Chinese company's unusual instruction to job applicants: wear costume mask for interview

A woman said the Chinese company asked job aspirants to come with a blank mask and draw whatever they wished on it. (Representational image)

A company in China is being discussed widely on Chinese internet for the way it conducted its recruitment process. The logistics company asked job aspirants to appear for the interview wearing full face masks. A video showed applicants as well as the interviewer wearing masks that covered their faces.

The strange instruction of a mask was reportedly given in order to avoid discrimination over appearance while selecting candidates during the company’s biannual recruitment fair. The masks, the company believes, would else ease the stress and anxiety among candidates.

The interview scenes inside the office of Chengdu Ant Logistics, in Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan province, has been captured in a widely-shared video. The clip, according to South China Morning Post, shows interviewees with their faces behind masks listening to the interviewer who too is wearing a full face mask.

“It could benefit people with a social phobia,” South China Morning Post quoted the woman who filmed the video as saying.

The woman, whose surname is Zeng, said the firm asked job aspirants to come with a blank mask and draw whatever they wished on it.

The mask was not the only unusual thing at the interview, she said. Chengdu Ant Logistics staff members were even seen distributing cut sugar cane pieces to the candidates.

The company was recruiting for multiple roles such as new media operator, live-stream broadcaster and data analyst.

China has long been criticised for its discriminatory practices against working women, and for objectifying women in service sectors.

Under its labour laws, women engaged in physically intensive jobs retire at the age of 50, while the retirement age for men is 55. The retirement age is 55 for women and 60 for men if they are in government jobs, schools or management.

In December, a job advertisement by China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group, seeking women with “good figure” and “good facial features” for a clerical role that requires them to wait on important officials, was widely criticised, forcing officials to take it down.