremely stingy about taxi-fare reimbursements. Even when the pick-up and drop-off locations are clearly an external business trip from Store A to Store B, you still have to write down the reason for taking the taxi, the names of colleagues sharing the ride, and the time of the ride. If you don't write everything clearly, they won't release the reimbursement! Pretty cheap, huh~

The conclusion is that this company absolutely does not deserve to be rated as a most desirable employer—it's practically a scam! It's simply terrible! Every word comes from bitter experience. Brave souls are welcome to take on the challenge~~~

【Role: Bookstore Events Planner】

The company culture is relatively friendly, and you can genuinely feel that it is a work environment with a strong arts and cultural atmosphere. For people who enjoy arts and cultural activities, the planning work and the external partners you interact with are closely related to these interests. It can also be a good opportunity to build connections and accumulate knowledge of the relevant industries.

The work may be somewhat demanding because it is highly challenging, but the atmosphere among colleagues is quite good (perhaps with a sense of mutual understanding from sharing the same hardships?). The team interacts closely and can support one another’s business needs, making this a job that strongly requires teamwork skills.

The pace of work is fast, and communication is extremely frequent. Even in an entry-level assistant specialist role, you may need to handle a large volume of emails and phone calls every day. It is not suitable for people who only want simple internal or clerical work, but it can be very helpful for developing soft communication and coordination skills.

The planning work is quite tedious. In addition to developing and advancing project plans, there are also many administrative tasks and duties related to resolving store needs. The role is a significant test of project management and schedule-control abilities. Because the work is complicated and staffing within the organization is quite limited, working hours tend to be longer; on average, there may be around 1–2 hours of overtime per day. (There is no overtime pay, but you can apply for compensatory leave.)

The salary and benefits are not particularly generous. The year-end bonus is approximately one month’s salary, and the bonuses given at the three traditional festivals are all provided as company gift vouchers. There may also occasionally be bonuses of around 2K–5K, depending on whether performance targets are met or work performance is particularly good.

If you are fond of books and arts and cultural activities, this is generally a suitable position for building experience and industry connections. However, if you have relatively high financial needs, this may not be the right environment for you.

Both interviews started on time (online interviews).

Both the HR representative and the manager seemed difficult to get along with (judging from their tone of voice, facial expressions, etc.).

There was something inexplicably strange about the interview process (though there was no outright rude behavior).

I genuinely admire anyone who can get hired by Eslite XD

After the second interview, I received no further notice. About 7–10 days later, I found that the position had simply been closed.

Although this kind of company is not uncommon, it was particularly off-putting given Eslite’s image.

Not to mention that during the interview stage, I was also required to fill out a bunch of personal background information.

Both interviews were very punctual (online interviews).

Both the HR representative and the manager seemed difficult to get along with (judging from their tone of voice, facial expressions, etc.).

There was something indescribably strange about the interview process (although there was no outright rude behavior).

I genuinely admire anyone who can get hired by eslite XD

After the second interview, I received no notification whatsoever. About 7–10 days later, I discovered that the job posting had simply been closed.

Although this kind of thing is not uncommon among companies, it is especially off-putting given eslite’s image.

Not to mention that the interview process also required filling out a bunch of personal-background information.

The only advantage is that the office is nicely decorated, I guess.

I interviewed there when the pandemic had just begun. At the time, the interviewing manager looked down on people based on their credentials. After I had already arrived in person, they started criticizing my educational background. It was obvious they just wanted to use the interviewee to gather information about competitors, completely wasting the job seeker's time.

On top of that, the manager was late for the interview. The receptionist called the manager first to notify them about the interview, but couldn't find them. In the end, it was only after I called that the manager was located = ="

The most outrageous part was that midway through the interview, the manager took off their mask and started drinking Starbucks, then never put the mask back on for the rest of the interview!

Overall, the interview experience was very poor. It did not seem like the kind of conduct expected from a large corporation.

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A manager in their 50s yells at employees when communicating with them. Even when dealing with more senior subordinates, this manager is constantly impatient and says, “Stop messing around!” Yet the employee was actually very calm and composed—the manager has serious emotional-control issues. They also compare reports by printing them out because they don’t know how to compare them in Excel! Unbelievable! Then, right before the end of the workday, they’ll ask you to do a bunch of unimportant, pointless tasks. All I can say is that they’re truly stupid and terrible. Many of the employees there are young, inexperienced newcomers. I genuinely feel that this company can only fool people who are inexperienced in the ways of the world. ==

To clarify first, I worked there approximately from 2016 to 2018.

I got along well with colleagues in the same group and at the same level. We shared similar tastes and interests, paid attention to certain details, and held ourselves to a certain standard while working with a degree of autonomy.

During the first year, my supervisor patiently guided me as I learned unfamiliar things. However, in reality, you mainly had to rely on your own ability to get up to speed quickly, and were expected to independently plan and execute projects almost immediately.

At a large company, responsibilities are clearly and precisely divided, so situations where mistakes go unnoticed or people shirk their responsibilities are less likely to occur.

Because the shopping mall outside had a pleasant atmosphere, I generally felt pretty good after leaving the office.

Being able to borrow books from the well-stocked inventory to read at home was a nice benefit.

I had the opportunity to interact with contacts at multiple publishers, music companies, and local businesses, which was valuable for broadening my horizons and gaining communication experience.

The company treats employees from outside northern Taiwan as complete outsiders, so to speak. Apart from the three seasonal bonuses—which were all provided as Eslite gift vouchers—and the spring banquet and year-end party, only employees in northern Taiwan received the occasional employee benefits.

Veteran employees were often rather self-important, believing that being a manager at Eslite was something remarkable. Their attitudes were extremely poor: they got angry easily and were unwilling to explain or communicate. In their view, every mistake was someone else’s fault, so supervisors would often lead the team in offending external partners, leaving subordinates extremely awkward and troubled.

The offices were usually located in the worst corners of department stores, with the poorest layouts and environments. There was no dedicated restroom or kitchen, nor any meeting space. Store employees could only take breaks in the stockroom, where it was so cramped that even walking was difficult.

Computers had to be completely unusable before they could be retired, and the replacement was another old computer. Even opening ordinary office applications carried a risk of crashing. There were also cases of colleagues’ computers overheating and emitting smoke—and the computer in question still was not replaced.

Besides the low pay, there was no overtime pay or compensatory leave, because Eslite Spectrum Corporation (the department-store business) was the one making money, so all costs on the Eslite bookstore side had to be minimized. Even though they were part of the same business group, resources were not shared between them; people even had to negotiate or exchange equivalent resources. They never seemed to consider that people visited Eslite Spectrum department stores partly because of the culture originally established by the bookstore. Otherwise, Eslite Spectrum would simply be a department store indistinguishable from any other.

Store managers’ pay was extraordinarily low. Every colleague seemed to devote themselves to the bookstore as if they had married it, asking for nothing in return. Staffing was severely inadequate, yet vacancies were left unfilled for long periods, which was genuinely heartbreaking to witness. Over time, there was even a running curse that if you joined Eslite while single, you would remain single for life.

It was a large company, and the leaders at the top were also getting older, making innovation very difficult. The company would typically take three to six months longer than others to begin implementing anything new.

After the founder’s daughter took over, the company increasingly emphasized commerce and profit. There is nothing inherently wrong with that—after all, a company needs to pursue profit—but not a single cent of that profit was returned to employees. Instead, the money was spent expanding and opening stores in other cities around the world. Because of the social climate of people being reluctant to buy books, the bookstore lost money every year. As a result, everyone can now see that the area dedicated to selling books is getting smaller and smaller, gradually being replaced by department-store concessions and restaurants, which are more profitable through commissions and rent than book sales. The original intention of participating in and even innovating within culture has gradually been erased.

In short, after joining, you will discover that this company, which appears from the outside to place the greatest emphasis on culture and people, actually treats its employees extremely poorly.

There are still some great managers and colleagues (but almost all of them are about to leave).

Be careful with companies that look increasingly appealing on the outside and are beautifully packaged. Eslite loves to rely on its positive image, assuming that there will always be passionate people drawn to it one after another. All that talk about spreading love and positive energy is a lie—they simply keep exploiting their frontline employees. The pay and year-end bonuses are extremely low. If you are passionate or want to hone your skills, I still advise you not to come.

1. The HR staff were polite

1. The supervisor was very rude. They invited someone to come for an interview, but did not show up at all from beginning to end. I have no idea what they were doing. If they felt the person was unsuitable, they should not have invited them for an interview in the first place. Since they did invite them, they should have come out to say hello, no matter what. I had a very poor impression and would advise others in the same field not to interview with this company in the future.

Pros

In planning work

1. You can meet many publishers, authors, and vendors, expanding your professional network.

2. Colleagues help one another.

1. The overtime is severe. When there is no project, it is not too bad, and you can leave about an hour after the end of the workday. For one project, I worked from 7:30 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. the next day. And it is not just junior employees—the department managers also work excessive overtime.

2. The salary is low, and there is no overtime pay. Planning companies elsewhere pay at least 3K more than here.

3. Senior management does not agree among themselves, resulting in frequent changes in direction.

The Music Hall has a very comfortable working environment, and colleagues get along well.

The PT pay isn’t much, but it’s enough to get by.

Relations among colleagues are fairly good

The company provides enough to get by

The working hours are very long, and there is a lot of work that is both varied and complicated, so you can only survive by relying on your passion. The senior managers are all very loyal to the company, but turnover among lower-level employees is extremely high. Newcomers need to be able to observe and ask questions on their own; otherwise, their supervisors are sometimes too busy to pay attention to them. If your goal is to train yourself extensively and you are not short of money, you could consider joining, but promotions and transfers are actually quite difficult. The company’s benefits are also very stingy. Although there are nominally various academies for training, in reality people are often too busy to attend. The company also places strong emphasis on learning by doing—it is a very typical Taiwanese boss......Aside from a few colleagues who adapt well and are able to stay long term, most colleagues who join with ideals end up disappointed and leave. Approximately........90% XD

The office environment is comfortable

The interview took too long and included questions that were irrelevant. Most importantly, the salary offered was extremely low, under 30k. It is a job that can only be sustained by passion.

Comfortable office environment

The interview took too long and included questions that were irrelevant. Most importantly, the salary offered was extremely low—less than 30k. This is a job that requires passion to sustain.

No advantages at all

During the interview, an IT manager asked what type of work I wanted to pursue in the future. I answered that I was interested in infrastructure-related work, and the manager said, “How can you do infrastructure work if you don’t have a CCNA?”

I said I hadn’t taken the CCNA because I didn’t think it was particularly valuable. Unexpectedly, he said that whenever someone said anything about CCNA, he would get very upset: “If you don’t have a CCNA, don’t comment on how good or bad the CCNA is. If you’re capable, go get it first and then talk about it.” I was only trying to express that the CCNA’s value was relatively limited, but he reacted so strongly. I felt that he was a rather extreme manager, so it was probably for the best that I wasn’t hired.

Regarding the HR department:

I heard nothing for a month after the interview. When I emailed to ask about the status, they only sent a rejection letter the next day. What I mean is that although Eslite is a large and well-known brand, the managers and HR staff there did not seem to respect people very much, which tarnished the brand.

The headquarters has a refined, scholarly atmosphere.

Salaries in the information technology department are relatively low; with an estimated 10 years of experience, around 45K.

1. Strong literary and artsy vibe.

2. The office environment still has a strong literary and artsy vibe.

3. Brand recognition.

4. It won’t go under, but it won’t make you rich either.

1. There are many people putting on a pretentious literary-and-artsy persona.

2. At the back-office units or headquarters, employees must clock in and out using a fingerprint scanner, which is troublesome, time-consuming, and shows a lack of trust in employees.

3. The company’s internal processes are very strict, and it does not shortchange its employees.

4. The IT department has an overwhelming number of projects.

5. No overtime pay, but compensatory leave can be requested.

6. Overall annual compensation is equivalent to 13 months’ salary; don’t expect anything else.

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Severe internal conflict, with many women enforcing the hierarchy.

Even several years after working at Eslite, I still dream about being bullied. Although I was an experienced worker who had transferred to a new environment, I was constantly treated like a novice and subjected to verbal humiliation. I was not allowed to take breaks, was made to work unpaid overtime, and was even scolded for eating or going to the restroom. Although one particular person treated me this way, the other women who saw it ignored it and joined in bullying me. That period was truly painful. I later even saw a psychiatrist. I just chalked it up to being foolish when I had newly entered the workforce.

Eslite is very prestigious and excellent, and full of care for people.

1. Brand prestige—if you want to hone your skills or use it as a stepping stone for a job change, it’s a good fit.

2. The company as a whole seems unlikely to go under, so it offers stability.

1. The work is too miscellaneous and chaotic, while the overall administrative processes are extremely demanding. It wastes a lot of time, yet you’re still expected to be highly efficient.

2. The pay is too low; you have to make up for it with passion.

3. There is a disconnect in internal training, so new hires suffer a lot after joining. Mid- and senior-level employees don’t know how to train others, while the newcomers are all inexperienced, so much of the work has to be figured out on your own.

4. It’s a responsibility-based system, so passion is very important. It’s normal to work until the end of time every day (and then be told, “We never asked you to work this long,” even though the work simply can’t be finished).

If you want to join the company because you like Eslite’s atmosphere, it may not be a good fit. You’re an employee, not a customer, so the experience can be quite different.

I can't think of any, no matter how hard I try.

Overtime is supposedly eligible for compensatory leave or overtime pay, but apart from being able to apply for compensatory leave at the beginning of the month, all other applications are rejected. This is a company that exploits loopholes. Pay raises are extremely small: after working here for more than a year, I received one raise in the three-digit range, which completely shocked me. Last year's performance bonus is not paid until November of this year, and the amount is also shockingly low. The benefits are terrible. Even members can buy books more cheaply than employees using their employee ID cards. You have to work here for three full years before becoming eligible for a health checkup, and it is held in the office, with a whole bunch of people's urine samples sitting there—it is absolutely disgusting. There are no employee trips. The year-end party is organized by each department and is extremely unappetizing and boring. The welfare committee only ever holds clearance sales for things the company cannot sell, while money is deducted from our pay every month for welfare benefits, which is extremely irritating! Before the Lunar New Year, they bring radios and card machines into the meeting room to sell New Year goods and make money from employees (they are not cheaper). In short, this is a company that sounds great on the surface, claiming to support young people starting businesses and help them realize their dreams, but is actually a terrible company that treats its employees harshly. Do not be fooled by its reputation! Unless you want to come here and try to find out where its strengths are.

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I interviewed at the Dunhua South Road location many years ago, so I don’t remember the detailed process very well.

I had already sent in my résumé, but after arriving, I still had to fill out their own résumé form again (did they not look at the one I sent?).

They didn’t explain much about the job duties, salary, or benefits.

They asked why I was applying and what kinds of movies I liked (how strange?).

There was no further response, and I was ghosted.

Scholarly atmosphere and passion

The salary is very low; you really need to be passionate to develop your career here