In the large office, more than half of the people had gone out. Those who remained were busy with their phones and computers, except for Li Yan. He had just finished the tasks assigned to him, but this didn't mean he had high work efficiency; in fact, the work given to him was neither difficult nor plentiful.
Looking around, it seemed like no one needed his help for the moment and there was no immediate work, so Li Yan casually opened a game to relax.
In the nearby director's office behind him, someone was observing through the blinds, vaguely seeing his computer screen, and couldn't help but frown.
Li Yan hadn't played for long when the phone on his desk rang. He clicked the mouse while casually answering the call.
"Hello, Sales Department... Director Ye? Is there anything you need me to do?"
"Li Yan, about the recruitment I asked you to notify the Human Resources Department about, how's the progress?"
"I've already informed them, they should have already..."
"I need to confirm the progress. We're short-handed, and it will take time for newcomers to adjust. Please follow up on it for me!" The business director, Ye Jiahong, used friendly words, but his tone was clearly commanding.
"No problem."
"And..."
"And what?"
Ye Jiahong really wanted to say, can't you find something to do yourself if you're free? Even if you play games, can't you play something a bit more sophisticated? Watching you, a grown man, getting so absorbed in playing a match-three game is just embarrassing for both of us!
However, Li Yan's calm and composed tone left him helpless. "Nothing else."
After hanging up, Li Yan called Sun Hui in the Human Resources Department.
"Hey Sun, it's Li Yan. How's the recruitment for our department going? The boss is urging me."
Hearing it was Li Yan, Sun Hui immediately responded, "We've received a batch of applications. We've screened some and notified a few for interviews today. Old Li, since you're not busy anyway, why don't you come down and help me assess them?"
At this point, he lowered his voice and laughed, "Most of them are women, it's like a beauty pageant!"
Li Yan laughed, "Sure, I've never interviewed people before."
After hanging up, he closed the match-three game, tidied up his desk a bit, and wrote his whereabouts on a sticky note before leaving the office.
...
Li Yan was a clerk at Paradise Group in S City. The group's public brand wasn't very well-known, but it was very powerful, with wide-ranging interests in hotels, theme parks, malls, cinemas, IT, manufacturing, sales, foreign trade, and various financial investments. Most of its subsidiaries were more famous than the parent company.
The seventeenth floor of the company's headquarters was where Li Yan's business development department was located. It was a high-pressure, competitive department where good performance meant very impressive income. However, none of that concerned him; he was an internal affairs clerk, working easily for a modest fixed salary.
The Human Resources Department was on the eighteenth floor. When he went up, Sun Hui was already at the elevator with a notebook and a pile of printed materials, ready to head down to the first floor.
This recruitment was for business personnel at the headquarters, different from regular market sales, requiring experienced business elites due to strict conditions. The Business Department wouldn't be involved in the evaluation, leaving it entirely to professional HR staff to handle.
In the lobby on the first floor, there were already quite a few people who looked like they were here for interviews. Sun Hui and Li Yan entered a meeting room where the interviews would be conducted.
"Are those all here for interviews? They really are all women!" Li Yan sat down and took the materials to browse through.
Sun Hui turned on the laptop and went to pour two cups of water.
"Isn't this preserving our fine tradition of recruiting beautiful women! We posted the recruitment information online, in print media, and in job markets. Knowing that our main company is hiring business elites, the applicants came in droves! The ones you have there are the ones we've carefully selected, which took quite some time."
He gestured toward the emails displayed on the laptop, screen after screen full.
"Our company offers good benefits and a large platform, so those who dare to apply are mostly experienced business elites." Sun Hui sat next to Li Yan and explained, "Since the candidates' abilities and qualifications aren't an issue, why not choose those with better appearances?"
Li Yan nodded, "That's true. Apart from networking, in any business aspect, women generally have an advantage over men, and pretty ones over not-so-pretty ones."
"Of course, we don't exclude male applicants, but for men, being in their thirties or forties and married gives them a mature and stable image, while for women, being young and pretty is better."
"Wow... discrimination against us married folks, huh?" Li Yan joked with a laugh. "Even if they're prettier, it's hard to get a chance, but hey, I'm right here with them."
Sun Hui feigned disdain, "Tsk! Claiming you're married, but isn't it just to lower the guard of the attractive female colleagues? I've done that bait-and-switch before."
At this moment, the receptionist called in, saying the interview time had arrived and that the candidates were lined up according to Sun Hui's list.
Sun Hui immediately put on a serious expression and said it's okay, notify them to come in according to the list order.
Li Yan, participating in the interview for the first time, also sat up a bit.
"Sticking out your tongue, licking your lips..." Sun Hui sweated a bit and teased, "I say, Old Li, it's just a beauty contest, with your look, all the beauties have been scared away by you!"
"Looking at these resumes, they are all well-connected elite, hehe... I was just boosting my aura!"
"How can there be any aura with this sleaziness?" Sun Hui rolled his eyes.
"I've been catching up with fashion trends lately, watched a 'Prison Break', there's a guy with exactly this style in it."
Sun Hui was speechless, thinking what year and month that was, still calling it a fashion trend, would you like me to hold your pocket... he shivered a bit himself at the thought.
At this time, there was a knock on the door, and the two of them straightened up their attitudes.
"Please come in!"
"Hello, I am..."
During the self-introduction process of the job seeker, the two scrutinized seriously, followed by Sun Hui asking some not-so-difficult test questions.
After the interview, they politely asked the person to wait for the news at home. Li Yan and Sun Hui began to discuss scores.
"How about this one?"
"Seventy points."
"Seventy? You're quite harsh! I think it's eighty. Okay, listening to you, I'll note it down as seventy." Sun Hui immediately marked seventy next to the applicant's name in the notebook.
...
A dozen applicants came by, including a gentleman. The two discussed and recorded scores for each, where previous resumes and experience had been screened by HR already, so they were all qualified; now they were just assessing appearance scores.
Li Yan and Sun Hui met the eighteenth interviewee.
Those who came for the interview today were all seasoned professionals, adept at grooming themselves, even if their looks were mediocre, they wouldn't look too bad with makeup, but mainly relied on innate good looks. The one in front of them, however, was absolutely stunning! Both admired while swallowing slightly, already mentally giving her today's highest score.
Li Yan nudged Sun Hui with his elbow, Sun Hui quickly checked the information and asked: "…You are… Zeng Ni?"
As they were sizing up this tall and beautiful lady, she wasn't in a hurry to introduce herself either, also sizing them up.
"I'm Wen Qianyi, the one before me didn't show up." Wen Qianyi sat down calmly and answered naturally.
"I see...then Miss Wen, please introduce yourself." Sun Hui tried to make himself more serious.
Wen Qianyi's gaze swept over their faces and she suddenly laughed: "No extra interviewers, no forty or fifty-year-old uncles; letting two young men conduct the interview. From these details, it shows that Paradise Group now has some vitality and vigor in its management, I probably chose the right place."
Her stance left Sun Hui momentarily at a loss for words.
Wen Qianyi leaned forward slightly, asking with a slight, teasing smile: "But why do I feel... like you two are conducting a beauty contest?"
Seeing Sun Hui a bit embarrassed, Li Yan coughed lightly and spoke slowly: "At our company's level, hiring is no longer just about being diligent and capable. Image, personality, quality, even luck, all need to be considered. Not to mention looks, even voice could affect our decisions. In this regard, Miss Wen, you are confident, but asking such a question can seem a bit arrogant."
While appreciating the interviewers' awkward expressions, Wen Qianyi didn't expect Li Yan to come up with something like that, and looked at him with great interest. "Since you have my information, I don't need to introduce myself, right? Since it's so strict, is there any test question?"
Sun Hui breathed a sigh of relief at Li Yan's intervention. It's not his first or second time hosting interviews, the company HQ is swarming with beauties, and he quickly calmed down. No problem with the credentials or appearance, judging by her on-the-spot reaction, she's indeed a capable elite with presence in business dealings. However, for this applicant who doesn't follow the procedure, it's not very appropriate to ask those simple questions they had before.
Li Yan glanced at Sun Hui, noticing him silent again, not knowing he was seriously considering something, assumed he was struck speechless by the beauty, and had to save the day once more. "You also mentioned we're so vibrant, how could there be test questions? But you asked, so I'll improvise a question..."
"Please do."
Li Yan didn't know much about in-depth business questions, and thinking the charming woman might take control, he certainly couldn't out-question her. So he casually hypothesized a problem, thinking while asking: "If there is a project, expecting an investment of ten million to make a comedy film, Solution One: add one million to invite Huang Bo as the lead, expected to gross twenty-five million; Solution Two: add five million to invite Ge You, expected to gross fifty million. Which plan would you choose?"
He wasn't just trying to chat more with the beauty; although Wen Qianyi was the most stunning today, Li Yan also noticed she was only twenty-five, and although her credentials just met the requirements, compared to other applicants, she was the least experienced. Asking a few more questions was also a slight way to safeguard the company.
"Solution Two." Li Yan was thinking while putting forth the question, and Wen Qianyi was also calculating as she listened, she answered as soon as he finished speaking. (Deleted all public edition chapter names – June 18, 2010)