Interesting encounter at the job fair in China

(Tianya) Yesterday I went to the job fair, intended to find a job to put food on the table. I was not successful but I unexpectedly bumped into this ‘awesome’ character that shocked me till this day.

This man was very normal and fragile looking, when a pile of his certificates and credentials fell onto the floor, they had scared me that I almost jumped up. Staring at him, this man was fumbling picking up all of his scattered certificates in a rush, at least 30 of them. Brother Certificates is indeed unique!

It is not fair to compare one’s life with another. I thought I graduated from college, finding a job should be easy, but comparing with this guy I am nothing. Following Brother Certificates around, he finally got an in-person interview, I also stayed back and checked out the job he was applying for. My fragile heart was again taken a blow, cup!!! (Tragedy)

Job title: Online Store Operation Staff

Requirements:

1. Has opened an online store before, online store with 2 stars or above is a plus.

2. QQ level must be greater than “Sun”

(Editor’s note: The following table is QQ levels depend on the hours spent. I guess ‘the sun’ is level 16, here has the details of the ranks)

3. Constantly on the forums, had been forum moderator is a plus.

4. Used to be in front of the computer every day, on the Internet for more than 4 hours a day.

5. At least played 2 online games before

6. Decisive like a soldier, detailed like a woman, loving like a lover, working like a mad man, everyone must like you when they see you, everyone must say good things about you when they talk about you.

7. Loves the Internet, has excellent networking skills, has the confidence of being Network Operations Professional, having relevant network training certificate is a plus.

I never thought this man would interview for the position of Online Store Operation Staff, actually the job is really online store customer service. The requirements were also confusing: QQ status needs to be “the sun”, being online over 4 hours a day, is this recruitment? It is the life of a post-90s generation! The requirement about having played online games before actually made me feel that back in the days when skipping school to go the Internet bar to play games was really wise decision; Internet addiction had its uses. And then “everyone must like you when they see you”, am I RMB (money)? I really don’t know what Network Operations Professional is, are there certificates for trainings on customer services?

In this day and age, opening an online store and finding a customer service rep is even this serious. But what was more shocking to me was, afraid of others don’t know how much abilities he has, this awesome Brother Certificates dumped all of his 30 some certificates on to the desk in front of the interviewer and started talking non-stop about how good his grades were in school, how many times he got the scholarships, how he served as the student government cadre, the association chairman, and also obtained these certificates in his spare time… Clearly he did not know the word “modesty”.

I have never seen anyone bringing in this much certificate to a job fair before. Scholarships certificate, Triple-A pupil certificate, outstanding cadre certificate, English level 46, Computer professional certificate… I am thinking how this man had so much time and energy to take these exams. Even if he spent money to buy the answers would be a lot of money. Maybe he himself is a fake certificate seller? Can he even carry all these colorful certificates with is scrawny body?

It was not just me, everyone at the scene stared at him shockingly with their jaws dropped.

Not sure if the interviewer got scared of all these certificates, or was afraid of the little shop could not hold this “Golden Phoenix”, of course the more realistic reason could be that the man who was busy taking exams for these certificates has become the so called “certificate idiot” which has no real values. Brother Certificate poured out words in a steady flow, the interviewer was also not shy and interrupted him, “The shop is looking for talent, you have a lot of certificates but does not really meet the requirements, please carefully consider your options before you make any decisions.”

Watching Brother Certificate disappointedly leaving carrying all of his certificates, I feel a little sad because I feel that we are kind of alike. In this day and age, so difficult to find a job, what is the use of taking so many exams for so many certificates? Certificate, I say might as well call it “proof of losing”. (a Chinese phonetic pun)