101. Poaching

Since being put in her place at Chen Ruowen’s office on Monday, and then seeing her reconcile with Bai Jinyan as if nothing had ever happened, Zhou Yi had not come to Guangxun again. Yang Anxin and the Chen Liwan couple, however, still came as planned, one of them each day, to bring meals to Chen Ruowen, determined to make her deeply feel the warmth of family.

At night, Chen Ruowen slipped out several times to check on Bai Jinyan. Only after seeing his arm improve a little more each day did she finally feel at ease.

In the blink of an eye, Friday arrived. The post-holiday workload had only just eased by today. At the weekly meeting, the department staff reported on their respective work. After everyone except Chen Ruowen and Li Zichun had been scolded, Yu Yan took out a freshly printed document.

“I’ll make a brief announcement. The company’s hiring policy has been adjusted recently,” Yu Yan said, glancing at the paper in her hand. “From now on, all positions will require graduates from full-time, nationally unified admissions programs at Double First-Class universities, or equivalent top-tier institutions. For those with more than five years of industry experience, the requirement may be relaxed to a first-tier university. After the meeting, Liu Shaopeng, compile the list of all currently open positions and revise every job description accordingly.”

Liu Shaopeng could not sit still.

“Manager, it’s already hard enough for us to recruit by insisting on full-time undergraduate degrees. Now we’re raising it to Double First-Class schools...” He looked troubled. Guangxun was not a top-tier company in the media industry; it had only managed to get this far by borrowing a bit of prestige from Twin Star.

Double First-Class universities...

That was practically the hiring standard of a Fortune 500 company.

And besides... Liu Shaopeng glanced at Chen Ruowen and carefully added, “I’ve seen Twin Star’s recruitment brochure. For their own departments, the requirement is only a bachelor’s degree.”

If a subsidiary of Twin Star demanded higher credentials than Twin Star itself, then why would anyone go there instead of directly applying to Twin Star? Had the person who made this decision lost their mind?

Yu Yan ignored him.

“Also, according to our report before the holiday and the general manager’s approval, the salaries for interns have been adjusted as well, not just those of full-time employees. From now on, aside from meal subsidies, interns will only receive performance-based commissions if they generate any. No other payments will be made. After the meeting, immediately remove the salary and benefits for internship positions.”

As soon as she said this, not only Liu Shaopeng, who handled recruitment, but everyone in the department could no longer sit quietly.

No salary for interns?

Yes, labor law did not explicitly require companies to pay interns, but at the very least, should they not consider basic decency and market conditions?

No one was foolish these days. Who would be willing to work for free?

And when every other company in the same industry paid internship subsidies, why should people choose you over the others and come here instead?

Liu Shaopeng struggled to say, “Our requirements are already higher than those of other companies, and if we don’t pay subsidies, we’ll have very little competitiveness in the market...”

“Don’t say that to me,” Yu Yan cut him off impatiently. “Just strictly follow the general manager’s instructions. The company hires you to get things done, not to give opinions.”

The room fell into silence. Yu Yi and Wu Mingkai exchanged a glance, one anxious, the other bewildered.

“...Then the batch that just joined us... they won’t get paid either?” Liu Shaopeng asked again.

There were only three interns present. Although Chen Ruowen did not seem to live on her salary, Yu Yan still glanced at the other two interns and answered with some reluctance, “Those already on the job will continue under the original terms. Anyone hired from now on will follow the new standards.”

“But if only subsidies are paid and no salary...”

“Interns have limited value to begin with. They come to the company to gain experience for free, and that’s already a pretty good deal. Now they can still get meal subsidies. What more do you want?” Yu Yan said irritably.

Liu Shaopeng said nothing.

Free experience... Yet weren’t they also using cheap labor? These days, even moving bricks on a construction site paid two or three hundred a day, and the students from top universities were only being given three hundred a month for meals?

Liu Shaopeng felt he would never be able to hire anyone again...

The new policy was enforced just like that. Liu Shaopeng returned to his desk dejectedly to revise the recruitment notice. Seeing Wu Mingkai sitting beside him, still blank and slow as ever, he could not help but smack the back of his head in exasperation.

“Why aren’t you worried at all?”

“Worried about what?” Wu Mingkai asked blankly.

“Can’t you see they’re even cutting intern subsidies now? Next they’ll be cutting people. You’re not from a Double First-Class university, are you? Do you really think you can still convert to full-time smoothly? You don’t have the least bit of crisis awareness.”

Wu Mingkai pushed up his glasses. “I think the manager makes sense. I’m already lucky to be able to come here and learn free experience.”

Liu Shaopeng was speechless. “Your mindset really is something else...”

If only all interns could think this way... But, well... sigh...

His head was beginning to ache.

“If it goes on like this, maybe I should just quit too?” The same thought flashed through several minds in the department.

At midyear, all business positions were hit with broad pay cuts, recruitment standards were raised, and even the route for interns was being narrowed. The second half of the year would only be harsher. Who knew when it would be the turn of the functional departments?

Still, thinking of the mortgage on his shoulders, Liu Shaopeng ultimately shook his head hard. At least Guangxun was large enough that it would not go under overnight. And besides... there was still Twin Star, wasn’t there? They had worked together for so many years; surely Twin Star would not stand by and watch them collapse.

On the other side, after the meeting, Chen Ruowen privately messaged Li Zichun.

“What do you think?”

Li Zichun typed back a row of words with some confusion.

“I don’t understand. These recruitment requirements simply do not fit the company’s current situation. Even if people are hired under these standards, they still won’t match our positions. And with salaries that aren’t competitive, we won’t be able to keep them at all.”

Chen Ruowen smiled. “I already said it before. Guangxun’s business is failing.”

“But Twin Star and Guangxun have always cooperated!”

“There are at least a hundred companies that cooperate with us. What, are we supposed to take responsibility for every single one of them?”

Li Zichun was stunned. By rights, since Twin Star had let Chen Ruowen intern at Guangxun, the relationship between the two companies should have been closer than that with ordinary firms. But from the way Chen Ruowen spoke, it seemed they had no intention of helping Guangxun at all.

“The real reason for lowering salaries and raising the bar is simply that they don’t want to hire more people anymore, and may even want to shrink the staff. I’m sure you all understand that. Your work ability is decent, but your education is a major weakness. How Guangxun will handle you in the end, I’m sure you already know.”

How could Li Zichun not understand that? To be honest, Chen Ruowen’s olive branch had tempted her greatly last time. But she also knew her own situation very well. A high school graduate like her had only been lucky enough to get into Guangxun. Into Twin Star?

“I really want to go to Twin Star, but... you really don’t mind my educational background?” Li Zichun still wanted to fight for herself.

“Of course I do,” Chen Ruowen replied quickly.

Li Zichun’s eyes dimmed. But not long after, she received a second message.

“So I’ll give you six months. I’ll find you a mentor. Learn from him how to be an excellent assistant. In six months, bring me the mentor’s evaluation and a self-study bachelor’s degree, and come to Twin Star to report to me.”