None
After asking about salary and benefits over the phone... if they don't match the company's established salary range... they won't invite you for an interview.
Hmm...?
The company doesn't seem small, but it feels old-fashioned?
Hmm...
During the interview, just listening to the manager speak made me feel that this company probably isn't making money...
What this company wants to do doesn't seem very important...
Before I had even joined the company, they were already saying that I would have to do many things... It seems like they're simply looking for cheap labor...
After just a few minutes of the interview, I really wanted to leave...
There are none… really none
Interview experience:
During the final interview, you have to keep asking questions yourself to learn more details, such as the salary and bonus system, job responsibilities, and regulations. Management will not explain these proactively. Even after listening to the interviewer, things are still unclear, and there is no document or form for you to review.
HR said they would notify me of the result after completing the review and contacting my previous company for a background check. However, because they could not reach my former supervisor (I later learned that the supervisor was on leave at the time), and it was already the end of the month, HR emailed me to say that I had been hired and asked whether I could start work directly at the beginning of the following month—just a few days later. Maybe they were really short-staffed?
Work experience:
1. Frequently working overtime and leaving late without overtime pay.
Example 1: Closing out the register and preparing reports after closing. This time is not included in working hours or salary calculations.
(The POS system is terrible—slow and frequently crashes—making it very time-consuming and troublesome to close out and prepare reports.)
Example 2: Even when a customer enters at the last minute and serving them causes you to leave late, it is still not counted as overtime.
Example 3: Setting up new displays or rearranging the counters after closing is also not counted as overtime.
Only very rare situations count as overtime, such as the annual inventory count. Overtime must be reported by the store manager and approved by a supervisor, and is mainly compensated with compensatory leave.
2. Surveillance
The company's HR department and some supervisors have permission to view the surveillance cameras and conduct random checks at any time. If they happen to see, “at that moment,” that an employee is not constantly standing beside a customer introducing products, is using a phone (regardless of whether for work or personal use), taking a short break in the back room, helping another coworker, and so on, they will call or email to ask what you are doing and why you are not beside the customer.
Even when there is a pile of unfinished work, you still have to spend time finding evidence and explaining and proving to upper management that you served customers, were not slacking off, and were handling official work.
Who wants to have a service employee constantly following them around while shopping? Being monitored long-term really has a huge impact on employees' mental well-being.
3. Sales targets
Sales targets include new phones, used phones, original and third-party accessories, mobile phone/tablet insurance, and repairs. When supervisors visit the store or see the reports, they ask why sales have declined this week, why they have declined this month, why something has not sold, and so on… Sometimes they require you to write an email or an improvement-plan report.
When you meet the target this month, they usually raise it the following month. Meanwhile, other businesses offer promotional discounts and anniversary sales, but this company does not offer any price discounts; it only blames employees for not being able to sell, causing sales to decline. Do they think consumers are stupid and will not compare prices? Do senior managers act as if a new phone is launched every month and every month is Chinese New Year?
4. Never-ending new work
Besides sales and repairs, the workload continues to increase. You are also expected to handle general affairs, paint over dirt and stains in the store, ask customers to leave reviews to boost the Google rating, manage the Facebook fan page, and so on.
The Google rating is especially frustrating. The poor results left behind by former employees and the company have to be improved by those who come after them, which would be bad enough, but if the rating does not rise every week, they still keep complaining. What exactly is in the supervisors' heads? They seem to think everything is very simple…
5. Employee rights and safety
After COVID-19 began causing large-scale local outbreaks in Taiwan, this company's epidemic-prevention policies were always several steps behind. The contact-tracing registration system was implemented several days later than at other businesses, and the company did not proactively provide employees with more protective equipment, such as goggles or face shields. It was only much later that protective partitions, like those in food courts, were installed at the counters.
While other nearby businesses—whether large groups, chain stores, small independent shops, or street vendors—had already adjusted in response to the pandemic, this company made no adjustments to staffing, shift patterns, or business hours. Frontline store employees were left working as usual under high-risk conditions, physically and mentally exhausted. Meanwhile, people at headquarters working in offices had already been assigned to work in shifts…
Summary:
Unless you have too much free time and want to come here to cultivate your patience or be treated as disposable, do not come here to wear down your enthusiasm for no reason!
When you raise problems to management at this company, they usually will not be resolved. Even when improvements are made, they are only the tip of the iceberg.
When you discuss matters with supervisors, they will only ask you to consider the company's position and style from a different perspective. Who will consider the position of frontline store employees? If I were to look at everything from the perspective of those above me, I might as well become a supervisor! They simply do not value employees and do not know how to cooperate with one another…
None. There really aren't any advantages at all.
Often made to stay past the scheduled end of the workday, with no overtime pay.
Changing displays and taking inventory until midnight, with no overtime pay—only compensatory time off.
Every month, you have to stay after work hours for meetings, and even employees on leave are required to come to the company! None of this time is counted as working time, and no overtime pay is provided⋯
The year-end bonus depends on your relationship with the store manager and supervisors; everything is about personal connections⋯ Even after completing a full year, despite having roughly similar performance, one person might receive a few thousand dollars while another gets a year-end bonus equivalent to 3–4 months of salary ==
To work here, you need to know how to get along with people and be especially sweet-talking toward the district manager⋯ The district manager clearly plays favorites: people they like get promoted quickly and may even receive additional raises, while those they dislike are frequently bothered with trivial nonsense, with every effort made to force them to resign.
Don't think working at an Apple authorized reseller is a great job. It is a reseller, and you have to sell everything⋯ from blood pressure monitors to New Year's dishes and fruit. You can check the company's official website to see what kinds of products they sell⋯
If you're considering applying for an interview, think it over.
Leaving Jing Shi was the best decision I've ever made!
During the interview, all the teammates were very enthusiastic—little did I know.
The promotion system is terrible. It depends on connections, networking, and smooth talking.
If you get along well with your supervisor, you’ll keep getting promoted—up, up, up, all the way to heaven.
People who tell the truth and work diligently can only watch newcomers who just joined rise rapidly.
If you are passionate about Apple and your work, I advise you not to come to this company and waste your time having that passion extinguished.
You won’t learn much professional knowledge either.
The environment is decent; after all, the environment required by Apple can’t be too bad.
Bonuses and year-end bonuses are lower than those of other companies in the industry. Although there are the most retail stores, the compensation is the worst among the several distributors. Moreover, people at headquarters cannot communicate properly with the store staff. If it weren’t for the store staff making sales, why would the people at headquarters be needed?
No advantages compared with other companies in the same industry.
Don't assume that after joining, you'll only be selling Apple products. In my very first week, I was told to sell tea and coffee. In particular, the management in the northern region is incompetent. One regional manager only talks big and has no idea how to communicate with subordinates. They just insist that you do exactly as they say to justify a base salary of a little over NT$20,000 a month, while putting on an attitude as if you should be grateful just to have a job there. If you don't cooperate, just wait to be subjected to a rigged performance review. Reviews are scored by the store manager and regional manager. When there are concerns, they don't disclose the reviews at all, and they completely refuse to provide employees with the results for reference. As a result, you won't know why your year-end bonus is only NT$2,000, half a month's pay, or nothing at all. NT$2,000 is especially common. Seniority makes no difference—they treat everyone the same. If I were to seriously list the shortcomings, I honestly couldn't finish. As stated above, this company really brings bad luck to anyone who stays. I strongly recommend not trying it at all!
The monthly hours off are normal.
Not an Apple direct store, but a distributor in Taiwan. The job site states that the year-end bonus depends on the company’s operating performance, so even if you complete one full year without receiving a year-end bonus, there is no way to dispute it!
The bonus system is poor, and overtime is common without overtime pay.
Comfortable environment
The company is very stingy with bonuses, using some inexplicable restrictions to reduce them. They claim it is to train employees in sales, but put bluntly, they simply do not want to pay. After working here for two years, I feel very discouraged. Ever since people from Pegatron took over management, this has become nothing more than a terrible place led by exploitative bosses. Working here will only leave you wondering why you have to sell those blood pressure monitors and other odd peripheral products. I recommend that people who are passionate about Apple not consider working here.
Want the horse to be good, yet expect it not to eat grass.
People who are great at sales get to enjoy themselves.
Those who clean up after the salespeople are exhausted to death.
Fuck this—anyone who stays at this shitty company is just asking for trouble. In the end, the bonus is only a damn 0.25 months' salary; some people even received only NT$2,000 as their year-end bonus. Fucking unbelievable that they have the nerve to give so little—it's less than the red envelopes some private companies give at the start of the year.