Job fair

Today I got my first opportunity to be a part of a job fair (did I mention that I’m in China and no, I’m not looking for a job). We’re looking to hire operators and had put in for the job fair to meet with interested people for these jobs. Gary and I met at the office and then left to join with Helen who was already at the job fair. The building where the job fair was being held was the size of a small sports arena and very much had the same look. As we drove up, I noticed there was a large crowd of people basically lined up around the building. It looked like an American Idol tryout or something; there had to be over 5,000 people lined up outside waiting to get in. There were more than 40 companies there to meet with job candidates. We walked into the building and it was just filled with people. We located our “cube” and went in and sat down. The cube consisted of a 6m x 6m box where we flipped a section of countertop (like an old style diner or something) and walked through behind the counter. The three of us sat side-by-side, Helen to my left and Gary to my right. The applicants were in some semblance of a line (I would call it more like an undulating, human wave) and stood holding their resumes or personal job experiences while waiting to be called (more on this coming right up). Helen would speak with a possible candidate for several minutes and essentially filtered out the non-viable candidates for the position. If Helen thought they merited consideration, Gary would then interview the candidate. Me, what did I do…..glad you asked. I really did nothing. I got stared at by many (it seems there aren’t many foreigners at these things and so people would slide a little to look around and see me….look ma, it’s one of those funny looking people) and so I would purposely look around and see how many eyes I would meet as I looked out into the mass of humanity waiting to be seen not only by us but by the companies on both sides of our cubicle (did I mention it was wall-to-wall people). I did my best to look interested and act like I understood what each candidate was talking about. I would watch them intently as they talked and stroke my chin and do some “harrumphing” (per Dr. Garsombkie, you know the throat clearing noise that’s made by some “intellectual” [aka. pompous windbag] as they say nothing but want to sound important doing it). “Yes, Yes (harrumph) it was in the 1950’s that the exploits of a certain tribe brought about the (harrumph) methods to convert beans into coffee (thoughtful pause). It was this kind of futuristic thinking that led to coffee chains like Starbucks, which was named after the leader of the tribe (harrumph) Chieftain Sterbuk.” Sorry, back to my role in the job fair. I was the middle man that had nothing to do but try and look comfortable and important (or perhaps I was the “pretty girl” normally used at trade shows to draw people to your booth……it does sound far-fetched doesn’t it). My favorite thing was that after Gary finished talking with the guy, he would turn to me and say “Do you have any questions?” It took all the control I could muster to keep from saying, “Just two questions. “WHAT!?!?”; and “Could you repeat all of that in English?” It was comical, the first time he asked that of me I just laughed; what else could I do. Gary, let’s find out his problem solving skills, if a train leaves Rhode Island at 4:15 pm carrying 15 passengers (yadda, yadda, yadda)...when can I get the heck out of here?

I know it’s not Gary’s fault so I don’t blame him but I just wondered what I was supposed to bring to the party. I would ask if they spoke English (there he goes again, the foreigner wants us to speak his language in our country), many simply shook their heads; one or two could speak decent English. It’s not a job requirement but if I have to train someone, either they need to speak some English (and I need to speak some Chinese) or we’ll need to develop some hand gestures (if I touch the tip of my nose and then run my hand down my left arm, that means I want you to bunt unless I follow it with the groin scratch which means I need some powder…). One guy came back after he left to try his English. He said he wanted to work and he did not want to miss out on the job because he didn’t try. I actually thought just that effort alone merited some consideration for the job because he was young and willing to stretch out beyond his comfort zone but Gary wasn’t buying it.

Some of the interesting things;
There are 3 levels of schooling all based on the results of standardized testing. You take your first important test at the end of middle school. If you test well, you move on to high school. If you don’t test well, you go to a trade school or something similar to that. You test in high school (high school is 3 years here), if you test well, you get the opportunity to go to University (which means a 4 year school), if you do not test so well, you go to College (which is a 3 year school). A high school degree (diploma) is considered to be a limiting factor for job considerations. The guy that came back was a high school graduate but according to Gary his English should have been much better. I still think he was worth a chance but I don’t get the final say here (tell me again why I went?).

When the folks were in “line”, they were heel-to-toe, I mean right on top of each other. People had no problem sliding to the side and leaning out over the person in front of them or looking at the resumes of the other candidates as we did the interviews. Helen’s candidates stood up and if they made it through, they would sit down with Gary and me. Other job applicants would lean over the chair or lean on to the counter to see his resume and listen to his answers and the questions from Gary. It was almost like there was 1 guy getting interviewed and 5 or 6 others observing closely the interview (it was like they were his attorneys…I object…leading question). People would walk out of line to the front to see what was happening and/or gain some insight into their competition. In the US, this would’ve caused a riot; no one blinked an eye here. In one case a guy came to the front to ask Gary a question (and when EF Hutton talks, everybody listens) and while Gary was answering it was like everyone crowded in to get the answer. One girl in line was basically squished between two other guys; I could only see her hand as she attempted to wiggle between the two guys to get the answer. It was comical to observe all of this but I had to hold back the laughter. I’m telling you there are more comedy routines here that I’d love to capture on video, but I couldn’t post it on YouTube anyhow so it would go to waste.

One the resumes, most people here include their birthdays. Not something you see in the US.
On the personal work record form, all of the data entry areas were in Chinese (well duh!) with the exception of one thing. E-mail was written in English on the form (yep, I could read that, they would even write their e-mail address in English. So strange to see a form all in Chinese with the exception of e-mail….I guess there’s no Chinese word for e-mail). It’s also interesting to note that numbers are written with English characters rather than Chinese symbols.

Most of the 12 candidates that made it through to Gary would not make eye contact with me at all, I mean zero. I purposely watched them while Gary asked questions and even when I would ask Gary to clarify something, I would look to see if they would look at me (but for all I know Gary could’ve told them not to pay attention to his butler….pay no attention to the man behind the curtain). Only 3 did, of the 3 we thought one was a solid candidate. It was interesting to me that one guy refused to try to speak English but when he was done he said “Thank you” as opposed to XieXie. I mean, what was that about? He didn’t stand a chance anyhow, his cell phone went off during our session (c’mon dude, shut it off). He checked it but chose not to answer it. One thing I have learned here is that the cell phone is more important than you are in almost every circumstance. I’ve witnessed people answering the phones in meetings and other times when they should not (by my standards). I even saw a supplier come in and in the middle of the meeting stop and answer his cell phone. I get pretty upset about it but they don’t bat an eye. It’s my hang-up so I’ll try and move beyond it but it is one of those things that drive me nuts. Is anyone so freaking’ important that their phone has to be on 24/7? Really!?! That’s right; talk super loud so we can all hear about your bunions or your grandma’s secret recipe for Swedish meatballs (Oooh, that sound delicious, c'mon, you're grandma was obviously drunk when she made those). The worst offenders are the ones at church that I guess expect God to reach them via Verizon (can you hear me now….good, you’re going to Hell! Thanks for playing.)….I really hate that. Oops! Off on a rant, sorry.

So the job fair was another interesting experience. I know this is a long post so I appreciate you making it this far. I always try to keep the posts short but sometimes I get a little carried away. I know, if I remove all of my parenthetical insights I could cut it down to 1 paragraph, but what fun would that be. Take care and I’ll be back.