延伸行銷公關有限公司

The company is located in an old apartment building in a remote area, with hardly anything to eat nearby. You have to order delivery or bring your own lunch.

I worked at this company for about half a year. Everything below is based on my personal experience. If you have questions, leave a comment below and I’ll respond.

I initially submitted my résumé proactively, and HR later contacted me for an interview, so I decided to give it a try. When you enter the first floor, it is a miscellaneous storage warehouse filled with their event equipment and other items. The passageway is quite narrow and gives off a very cluttered feeling. The interview was held on the third floor and was mainly conducted by two female supervisors. First, I gave a brief one-minute self-introduction, and later I showed them a portfolio I had brought.

The interview was basically a relaxed conversation. They asked the standard questions, such as what school I graduated from, my major, my portfolio, and why I left my previous company. They also asked about event-related experience I had gained at school. Both interviewers seemed quite nice: one had a stronger personality, while the other was gentler. They then introduced the company’s internal structure.

The main business divisions are referred to as Business Division 1 and Business Division 2, with their event-related work based on the second floor. After joining, you mainly work on this floor, and they tell you which department you will be assigned to. Business Division 3 is on the third floor and is mainly the floor for senior supervisors. The CEO and senior staff with many years of event experience are mainly based there. The fourth floor is the administrative department, including accounting and recruitment, which you may also get to know later.

The first interview ended roughly like that, and then I waited for the second interview. The interviewer for the second interview was the CEO. When I entered his office, it reeked of electronic cigarettes and smoke, which had accumulated indoors. It felt extremely disrespectful. During the interview, he briefly introduced himself and looked at my portfolio, but he flipped through it very perfunctorily. His attitude was really poor. I won’t go into the detailed questions; see below:

Now for the advantages and disadvantages:

*Advantages

1. Most coworkers are fairly young and easy to get along with.

2. The company’s snack cabinet is always well stocked, and you can eat your fill.

3. There are two restrooms on the second floor, so you don’t have to wait in line.

4. You don’t need very strong graphic-design skills. Basic Photoshop retouching and background removal are enough; most work is done using AI files, so becoming familiar with the basics is sufficient.

5. It’s a good place for people who want to try event planning. You can ask the project planners to assign you projects to practice writing proposals.

6. The supervisors are great and you can ask them questions—depending on which business division you’re in, since some can be quite difficult.

7. You can meet many different types of people. Those who are outgoing and cheerful should have an advantage.

*Disadvantages

1. There are too many projects and it’s extremely busy: each department is further divided into two teams, and you will generally interact more with the people on your own team.

2. Poor attitudes: on the day of an event, some senior colleagues can be very irritable. Maybe they are under a lot of pressure and haven’t slept well, but isn’t emotional management something people should basically handle themselves?

3. No SOP: there is no complete SOP for training newcomers. It’s still manageable for graphic designers, but it’s more exhausting for planning assistants. As soon as you join, you may be asked to write a proposal and have it reviewed in a meeting within three days. The pressure is enormous.

4. Working environment: the air on the second floor does not circulate. After staying there for a long time, you feel very stuffy, and the air conditioner was broken for a very long time without being fixed.

5. Regular overtime: graphic designers generally don’t have to work overtime, but when you see the planners on your team working late every day, you will still help share the workload. Of course, some people leave work at 7 p.m. on time.

6. Job challenges: the planning/design role is basically a combination of both. You have to write proposals and do design work—graphic designers generally beautify the proposal PPT presentations. This division of labor is quite exhausting.

7. Job responsibilities:

(1) Beautifying PPTs and completing layouts.

(2) Creating event DM flyers or production materials. This depends on how the supervisor assigns the work: some are outsourced to design companies in Taipei, while others are assigned to us. Every team is different, so some people become more proficient while others do not.

(3) Event design requirements: opening a request with a design company in Taipei and explaining design details, etc. However, communication back and forth usually takes a lot of time—enough time to finish the work yourself.

8. Event-duty system:

(1) I think working events on holidays is mandatory. If you frequently request leave, you may be “checked on” or even excluded by the entire company, and if you don’t go, you’re screwed :)

(2) This is very suitable for people with good stamina or those who think their liver can take it. On major occasions, you may sometimes get only two hours of sleep.

9. Salary: It is just NT$30,000, including labor and health insurance. Basically, there is little room for raises unless you are exceptionally strong at planning, in which case it might be possible!?

They deliberately advertise an annual salary to lure inexperienced newcomers, but in reality, the money is made by working events.

10. Project allocation: each small team is stuck with three or four projects, some of which do not even include proposals that still need to be prepared. Planning is basically sweatshop work.

11. No motorcycle parking space is provided. You have to enter a lottery or find street parking.

12. Client communication: sometimes you need to meet clients in person to go over design drafts; it depends on the situation. Some people speak very sarcastically and bluntly, so this is not suitable for overly sensitive people.

13. Vendors: you may need to help vendors place product orders or request quotes. If you are afraid of communicating with people, think carefully about whether this is suitable for you, because this situation occurs frequently.

14. Deadlines: urgent projects sometimes appear suddenly, but they can be difficult to turn down. One may be from a company that has collaborated with them for a long time, while another may simply be a trial project. The project staff are the ones who suffer, having to work overtime constantly to rush the projects.

1. You get to see many celebrities

2. You learn a lot of event experience

3. The company has some existing major clients, including major technology-industry clients such as Kinpo, Qisda, Micron, and others.

4. There are a fair number of vendors and resources

5. A few managers genuinely make an effort to teach you; as for the boss, forget it, haha...

6. There are employee trips and birthday cakes every month

7. There is no upper limit on working hours. Newcomers initially work according to the schedule—10 a.m. to 7 p.m.—but when things get busy, going several days without sleep is considered normal

There are a super large number of them

1. No annual leave

2. Bonuses are given according to the boss’s mood, with absolutely no rules—everything depends on his preferences

3. At first they all say they will train you, but when they are seriously busy, you basically have to teach yourself

4. The boss talks endlessly about innovation, but he is the least innovative person in the entire company

5. The secretarial department—or rather, the Eastern Depot—is full of the boss’s own confidants. They do nothing but receive a pile of money. Newcomers basically go in to help carry the sedan chair for them

6. Some long-time employees are very self-important. They complain all day about being busy, but in the end, they are the most critical of everyone else.

7. The company has no secrets; whenever something happens, the entire company knows immediately

8. There is a Taipei department on Zhongxiao East Road (near Shuanglian Station) responsible for serving clients in Neihu Science Park.

The company has five brands: Extend Marketing, Creative Extend, Extend International, Extend Integration, and Shenda Public Relations, plus Shensi (design).