台灣醒報股份有限公司

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Only found out on the day of the interview that it was a group interview. The process mainly involved the company president asking questions, with everyone present answering in turn. It was noticeable that whenever someone finished answering why they wanted to apply, the president focused his attention on that person.

The questions felt very superficial, and the process was also extremely haphazard. In the end, they simply told the others to wait at home for notification, while deliberately asking a particular person the president liked to stay behind, which left a very bad impression.

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I was a recent graduate, and was in the latter half of my time at school.

However, media companies really place a lot of emphasis on educational background and experience.

When I first received a notification from Awakening News, I went online to look at the reviews.

I found that most of them were quite old, with no recent ones,

but the reviews were all similarly negative.

Later, I thought I might as well give it a try. At least it was a reporter position, and I could stay for a while to gain some experience.

It was only after the interview that I understood why online commenters were so harsh toward this company.

The company is in a very convenient location.

After entering the building, you find a run-down office.

Upon entering, you have to fill out a form.

The questions are almost identical to those on their standard application form.

I really don't understand why they make applicants fill out another one.

After I finished writing, the president came in.

She began asking relevant questions.

However, during the conversation, you could feel the president's overwhelming confidence in their newspaper...

She also said that the people working there were all graduates of National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, or National Chiao Tung University, or were pursuing graduate degrees.

Originally, they had not intended to hire me.

They just thought they would give me an opportunity.

At the time, hearing that left me completely speechless.

(I thought, “How can someone be so arrogant? I know my academic background isn't strong, which is why I looked for a company that wasn't so prestigious! And the issue of academic qualifications was brought up twice.”)

She then said that internships were unpaid for one month.

At most, interns would receive article fees.

The starting salary for full-time university graduates was NT$25,000, and NT$28,000 for master's degree holders.

I wanted to sign a one-year contract, but she refused.

What she meant was that it took about half a year to train someone.

It would not be worthwhile for them if that person stayed for only one year.

I can understand the company's thinking.

However, considering everyone's opinions,

I really don't dare sign a two- or three-year contract with such an insecure company.

After talking for a while, I took my leave.

It feels like the president has considerable ambitions for the company and genuinely believes Awakening News is excellent.

I won't comment on that.

I heard from interns that you can indeed learn a lot there.

However, it really is a low-paid job with a lot of work.

I think being able to learn things is a good thing.

But looking at the experiences everyone has shared,

I don't dare—or want—to sign a two- or three-year contract.

It also feels like the return on investment is not very high.

On top of that, the feeling during the interview was genuinely quite unpleasant.

At first, I went in thinking that gaining experience was the priority and that the money could come later.

But after the interview and everything that happened, all I can say is:

If you are thinking of joining...

please give it serious and careful consideration!

You really must think it through carefully.

I read a bunch of Taiwan Awakening News articles I had never seen before.

That female person in charge is extremely arrogant and conceited.

She called me in for an interview and then sneered, saying, “You’re just a copy-editing machine.”

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1. The president’s religious and political positions are very pronounced, and news that conflicts with her values cannot be reported.

2. There is excessive editing; journalists seeking freedom should definitely not apply.

3. Working hours exceed 12 hours, but clocking in and out is strictly enforced. On paper, everyone appears to arrive and leave work on time.

4. Every morning begins with a lengthy, pointless meeting, and no one can go out to cover news until it ends.

5. There is no customer service, and the president’s customer-service professionalism is very poor.

6. Everything consists of cut-and-paste news, including contributed articles, for unknown reasons.

7. Readers’ submissions all undergo extensive editing.

8. Even editorials and exclusive interviews are consistently assigned to the same few people, who usually share the president’s values. The quality of the newspaper is simply insufficient for it to be regarded as a media outlet.

9. The supplements are also assembled through cut-and-paste work.

10. The film companies they collaborate with have difficulty providing materials. Because of the nature of a film and the style of its poster, they may be required to specially design a version for Awake News. The president says readers will complain if a poster shows a bare back, but this is really just the result of the president’s lack of artistic sensibility and religious values—she feels uncomfortable when she sees women’s bodies.

11. The president has a terrible temper and engages in personal attacks, almost to the point of becoming physically aggressive. However, she excuses herself by saying that she is under a lot of pressure and asks employees to be understanding, showing no remorse whatsoever.

12. The president’s standards and ability for selecting news are completely out of step with the times.

13. Because the company purchases access to the Central News Agency’s image library, journalists are verbally encouraged to take good photos, but around 80% of them will be replaced with photos from the Central News Agency or even CC0 images.

14. There is no overtime pay, only compensatory time off the next day.

15. The president takes an excessive interest in employees’ private romantic situations and also has a habit of randomly pairing certain employees together.

16. It is not apparent on the surface, but the president is actually homophobic.

17. During working hours, employees have to constantly endure the president’s repeated burping, farting, and coughing up phlegm. It is obvious that she has gastrointestinal problems, but she completely refuses to see a doctor.

18. Employees who request reasonable benefits or termination of their contracts will be called in for a meeting. If they still refuse to be exploited after the meeting, they will be immediately fired, without severance pay, and will also be required to sign a voluntary resignation letter.

19. Documents are falsified to facilitate inspections by the labor authorities.

20. Journalists seeking full-time positions may be kept at the intern level indefinitely. The pay may be negligible, but the workload is that of a full-time journalist.

21. Turnover is extremely high among both graphic designers and journalists. They often have to rush to meet deadlines while training newcomers and even helping the president conduct interviews, because there are no other managerial positions besides the president and chairperson.

22. There are rules governing how long employees may use the restroom and how much toilet paper they may use.

23. Eating while working is routine, and sacrificing meals is even more common.

24. The hardware is outdated and often affects work progress, but this is not considered a valid reason for missing a deadline; employees are expected to find a way to catch up on their own.

25. One graphic designer was also required to work as a copy editor and help the president revise drafts. They would be scolded if the revisions were not good enough, despite being paid less than journalists.

26. At the year-end banquet, every employee is required to perform to entertain the president and chairperson. Prizes won in the raffle and year-end bonus envelopes come with a stipulation that employees cannot resign for a specified period before they may use them.

27. The president claims to have a cleanliness obsession, but it is just talk. Her personal hygiene habits are terrible: her desk is dirty and cluttered, her cup is rarely washed, she drops crumbs while eating, and spills soup and drinks everywhere. However, employees are harshly scolded if they accidentally make anything dirty.

28. The president takes items from employees’ desks without permission and then throws them somewhere, making them very difficult to find again.

29. There is no room to work if you put your bag on the desk; if you put it on a chair, the president may sit on it and crush it; and if you put it on the floor, the president may step on it.

30. The president teaches part-time at nearby schools, and students may be lured into internships. Not a single one has failed to regret it.

31. The president believes that poor efficiency is due to employees’ lack of ability, and has nothing to do with her poor management, which causes employees to spend half the day doing pointless work.

Regarding President 010, basically you can only believe thirty percent of what she says—or none of it.

1. Professionalism: She calls herself “a political reporter second only to Chou Yu-kou,” but her news judgment is quite outdated.

2. Hygiene: She claims to have mysophobia and once harshly berated an intern for spilling something and dirtying the carpet. However, she makes no attempt to hide her own burps or farts, and, combined with her distinctive appearance, she somewhat resembles a toad.

3. Openness: If I feel like letting you report it, then report it; anything I don’t feel like reporting isn’t important.

I advise anyone thinking of coming to work here at all costs:

Absolutely do not sign a two-year contract.

You will definitely want to leave early.

The penalty for breach of contract seems to be the deduction of one month’s salary.

Work starts at 8:00 every morning. From 8:00 to 9:30, there is a routine meeting covering not only your thoughts on the day’s newspaper, but also reports on two stories you saw between the night before and that morning, as well as the press conferences you plan to attend that day. The day’s schedule only begins after the meeting ends.

Although the official end of the workday is 6:00 p.m., someone will circulate a sign-out sheet for colleagues to sign between 6:00 and 6:30. Leaving at 7:00 might still make you the first person to leave the company. The press conference schedule for the following day is not released until 10:00 p.m. If you want to translate news, you have to work on stories published after 11:00 p.m. Basically, the job is selling 24 hours of your life to the company for 25K.

For job seekers who want to start with an internship, please take the president’s statement during the interview that you should first intern for “one month” as a reference only.

You should be especially careful when signing the internship contract. In addition to the president repeatedly pressuring you to sign it, the internship period stated in the contract may also be inexplicably extended. When you raise this with the president, you may be taken to a small room for questioning, and if you still cannot accept it afterward, you may be directly thrown out! After that, the president will stand behind you like a security guard watching you pack up and turn off your screen. If, by chance, one of your articles happens to be approved for publication that day, the president may even forbid you from deleting it. You will also be prohibited from taking printed waste paper out of the office!

As for the so-called internship, basically the president just casually assigns someone to teach you. However, whether they are reporters or editors, all they will tell you to do is look at the news they have published on the Awaking News website.

Even the part-time workers get taken advantage of.