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A Chinese company in Chengdu recently went viral on Weibo for asking its candidates to draw on a blank mask before wearing it during the interview, reported Chinese news outlet, Jiupai News.

According to the video, the interviewer could also be seen wearing a mask while conducting the interview.

China Ant, a moving service provider, later confirmed on Weibo that this atypical interview took place at the company.

What happened

A candidate surnamed Zeng shared with Jiupai that the interview happened on the morning of Feb. 3, and she was interviewing for a position in customer service.

Before the interview started, the company informed her, as well as other candidates, that they would need to wear a mask in order to enter the interview rooms.

Additionally, everyone would have six minutes to paint on the masks to their own liking.

While it was not a common request, Zeng thought that this arrangement must be intentional as painting on a mask could allow the company to get to know the candidates better, reported Jiupai.

As such, she drew a spider man mask for herself, a character that she likes.

After entering the meeting room, Zeng found out the interviewer was also wearing a mask, according to Jiupai.

The interviewer later explained to the candidates that the reason the company asked everyone to wear a mask during the interview was that it "doesn't care about your physical looks, only the traffic [you can bring]."

According to Zeng, the rest of the interview was quite standard, and she felt the vibe of the interview was overall quite relaxing, reported Jiupai.

In fact, candidates were even given a section of sugarcane because the employees working next door were eating it, she recounted. 

The unique interview successfully convinced Zeng that the owner of the company must be someone who is creative and has innovative ideas, according to Jiupai.

Company's response

According to China Ant's official WeChat channel, the interview that Zeng attended was an example of its "environment-based interviews."

Companies that adopt this model will usually place interviewees in a specially-designed setting based on the type of position they are interviewing for, so that their ability to change and adapt can be assessed.

China Ant explained that the company asked its candidates to wear a mask during interviews because it believes wearing a mask will help interviewees who may be scared of socialising overcome their fear.

This way, they will be able to articulate their thoughts and present themselves better.

Additionally, the practice also allows the company to evaluate candidates more objectively as the interviewers will only be able to assess people based on their abilities, rather than their looks.

China Ant also added that Zeng's interview was not the first "environment-based interview" the company held.

Last spring, the company decided to hold its interview at an open field in its base and give every candidate a garden hoe.

Interviewees were then asked to take turns digging a hole in the ground.

According to China Ant, its aim was to evaluate the candidates' ability in executing tasks and see whether they can endure hardships.

Netizens' reactions

After the video of the interview was uploaded to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, it triggered mixed reactions from the app users.

Many praised China Ant's unique interview requirement and characterised it as "fair and just" for ensuring candidates are solely judged by their capabilities, rather than physical appearances.

Translation:

User @xiaowanzi@wanzige:

[This method is fair and just] because it can help interviewers avoid misjudging candidates simply based on the latter's looks.

User @Senbao:

This arrangment is quite nice. Candidates can let their merit speak for themselves!

Others deduced that the company must have asked the interviewees to wear a painted mask to evaluate them more holistically, rather than only trying to help those with social anxiety.

Translation:

User @Riboxishan:

I think the interviewer's focus here isn't about [helping interviewees with their] social anxiety but the painted mask. Otherwise, why would he asked them to wear a mask that they painted on? He could have just told them to wear a mask.

I think he wanted to determine the wearers' personality based on how they painted the mask. From there, he could decide whether or not to hire them, together with other factors.

Finally, there are also those who questioned whether some people may take advantage of the mask-wearing requirement as the company would not be able to tell whether the person who comes to work is the same person who attended the interview.

Translation:

User @Wangmengya:

Will a loophole be created due to [this mask-wearing requirement]? The interviewee and the person who eventually comes to work might end up not being be the same person.

Top images via Jiupai News