TutorABC_麥奇數位股份有限公司

It has a very good reputation.

From the very first moment you meet the senior manager, you know that telemarketing is an extremely exploitative job: performance comes first, with nothing else coming second. They speak very bluntly, to the point of showing no mercy. That may be a good thing—it weeds out interviewees who cannot accept the company culture at the very first stage. Basically, it is a place to train your liver and your ability to withstand pressure.

As long as you can stay for more than two months, when you interview with other companies, they’ll think you’re amazing.

Oh right, I only stayed for five months.

Extremely exploitative.

I was in sales.

Although it was two or three years ago, it still left a deep impression.

Days off per month: 4

Working hours: 10:00–23:00

Aside from the one-hour break in between, it was just making calls + making calls + making calls.

The only time I felt like I actually got to rest was when I went to Taichung with another team to attend an exhibition........

I recently interviewed for an education consultant position, primarily because the base salary is very attractive~ During the training period after joining, you can already receive a fixed salary of NT$70,000. The interviewing manager was also very professional and shared a lot about the company's development direction and opportunities for advancement. The workplace is right next to an MRT station. I'm still waiting for the results and am looking forward to joining.

None for now

The overall work atmosphere and teamwork are both very good.

There are very few people who shirk their responsibilities.

There aren't quite enough meeting rooms.

The colleagues are okay

An unfriendly family workplace, extremely terrible and harsh.

The colleagues get along quite well.

1. Too many competitors

2. Continually losing money, yet still wanting to do e-commerce

3. No research was conducted for newly developed products, so they simply cannot be sold

4. Training is very incomplete; you have to find the materials yourself

5. The boss cannot understand Chinese

“Supposedly,” the salary conditions are good

“According to reports,” the company has made a big show of saying that it has replaced its management team with an entirely new one.

“According to reports,” it plans to expand into a global business, indicating that this entirely new team’s management style is “very Westernized.”

“According to reports,” it supposedly no longer exploits employees like before, etc.

The manager conducted the interview herself, yet clearly did not have management experience commensurate with the role.

She had an extremely high opinion of herself, and the interviewer apparently judged candidates entirely based on how similar they were to her.

There were absolutely no questions related to assessing practical work abilities.

She was proud of this and considered herself a “so-called atypical boss.”

In reality, she was simply a second-generation Chinese American enjoying playing house at her family’s company.

She had an extraordinarily inflated view of herself, saying that she was born with twice the work ability of everyone else.

The only person in the world with better work ability than her was her older brother, who was also the person in charge of the company.

Because she was extremely narcissistic and lacked social experience, she was skilled at maliciously speculating about and distorting candidates.

Candidates who appeared too calm would be criticized for “deliberately putting on an act to make the interviewing manager (her) like them.”

“The judgment regarding this tactic was based on her work experience as a salesperson.”

She was proud of asking the kinds of interview questions commonly found online that “try to pretend to establish credibility.”

These questions were things like one’s hobbies or what color or flavor of office supplies one would be, rather than tests of the ability to respond spontaneously, and they were also “not questions without a correct answer.”

This female manager had a completely predetermined “correct answer” that she approved of. If a candidate could not guess it, giving a genuine response

would be criticized as boring and therefore unsuitable for the position.

“In reality, the candidate was not boring; they simply failed to guess what was inside the little princess’s mind while she was happily playing house.”

The manager was simply a self-important California Chinese-American little princess who had absolutely no qualifications or ability and was having a great time playing house at home.

Their HR department had clearly failed to realize this—or perhaps HR itself was also about to be in trouble.

Therefore, anyone applying for assistant or administrative-related positions should stay away.

There is absolutely no need to waste any time at all!!!!!!

There are opportunities to earn a high salary in the Business Department; I have also had months with an income of over six figures.

My manager is a very kind and patient person who listens to my concerns and helps me make adjustments.

Colleagues cooperate with one another, and I have made many close friends here.

I have currently been employed here for over six years, and I’m very grateful to have followed a good manager and joined a great team.

The performance pressure is high, and the turnover rate is higher among younger people who are less able to cope with pressure—but what business unit isn’t like this?

The company advertises, so it is fairly well-known in the market. The female manager who conducted the video interview spoke clearly and came across as professional.

Interviewed for a telemarketing position.

1. The interviewing manager was very skilled at using persuasive language. Fresh graduates or people without much interview or work experience might not be able to detect the hidden risks in the wording, but anyone with experience would know immediately that the job would definitely be highly exploitative.

2. You could tell right away that it was a very shady and exploitative job. When I asked about the leave policy, the manager did not answer directly, instead using carefully worded responses. Based on what the manager said, this seems to be a company that puts enormous pressure on its employees. The manager said that employees who come in and work unpaid overtime to make calls on their days off do so voluntarily, out of their own efforts to improve their performance. Those who are falling behind are naturally expected to spend more time than others working unpaid overtime. Apparently, employees who come to work during typhoon holidays are also doing so to seize the opportunity to improve their performance… It was an attitude of exploiting employees while treating it as perfectly reasonable (as if employees were not being pressured).

3. Although the base salary is NT$30,000, the commission percentage is not particularly high. If it is really true, as they claimed, that many telemarketers earn annual salaries of one million, who knows how many calls they must make and how many millions in sales they must close every month to achieve that… Every company recruiting telemarketers or salespeople says that it provides an environment where people can make money and that earning a million a year is no problem… (汗). Then you see a pile of negative Google reviews saying that the company repeatedly harasses people with phone calls. I feel sorry for the telemarketers who work overtime until late at night making calls. Everyone can decide for themselves whether this is really what they want.

1. The department I’m in handles marketing. It’s probably the least busy department in the entire company: full-time employees have to clock in and out, but you can ask coworkers to clock out for you. If you’re on good terms with your supervisor, they basically turn a blind eye, so the schedule is extremely flexible. When things are going well, you can leave after working just two hours; when they aren’t, you only have to stay for the full eight hours at most.

2. As long as you’re not shy and can talk to people, earning bonuses is easy. Full-time employees get a base salary of 26,000 plus bonuses, and their monthly pay is always over 30,000. It’s genuinely a cushy job. But you absolutely shouldn’t join the other departments. I’ve never seen anyone in telemarketing or sales leave work on time. And because my department operates on shifts, we occasionally have to work on holidays, when we can also see the miserable sight of sales staff voluntarily coming in to work overtime......

3. The office is genuinely quite nice, and the air conditioning is extremely cool. Fruit is provided at lunchtime (but you have to fight to get some).

1. The boss is seriously spoiled and acts like he’s a god. The company constantly plays footage of the boss appearing on TV and videos filmed at events on a loop. Every time I hear him say, “My employees all volunteer to work overtime for me!” I feel like throwing up.

2. The employees are seriously messed up. Most of the men in our department solicit male sex workers, and they also harass coworkers. It’s absolutely disgusting—ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh.

3. The middle- and upper-level managers only care about performance and not their subordinates. They use all kinds of bizarre methods just to obtain employees’ personal information.

4. Forgetting to wear your name badge results in a 500-dollar fine, imposed immediately. They are unbelievably obsessed with squeezing money out of people.

5. They only spend money on advertising and superficial appearances. It’s disgusting to the extreme.

I really can't think of any.

The company proactively invited me to an interview.

Before the interview, I was asked to complete an intelligence and logic test.

After I finished it,

I was told that the interviewer was still in a meeting. (It felt like the interviewer had no sense of time and did not respect the time originally scheduled.)

They simply asked me to wait.

I waited a total of 50 minutes before the interviewer finally appeared.

The interviewer did not seem to intend to apologize for the long wait.

The interviewer's tone was also rather arrogant.

Then I felt that the HR representative had not carefully read the résumé I had worked hard to prepare.

After asking a bunch of questions that were not very professional,

they finally said that the company currently did not have a position that matched my expectations.

Then why did HR proactively invite me? Why ask me all those questions?

I felt that the interviewer was not very professional.

It was truly a waste of time!

I can’t think of any yet

At the beginning, when checking in, we had to take a selfie with the iPad and record a self-introduction video. I thought it was stupid.

People were also walking past nearby, and there was music in the background. What was that all about?

I also had to wait for a long time. When I asked about the salary, they didn’t give a very clear answer and said they would notify me later. Well, I’ll leave it at that!

The colleagues are generally easy to get along with (at least the ones I’ve encountered). The administrative work is very simple: just keep calling and persuading customers to make a purchase.

You’re required to clock in when you start work, but not when you leave; there’s no overtime pay. It’s completely noncompliant with the Labor Standards Act. The rules can be changed whenever they want. Whether your supervisor is good or not is just a matter of luck. There are a lot of shady things going on—I won’t even mention how, before I left, it was exposed that the top-performing employee had stolen customer lists. The company even tried to cover for him, haha. Honestly, anyone who can make it through the probation period is a real champ.

None

I was invited to a video interview by HR, and the experience was extremely poor. Unless you are a recent university graduate, I recommend not wasting your time.

During the interview, they give you several forms: one is an intelligence test, another is a very general personality test, and the last contains the company’s regulations. You can probably finish them in about 10 minutes, but the interviewer will take another 30 minutes to be ready (remember to bring something to pass the time).

During the interview, the interviewer may have been trying to establish authority. At the beginning of the video call, they were still walking around with the camera on (perhaps trying to show that the interviewer was very busy). The interviewer had a rather condescending tone and did not seem interested in learning more about the candidate, although they still introduced the business and salary structure. However, the people who would probably accept this are inexperienced newcomers who have never entered the workforce.

Most colleagues are easy to get along with~

1. A severe culture of flattering superiors~ If you know how to flatter, you can rise through the ranks!

2. Policies and systems keep changing!

3. Extremely unstable work environment; they talk about layoffs all day long!

4. Managers don't know what they want, making everything incredibly inefficient!

5. Be extremely careful of a certain female manager in the Jr. Marketing Department (she pushes work onto others, takes credit, and stabs people in the back—she does it all).

None

During the interview, I had to fill out a bunch of questions. The place to fill them out was a small table next to the elevator and restroom, and it was very noisy with people coming and going.

After I finished filling them out, I waited almost half an hour before a supervisor took me inside.

During the interview, the supervisor had no idea what position I was applying for.

I was applying for an outside sales position, not a telesales position.

The supervisor kept saying, “I think you should start by practicing telesales.”

They completely disrespected the applicant’s preferences regarding the position.

I was extremely angry by the end of the interview.

The junior sales department supervisor had only been working for eight years, yet acted extremely arrogant.

It was their company’s HR who found my résumé on 104 and contacted me for an interview.

I was a fresh graduate having my first interview, and it was fucking awful.

Pros: The salary is fairly generous.

Cons: Very demanding (sales jobs seem to be pretty much the same everywhere).

I don’t know, so I have no comment.

This company is the most unprofessional language cram school I have ever encountered—in every respect.

Since I was a student, I experienced their persistent, relentless sales tactics firsthand. I made it clear that I was majoring in Japanese and had no need for their services at the time, but they retorted, “You don’t need English now, but you’ll need it in the future!” To this day, I still receive spam promotional emails from toturabc.

Even after I started working as a cram-school teacher, I received a call from them hoping that I would become one of their online instructors.

I told them that my résumé clearly stated that I teach Japanese, not English!

Yet the HR representative who called actually said:

“No problem! Teacher, you can teach English to Japanese people in Japanese. We also have many Japanese students.”

I don’t understand how such an unprofessional company has managed to survive to this day.

The environment feels quite good, and the benefits are also fairly good. The interviewer was easy to communicate with, and the overall impression was quite positive. There is a high degree of freedom at work, and the amount of overtime is relatively low, though it may depend on the position.

There is no year-end bonus; instead, performance is evaluated through a performance review system. The interview process includes a logic test and a professional skills test. The waiting time is quite long and may exceed an hour.

None

A few days before the class, I discovered that the people accepted to attend were not very smart. They couldn’t even handle very simple things, yet seemed to look at me with great admiration… They couldn’t even speak properly, yet they were still accepted. It was utterly baffling. The class was quite a waste of time—a rather strange company.

The colleagues have a good relationship; whether they are still employed or have left, they can still get together to complain about the company.

At this company, as long as the boss likes you, you will be promoted upward at rocket speed. The key qualities the boss likes are having a somewhat attractive appearance and being able to sing and drink. The company's benefits only look good on paper and are not genuine. If you can sing a good song and drink a lot, you are welcome to come work here.

During the interview, the supervisor did almost all of the talking, and asked about my target salary and the amount of time I could commit.

Give employees more space to move around, such as an exercise room, or focus more on building understanding and establishing a trial-reading process.

My job involves telemarketing and making invitations. I am responsible for calling customers from a list of phone numbers, asking about their language-learning needs, and inviting them to take an online trial lesson. In fact, if you are familiar with the process, it is fairly easy. There is a standard script, and once you get used to it, you hardly need to think—you say almost exactly the same content each time. There are many educational training videos in the system, and massage services are also available every week; you can sign up for them. Each day, the office has a staff member on duty who can place lunchbox orders on behalf of everyone. On Wednesdays, there is an afternoon tea with fruit and snacks. From time to time, there are general meetings where the director shares learning concepts or tips on interacting with customers. The director is young and accomplished, radiates positive energy, wears a well-fitted suit every day, and is quite approachable. He remembers everyone’s English name. My supervisor is not much of a people manager and only requires punctuality. He also came from a sales background, so he does not really police things like going outside to smoke. Days off are fairly flexible, and I have a good relationship with my coworkers. The working hours are 10:00–20:00 for the morning shift and 13:00–22:00 for the evening shift, with lunch breaks from 12:00–13:00 and evening breaks from 17:00–18:00.

The working hours are very long. The scheduled hours are 10:00–20:00, but customers usually arrange online trial lessons after work, at around 6:00 p.m., to accommodate their schedules. If you have high performance expectations for yourself, you usually cannot leave work too early, so working until 10 or 11 p.m. is the norm. If your conversion rate is high, you can earn a decent income; if you do not perform well, you will simply be busy for little pay.

It seems there aren't any...

I interviewed for D0005_Senior Website Planner, and the interview took quite a long time....

Before the interview, they asked me to fill out basic information online. I originally thought this would save quite a bit of time after I arrived,

but when I went for the interview, I still had to take a test (marketing-related), complete a personality assessment, record a 30-second self-introduction video, and so on.... Then I had to wait for the manager to interview me. After waiting 20 minutes, the manager came in and said, “Sorry, I was in a meeting just now....” (But this kind of situation shouldn’t happen, right....? They knew there was an interview scheduled, yet still made me wait that long...)

Then the manager asked me to introduce myself first. While I was enthusiastically describing my past work experience, he kept scrolling on his phone!!! Extremely rude. During the interview, he spent at least half the time looking at his phone and replying to messages. When I talked about my previous work experience, he kept asking, “So how did you handle it?” Then, while looking at his phone, he would ask, “And then? And then?” The entire interview was extremely uncomfortable!!

Later, this manager said he thought my past work experience was better suited to another department, which also happened to be hiring, so he helped me find that department’s manager. Then I waited another 15 minutes or so.... (The whole thing wasted so much of my time...)

The manager who came later was a woman and was more polite. She stayed focused on speaking with me throughout the interview, but she didn’t seem very familiar with some aspects of webpage production. She mentioned some problems they were currently encountering, and I kindly gave her a general explanation of possible solutions. She said they were currently only looking for one person for the position and that the role would involve quite a lot of work..... When coordinating with the design team, they often had to wait a long time, so knowing some Photoshop could help me handle things more quickly. I thought to myself: so this is a company where knowing a few more things means having to do even more work...

The salary and benefits were not discussed during the interview. Later, the female manager said HR would contact me again to explain them. She also said their company had a special salary calculation formula that would determine an appropriate salary based on past work experience. It really is quite unusual.

Three weeks later, I received an email from HR asking me to do an HR interview and provide employment references. The process is currently underway. Although I’ve already found a job, I’m still quite curious how much salary they would offer me, haha.

If you work under a good supervisor, you can quickly learn sales techniques.

But if you happen to have a supervisor who doesn't really pay attention to you, you'll have to figure things out on your own (that's what happened to me).

As for the course content and instructors, they are pretty good. You can indeed achieve results by learning here; this is not some kind of scam company.

However, if you are considering working here, you should think twice.

[Preface]

Although other forum members have already shared information about the interview and the nature of the work, the company seems to have made some adjustments this year or last year.

So I’m updating the information to give everyone a clearer idea of TutorABC’s current recruitment situation, interviews, training, and job content.

[Personal Background]

Position applied for: Language Consultant (telemarketing sales)

Application year: 2017

Current status: No longer employed

[Interview Process]

Overall, the interview process was very unprofessional. Apart from the extremely long wait and the standardized questionnaire, the interview with the supervisor was also rather perfunctory. After I finished my self-introduction, I was asked within just a few minutes whether I had any questions. The important aspects of the job were not clearly explained either. I only gained a better understanding after asking HR afterward. If you want to understand the job clearly, I suggest directly registering as a TutorABC member. A specialist will immediately ask whether you want to learn English, allowing you to get a concrete idea of what the job entails.

[Hiring]

They notify you by e-mail, and once you complete the form, you are considered hired. On the first day, bringing the documents required for check-in makes you an official employee.

A specialist will explain the salary, how performance is calculated, and so on, and then ask you to sign a whole stack of confidentiality agreements.

Attention!!! There is no longer a one-week training period with transportation allowances. You are hired directly to start working at the company!

Many of the people who joined with me probably went there just like I did after reading the posts on the forum, naively thinking they could consider the job after completing training. Only afterward did we realize that we had been pulled directly into working.

[Training Content]

Because they repeatedly emphasized the importance of the confidentiality agreement before classes even began, and constantly reminded us not to do anything that could damage the company’s image, everything from this point on is something I supposedly dreamed up myself. I will not disclose the company’s internal course information or add any subjective feelings; everyone can judge for themselves. The information is also somewhat fragmentary, so please forgive me. The training included:

1. Signing a confidentiality agreement of more than 10 pages, watching two videos about confidentiality, and taking an exam. In addition, mobile phones cannot be used in the office, company information cannot be taken outside under any circumstances, and all communication software is provided by the company.

2. We were told not to pursue only our own interests, but to put the company’s interests first. Employees were also required to memorize TutorABC President Yang’s saying:

“Do the right thing; don’t do things that benefit only yourself.”

3. They acknowledged that the company’s online reputation was not very good and explained that poorer records were unavoidable during the early stages of the company’s development.

4. They were determined to eliminate other cram schools and online tutoring websites, with the intention of monopolizing the market.

5. Most of the course consisted of learning through videos, and we were expected to understand all of the company’s features and operating model within three days.

In short: the job information was opaque, the pre-employment indoctrination was intense, there was constant image-polishing, and the training process was rough (employees were not valued).

[Actual Work]: Telemarketing

I was not there for long, so some of this is based on my rough observations. Take it as reference.

1. Working hours (flexible scheduling): Mid shift 10:00–20:00, late shift 13:00–22:00

Although there are two one-hour breaks during the day shift, you are actually already at the company for more than 10 hours.

Moreover, since I joined the company, no one has ever left work on time. Day-shift employees basically stay until 10 p.m. There are two reasons:

First: You schedule trial lessons with customers, and customers all choose times after 8:00 p.m., so it is impossible for you to leave at 8:00 p.m.

Second: There is performance pressure, so your supervisor will not let you leave.

Adding everything together, you spend 12 hours at the company! Sometimes it is even later and longer! Excessive overtime is a serious issue!

2. Days off:

The Labor Standards Act stipulates eight days off per month, but supervisors will not schedule eight days for you either; you usually get only five or six. You can ask your supervisor for more, but first you have to see what kind of mood they are in.

3. Environment:

The seats are fairly spacious, the lighting is bright, and the atmosphere is nice. The coworkers are also very friendly, but the supervisors are more likely to single people out. Mobile phones and communication software cannot be used in the office, so it is a relatively closed work environment.

[Advice for Applicants]

Sales work is very realistic: the strong get stronger, and the weak get weaker. People with good performance can rise smoothly, while those whose performance is consistently poor have a hard time turning things around. Since this involves the company’s performance system, I will leave it at that. If you lack the perseverance, determination, patience, and understanding that you may be exploited by the company, do not be dazzled by the high salary; find an industry that suits you. If you can tolerate long working hours and find enjoyment or a sense of achievement in this high-pressure work environment, this might be a place where you can make the most of your abilities. I have seen excellent salespeople take more than ten days off in a month and still achieve very good results. I have also seen people take fewer than six days off in a month, perform consistently poorly, and receive only the base salary. So it depends entirely on the individual.

[Final Summary]

In the end, I still resigned. Actually, I had no particular complaints about the work. I knew what I was getting into when I joined, found enjoyment in the work, and my performance was also quite good. What I could not accept was the company’s style and its attitude toward employees. I resigned for the following three reasons:

1. The company’s recruitment and interview processes were too careless: HR recruitment was essentially a scattershot approach. They did not screen candidates properly and confusedly dragged people in to work, without clearly explaining the job content during the interview. They hired a bunch of unsuitable people, wasting applicants’ time and money. The pre-employment training was also completely half-hearted. Employees were not treated with respect; instead, they were expected to respect the company unconditionally.

2. The job information was not transparent: On the surface, they said you would get off work at 8:00 p.m., but it had actually been predetermined that this would be impossible. I even think it bordered on deception. Deliberately postponing the start time and adding an hour for dinner was already very sly. They also failed to clearly communicate this information during the interview, so you only found out after actually starting work. They were fundamentally toying with employees.

3. The company was excessively secretive about its confidential information: Employees were treated like thieves and constantly guarded against. We had to sign a pile of confidentiality agreements, while the company also sought to extract profits from us. If you truly believe the product is good and the company is excellent, is it necessary to act as if you have a guilty conscience, like a thief? This is the part I cannot accept.

At present, TutorABC’s job is all appearance and no substance: it looks bright and polished on the outside, but is a complete mess internally. Everyone can wait until it goes public and the information becomes transparent before considering it. It is currently recruiting large numbers of people, so presumably it will also cut employees quickly in the future. Everyone should consider it carefully.

With that, I wish everyone good fortune and success.

The supervisor seemed pretty nice.

The company system allows you to receive either the base salary or the bonus, whichever is higher.

I had already uploaded my résumé to 1111, but during the interview I was still asked to handwrite it again. There were also many personal questions, such as what I was most proud of and what I regretted the most. Finally, there was an intelligence test where they showed you several pictures and asked which one should come next. After finishing the entire form, I had to wait for them to take it back and photocopy it for the interviewing supervisor. The interview was scheduled for 2 p.m., but the actual interview did not begin until 3 p.m. The next day, I received a call saying that I had passed the first-stage interview. They asked how interested I was in the job on a scale of ten. Then, after I had already discussed some of the information I had filled out with the interviewing supervisor the previous day, the person who called asked me about it again. It felt like the internal information flow was extremely poor. After the phone call, they emailed me and asked me to fill out an online résumé on their website. I then had to rewrite many things I had already written, along with additional questions unrelated to the job, such as my family circumstances. Overall, I felt that I was not treated with much respect.

Are there any advantages?

A garbage company.

During the interview, they tricked people into joining by claiming how much money they could make, but after starting work, they openly took advantage of employees’ days off and break times. Moreover, the managers in the Sales Department were each more foul-mouthed than the last and pressured employees without any mercy.

(1) The company environment is very good (new building, on the green line)

(2) I met great HR staff and was able to discuss career planning

(3) For the vast majority of people, their goal when facing an issue is [ solve it ]

(1) The interview content was completely inconsistent with my expectations—extremely so.

I applied for a live-streaming program planner position, but the actual responsibilities were: program planning / event planning / photography / video editing / sales

If you also know a bit of special effects and can use Photoshop and AI, that would be even better! It is a completely end-to-end operation.

(2) The manager who interviewed me was not the main manager I would report to, and the main manager’s management style was appalling.

(1) She only shows off in front of senior management; when the manager is absent, she bullies colleagues and treats them like servants: a sycophant.

(2) Her EQ is extremely poor. Whenever things do not go her way, she goes nuclear and turns into a loudspeaker: the landlady-from-hell concept.

(3) She expects you to handle everything, then gives you only a few hours or a day. When you say it cannot be done, she keeps repeating herself.

For example: There are countless video-editing programs, and the one used by the company was different from the one mentioned during the interview. I also explained that I needed time to learn it.

The manager would keep repeating: “I don’t understand. Is it difficult? What exactly is difficult about it?” Going around in circles endlessly.

(4) Many things are not planned in advance, so tasks are assigned whenever she thinks of them: going around in circles.

(5) She thinks she is extremely capable; every mistake is someone else’s fault, and she is never wrong: incredibly self-satisfied.

(6) She is very confrontational. Whenever she argues with another department and that department stops cooperating with her, she pushes her own projects onto other planners to execute, leaving them with all of her projects and causing their workload to become excessive.

I realized something was wrong after joining and decisively decided to leave!

I just want to share this with everyone: if a manager has the following attitudes, please think it over carefully.

(1) Making grand promises: “You can learn a lot here; your life will become this and that.”

If you are a graduate, I would recommend staying—it is perfectly fine. But if you are not, and hope to specialize in a particular field, stop, look, and listen.

(2) A poor attitude: A manager’s attitude determines what you will become in the future. Even if you tell yourself not to become like them, it will still affect you subconsciously.

(3) Shifting responsibility: There is no team spirit; they only take credit and benefits for themselves while dumping all the undesirable work on colleagues. In this situation, do not stay.

(4) Constantly going off track: If a manager has poor logic or insufficient comprehension, discussions can go seriously off track, and many things will be misunderstood because they have not grasped the key points.

(5) Thinking they are superior: They often say things like, “Back when I was at XX station, I did this,” or “I have done such-and-such before.” So what? The point is the present.

Originally, I hoped to contribute to this team, especially since I had met two excellent colleagues.

But the manager’s management style left me speechless. It was not the first time I had encountered this kind of thing.

So I was able to make a very clear decision: say goodbye.

On my second day at work, I worked more than 16 hours. I was absolutely furious.

Unless you are truly short of money, do not abuse your own body (I developed a serious illness after being overworked by my previous employer).

Having a promising company is important, but whether the team can get along is even more important.

After all, Taiwan’s current work environment is not about fighting alone—you need teammates! Not teammates who drag you down.

The colleagues in my department are all very nice, but the manager is not okay.

There are far too many things to complain about.

1. Working overtime endlessly without complaint is routine; working beyond regular hours is commonplace. Colleagues even treat you like an oddity if you do not work overtime—their servile mentality is remarkably strong.

2. A truly disgusting culture of flattery. You are also expected to drink and sing karaoke with the chairman or general manager. Although senior executives say you do not have to force yourself, the looks in their eyes and the atmosphere they give off actually convey a strong negative attitude of “you’re done for if you dare not come.”

3. Everyone from managers to frontline employees at this company works extremely hard because senior management does not treat employees like human beings at all.

4. All show on the outside, rotten within. The company buys a bunch of online advertisements that consumers are actually too lazy to look at, yet it smugly claims they are so creative. In outsiders’ eyes, it is a company that is full of crap, wastes money, and has an extremely inflated sense of itself.

5. It repeatedly emphasizes that there is not enough budget and repeatedly cuts staff, leaving the remaining employees to do the work of several people each—a classic case of “women are treated like men, and men are treated like beasts.”

6. The turnover rate is extremely high. Talented people are strongly advised not to come here and waste their time. This is a lousy company that is not worth investing your youth and life in.

None

The manager only cares about performance and doesn’t care about anything else. When a bug occurs, everyone has to look into it together, and you can only claim compensatory leave. The system keeps throwing errors all day, and you have to work while being on call, in an endless loop. One person is expected to do the work of several, and employees and subordinates are not treated like human beings.

Also, you have to guess for yourself what the system’s database tables are and where the code is located. There is no IIS, and you have to figure out the database table permissions on your own. You can only survive by spending a great deal of time building relationships with senior colleagues.

None

There are too many differences in the systems

The supervisor seems okay.

Applied for an RD position. The interview was extremely unpunctual and could even be delayed by as much as an hour. I also had to attend four interviews on-site.

This is highly disrespectful to interviewees and, from another perspective, also reflects the company's work environment.

The interview took place at Guting Station on June 10, 2017. The equipment was fairly new, giving me the impression that the company didn’t hesitate to spend money. The salary offered for the sales position was divided into a base salary (30,000) plus a bonus (7–15%), with the amount varying according to your rank.

1. They interview people indiscriminately. Sitting next to me was a girl who had just graduated from high school... She had no idea what this company did from beginning to end... She even asked me whether, after she started university, her working hours might not be compatible, since she would have to work until at least 8:00 PM.

2. They paint an overly rosy picture, repeatedly emphasizing that online education is the mainstream of the future. I admit that online education is mainstream, but not for English—English is too widely available, and there are already too many open courses, all of which are free! At the briefing, a sales manager said something I found interesting: “How can you learn English well? If there are two ways to learn—one requires you to memorize a bunch of things, while the other simply gives you a plane ticket to the United States—which would you choose? Of course, the latter, right? Our learning method is like learning through your native language!” I couldn’t help but want to ask: your products are so expensive that they really cost as much as a plane ticket to the United States (200,000). Why would I still buy your products?

3. During the interview, some girls would often walk around outside, and the interviewer’s eyes kept wandering as well. It was extremely disrespectful to the people coming in for interviews.

Overall, I think the prospects are worrying.

The salary is indeed a little higher than elsewhere, but whenever someone earns too much, they find ways to cut the budget and impose conditions.

They have cultivated a junior director who makes grand promises. Those who haven't been undermined by him worship him as a god after being stuffed full of empty promises.

The policies keep changing, and it's always a load of bullshit.

no

A company that has undergone labor inspections several times and violated many provisions of the Labor Standards Act

No advantages whatsoever

This company has already shifted its entire focus to China. Since the beginning of the year, it has been conducting layoffs in Taiwan in batches. Now, managers in China are giving instructions to employees in Taiwan. Taiwan is completely like a colony; everyone works themselves to the bone, and the turnover rate continues to skyrocket. It really is gilded on the outside...

The workplace looks free-style.

It seems well-organized, and the benefits look great.

Even after passing the interview, you still have to attend five days of training. There is a test after the training, and you are only considered hired if you pass.

The company advertises heavily and is so notoriously grueling that having worked there for any length of time and then applying for a job in the same industry is a major advantage: “You actually managed to last that long?! That’s amazing! You’re hired!”

1. Far too many practices do not comply with the Labor Standards Act: employees are often required to work overtime without overtime pay; events are often scheduled during employees’ rest time (such as weekends or evenings) and attendance is mandatory, effectively forcing employees to use their leave; employees are required to sign illegal non-compete clauses; salaries differ greatly from what was initially promised, and may even be subject to improper deductions....and so on.

2. The office atmosphere is terrible. Reportedly, there have been data leaks in the past, so employees are treated like thieves: surveillance cameras or mirrors are everywhere, which feels extremely uncomfortable; a culture of informing and backstabbing is rampant. Many supervisors love to find fault with employees, making a huge fuss over the tiniest trivialities and threatening to dock pay or reduce leave, or even using such incidents as a tool to curry favor with and flatter upper management. It is ugly.

3. The company spends a great deal of money on advertising, attempting to create an image of itself as a top-quality provider of excellent products, but the reality is far removed from appearances: the teaching materials may not have been written by professionals, and the instructors may not actually be teachers.

4. The company seriously disrespects employees’ personal information! Even after leaving the company, it may use it as a customer list. I personally continued receiving harassing emails and sales calls for more than a year. Repeated complaints were ineffective, and I had to invoke the name of the Fair Trade Commission before the harassment finally stopped.

The office environment looks good, and they let us use iPads—it feels very high-tech!

You have to fill out their online résumé at home first, and some of the questions are really strange—for example, your family members’ dates of birth and phone numbers, and the names of all your previous supervisors. These fields are mandatory; otherwise, you can’t save the form. = =

Then, on the day of the interview, they give you an iPad and ask you to confirm and fill in your information. They even require you to record a 30-second self-introduction facing the iPad—and it’s not in a meeting room, but beside the busy reception counter where people are constantly walking by... It feels pretty awkward and not very respectful toward interviewees...

I applied for the general affairs and administrative position. At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer asked whether I knew much about the company. I said it was an online English-teaching company. He said, “Is that all?” I replied, “Um, yes...” He said, “It seems you don’t really understand our company,” and then launched into a long explanation of the company’s background that lasted at least 30 minutes. When we finally returned to the actual interview, I felt that he kept trying to convince me not to care too much about the starting salary, saying that raises would be based on ability later, and that year-end bonuses and other benefits would also be determined according to performance. As for the job responsibilities, all I can say is that they are extremely broad: one person has to handle many duties, such as office-supplies management, access-control management, petty-cash management, vendor communications, security and cleaning management, and other administrative tasks.... There is often overtime on weekdays, and sometimes on holidays too! By the time the interview was over, I was practically out of my body! At the end, he asked whether I was interested in coming to work there. I was so exhausted from the interview that I apologized and honestly said I wasn’t very interested, and the interview finally ended.... From the time I started filling out the forms until the interview ended, I spent a full three hours....

A word of advice: don’t blindly go to an interview for this position just because the company seems to be a large one. Aside from the interviewer being very serious and talking at length, the workload is truly not to be underestimated! Unless you want to challenge your personal limits~~~~

The office is very beautiful, and I had a fairly good impression of all three interviewers. It feels like a very ambitious company.

After the interview, the notification time promised by HR kept being postponed. They did not proactively inform me of the delays; when I called, they said I would have to wait another two weeks. They did not send a rejection email either, and just kept making me wait. I waited for quite a long time, so I gave up.

I think it would be better to send a rejection email directly if the approval did not go through. If they had postponed the decision but proactively informed me, I would have given an average rating.

Using an iPad during the interview makes the company seem very high-end and professional.

It has a very strong reputation.

The HR department is the one who asks people to come in for interviews, while the interviewers merely conduct them passively.

The receptionists are very casual in their attitude, and the HR staff never show up either. There wasn’t even a cup of plain water, and the test and interview took a very long time.

They used an iPad for a logic test, as well as a written test on professional subjects. The iPad was really unintuitive: you had to take a headshot of yourself with the iPad and record a 30-second self-introduction. After finally finishing the recording, the iPad’s system took an extremely long time to process the video—it just kept spinning and spinning. I was stuck there for 5–8 minutes. It was really unbelievable and a waste of time.

The interviewers were all extremely unpunctual. After finishing the test, I had to wait for a very long time. It was really disrespectful to the people being interviewed.

By the end of the interview, I was both exhausted and thirsty~

They kept calling me to come in for an interview. Once I arrived, it was obvious they were just casting a wide net and interviewing anyone. At first, a supervisor came in and talked about how great their company was, and then said I could choose between TutorABC and Columbia English. I chose the latter, Columbia English. After making my choice, I went to the interview, where a masked woman came in. From the moment she entered, she was extremely impatient and had a very bad attitude, as if she did not want to say anything at all. She just kept asking, “Do you have any questions?” It felt like HR was short-staffed and needed people to interview. The female manager conducting the interview was also very annoyed and clearly did not want to deal with me. Then the next day, they called again to ask whether I wanted to interview for TutorABC. Are they out of their minds?

They expect people to work overtime all day, and even when you’re on leave, they require you to attend company events.

It’s essentially eating into your vacation time, and working here has taken a toll on my health.

I worked at this company for four years.

This company is terrible in every possible way.

The boss and his clique act as if they are emperors.

They act recklessly without thinking through the consequences,

frequently leaving their subordinates scrambling to deal with the mess.

They also love making empty promises and taking credit for everything,

frequently buying news coverage and advertising to put on a show,

creating a fake image of a happy workplace to deceive people.

In reality, they are extremely harsh toward their subordinates.

There is no year-end bonus and no overtime pay.

The vacation and leave policies do not comply with the Labor Standards Act at all.

Business commissions are frequently withheld or reduced.

Employees are pressured to sign completely unreasonable non-compete clauses.

They send certified legal letters to intimidate former employees who work for similar companies.

They are truly awful and outrageous.

As for the company culture, the only word to describe it is miserable.

A culture of backstabbing is rampant and overflowing.

There are plenty of mid- and senior-level managers who flatter their superiors.

They spend all day waiting to catch employees out.

Surveillance cameras are installed everywhere in the office,

as if employees need to be guarded against like thieves.

Good work is treated as a matter of course.

The slightest flaw is magnified and scrutinized.

The work pressure is unbearable.

As for the products, there is not much to say.

The instructors are not necessarily professionals.

All you need is a university degree, an internet connection,

and the ability to speak English to get a job there.

The salaries are also rife with nationality-based discrimination.

The closer someone is to Taiwan, the lower their pay.

As for the teaching materials, you often see Taiwanese English,

and even grammar mistakes so ridiculous they make you spit out your drink.

They simply cannot match the frighteningly high sales prices.

Every time I make a sales pitch, I feel guilty.

In short, this company

is truly the worst one I have ever worked for.

I would not recommend it to anyone,

and I would actively dissuade anyone considering working there.

I worked at this company for four years.

This company is terrible in every possible way.

The brotherhood-style bosses think they are emperors.

They act recklessly without considering the consequences,

frequently leaving their subordinates scrambling to clean up the mess.

They also love making grand promises and taking credit for everything.

They often buy news coverage to put on a superficial show,

creating a fake image of a happy workplace to deceive people.

In reality, they are extremely harsh toward their subordinates.

There is no year-end bonus and no overtime pay.

Their leave policies and granted time off do not comply with the Labor Standards Act at all.

They even deduct and reduce business commissions in various ways.

As for the company culture, “miserable” is the only way to describe it.

The culture of petty scheming is absurdly widespread.

There are hordes of mid- and senior-level managers who flatter the bosses,

spending all day waiting to catch employees in a compromising situation.

There are surveillance cameras everywhere in the office,

as if employees need to be guarded against like thieves.

Doing your job well is treated as a matter of course,

while the slightest flaw is magnified and scrutinized.

The work pressure is unbearable.

As for the products, I will not say much.

There are many teachers who are unprofessional.

Some joined right after graduating from university.

There is also nationality-based discrimination in pay:

the closer someone is to Taiwan, the lower their salary.

The teaching materials are often full of Taiwanese-style English,

and even contain grammar mistakes so ridiculous they make you spit out your food.

After selling these products for a while, you eventually feel guilty.

Recommending such products—with little real substance

and outrageously high prices—to customers

is so painful it makes you want to fall to your knees.

Finally, what I find most incomprehensible

is the company's direct-selling-style work culture.

First, they lure people in with sweet talk,

then feed them the grandiose promises handed down from above every day.

They constantly use motivational pep talks to brainwash everyone.

The result is that they raise a bunch of lunatics—

a bunch of people who think they are extremely important to the company,

while being heavily exploited and oppressed without realizing it,

and who even speak up for this awful company.

All I can say is that this company is terrifying—absolutely terrifying.

It is so terrifying that former employees, both local and foreign,

form groups everywhere to share their miserable experiences,

just hoping there will be no more victims.

I previously worked on-site at this company; the following are my impressions:

1. During a work-allocation meeting, a male graphic designer sarcastically commented that a newly hired contractor was being paid 100,000. Although the person who made the comment has since left, it was still unpleasant for the contractors who heard it.

2. Because the work environment provided by the company was very poor, I proactively emailed the supervisor whose name begins with “Ho,” thinking I could spend my own money to make up for the lack of resources. (I was willing to use my own money because of the kind of company this was, and I wanted to make things more convenient for the company.) In the first email, I suggested handling the matter verbally, but that approach was actually inappropriate. To avoid having no record afterward, I continued reporting the issue by email several times, but received no response. Apparently, the supervisor does not usually check email. If the supervisor is like this, it is hard to imagine how regular employees cope. Much later, my original employer asked me to attend a meeting, and I then realized that this person may have reported me behind my back. Regarding this company’s system, I personally do not feel that this is a company at all. The first and second times in my life that I was reported behind my back were both given to me by this company.

3. According to the schedule planned in the meeting, I had one week to complete the work. However, because some PG functionality had not been completed, it took up my time. The supervisor whose name begins with “Vi” called to reprimand me, saying that it was my professional responsibility, and also sarcastically asked what my previous job had been.

Sometimes encountering the two supervisors, Ho and Vi, is truly exasperating. If they do not know how to be supervisors, they could resign and give the opportunity to people who are capable. In Vi’s case, they should have confirmed with me whether the work could be expedited and completed within the timeframe. If not, they should have proposed extending the deadline. After all, quality comes first—not Vi’s career prospects. By disregarding quality, you not only insult other people’s professional expertise, but also damage the company’s image.

That is all I have to say. Let’s just assume that Vi’s career prospects are more important than the company’s image.

I hope this company can strengthen its ethics training.

High employee turnover; managers like to sow discord among colleagues, and it is easy to join but difficult to leave. I advise anyone considering joining to think twice.