Chinese Company Praised Online For Asking Job Applicants To Wear Costume Mask In Interviews, Here's Why

A company in China is being praised online for the way it conducted its recruitment process. The firm, Chengdu Ant Logistics, asked job aspirants to appear for the interview wearing full face masks in order to avoid choosing candidates based on their appearance, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. A video going viral on the Chinese social media app Douyin showed applicants as well as the interviewer wearing masks that covered their entire faces. 

As per the outlet, the strange instruction of a mask was given during the company's biannual recruitment fair. A woman candidate, named Zeng, who filmed the video on February 3 in Chengdu, southwestern China's Sichuan province, and posted it on social media, said that she found the whole scenario weird but added that "it could benefit people with a social phobia". 

According to Ms Zeng, the company asked job aspirants to take a blank mask and draw freely on it. However, the face mask was not the only unusual thing at the interview, she said. Ms Zeng revealed that the logistics firm also arranged for a member of staff to cut and distribute sugar cane to the candidates. 

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SCMP reported that the company has acknowledged that the video was taken during its biannual recruitment fair, during which positions including new media operator, live-stream broadcaster and data analyst are recruited. It reportedly claimed that it values the individual abilities of people over their appearance and that they aimed to reduce the stress felt by interviewees. 

On the Chinese social media app, the logistics firm has won much praise for "helping eliminate employment discrimination". According to the outlet, one Douyin user wrote, "This is equality, good looks should not count". Another added, "As a person with social phobia, I would really enjoy such a job interview". 

Meanwhile, as per SCMP, Chengdu Ant Logistics is known for its innovative job interviews. Previously, the firm reportedly asked applicants to hoe the lawn of the company's park in order to test their executive capacities and adaptability to hardship.