居家市集股份有限公司

The boss is very honest

***Interview for “Online Marketing Planning Assistant”

Fortunately, I checked this company’s interview experiences online beforehand, so I wasn’t surprised to find out that it would be a group interview.

I arranged to meet the boss at 5 p.m. and arrived at the site. Besides me, there were two other interviewees. After asking one of them, I found out that the boss had scheduled the wrong time with him: the 5 p.m. slot was not for the position he had applied for, so he had no choice but to wait outside.

The group interview began. After we introduced ourselves, the boss started talking about his impressive achievements, such as teaching online marketing at a university and previously serving as the chairman’s special assistant at a large game company. He said that he had been in the online marketing field for more than 10 years and understood it very well. He also said that the company was about to carry out its third major revamp, so there would be a lot to do. The online marketing assistant would be solely responsible for all the marketing work for one category (I think there were four categories, such as architecture and interior design?). You could learn a lot, although you would also have to help with tasks like pouring water. At this point, I asked whether we would be completing the work independently rather than assisting an “online marketing specialist.” The boss answered, “Yes, independently. There is no specialist.”

Since I do have a little experience related to online marketing and had mentioned it during my self-introduction, I don’t know whether he was targeting me when he said that he preferred fresh graduates with absolutely no experience and did not like people with some experience who thought they knew a lot (what?). Next, I asked the boss: The company was about to undergo a major revamp, but you just mentioned that you welcome people with no experience... At that point, the boss interrupted me and said that there was no problem and that anyone could do the work well or something like that (I forget exactly; it was just an ambiguous answer).

The boss then asked us about our expected salaries. I said that, based on my assessment, I expected NT$28,000. The other person said that they had absolutely no experience, so they were asking for NT$24,000–26,000. After hearing this, the boss said, “Our starting salary is relatively low” (he didn’t say how low), “but there are opportunities for raises. Some people have received one raise after joining, while others have received five.”

The interview lasted about an hour. After it ended, the interviewee who had been waiting outside said that he had something to do and had to leave, and criticized the boss: “The way you’re treating people is very disrespectful.” The boss asked whether he wanted to reschedule, but he declined.

That’s all.

I thought it was a huge red flag~

◎The company is near an MRT station.

◎The company prints out the résumé from the job bank for you, so interviewees do not need to print it themselves. Compared with other companies where interviewees have to bring everything themselves, this is quite a nice touch.

◎They do not ask you about things unrelated to the job, nor do they ask why you left your previous job.

◎They did not inform applicants in advance that it would be a group interview.

Personally, I am curious: each interviewee has different experience, so how can a group interview bring out each person’s distinct qualities? Also, everyone will almost certainly look at the previous person’s answer and adjust what they say accordingly. I am not sure whether this kind of interview is really helpful for finding the right person.

◎They ask about your expected salary during the group interview.

◎You need to take off your shoes to enter the office, and the desks have no partitions.

◎The boss talks about things from their past, which feels not very relevant to the interview.....