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Topic: Apple

iPhone users 'can't take the pain and suffering' of employment

Summary: A good resume and strong handshake aside, it seems you can fail job interviews if you have the wrong kind of smartphone.

Charlie Osborne

By for iGeneration |

A Chinese student claims that it wasn't a less than impeccable suit, shaky grip or poor resume that lost them a job -- instead, it was the fact they had an iPhone.

apple iphone stops student china chinese job application

A college student from the city of Changchun, Jilin, was apparently rejected after attending an interview, where the assessor spotted they had an iPhone.

According to Japanese publication NariNari -- via RocketNews24 -- the student, Mr.Gao, was rejected just a few minutes in to the proceedings on the basis that the firm was "not looking for students with iPhones."

Why? The reason given was not that smartphones provide a distraction in the workplace, or even that the company had enjoyed a few run-ins with the much-publicized concept of "fanbois", instead; the publication says that an iPhone is more an accessory associated with the bourgeois; those born with a silver spoon in their mouths and unused to a hard day's work.

According to the university student, when questioned why the talk was cut short, the interviewer said:

"Students who have iPhones don’t work. Everything you have was bought by your parents. You haven't bought anything by working yourself. You are wealthy and can't stand the stress. Working at our company is tough. It calls for someone who can take the pain and suffering."

The iPhone was bought by the fourth-year student's parents, and flashing it about in an interview wasn't meant to be an ostentatious show of wealth. After Gao took to the web in annoyance, media outlets in China explored the idea of branding someone by their smartphone, and it seems that some Chinese firms have more of a dose of common sense. One company executive explained, "I couldn't care less what kind of mobile phone the student has. It's their abilities that I’m interested in."

Topics: Apple, Smartphones, China

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96 comments
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  • Sounds familiar

    The prejudice echoes through these hallowed digital halls. Class warfare is based upon it. The young aren't familiar with the bloody (seriously bloodied) banner of "Workers of the world unite!" How are these Chinese companies different from "you didn't build that"? Put down the slogan and step away from the dustbin of history.
    dheady@...
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Chinese are smart

      See how business should be done when political correctness nonsense is thrown outta the window? There's a reason why Chinese economy is not as crappy as most of the Western world.
      LBiege
      Reply 4 Votes

      • Smart is a mater of perspective - are you looking up or down?

        So dismissing a potential canidate baesd on a phone he uses is "how it should be done"?

        Sounds more like ignorance based on a stereotype. The rich will learn of this and bring an Android instead to an interview, the interviewer will happily hire the same candidate he dismissed when he had an iPhone. Stupid people have no geographical boundaries.

        Also might China be fairing better because it has a very poor standard of living and basically slave labor at its factories?
        KBabcock75
        Reply 2 Votes

        • smart phone

          I think the point is leave your phone home when you go for an interview, It's kind of stupid. Obviously it's not a lace I'd want to work anyway.
          coureurd@...
          Reply Vote

          • doesn't stop at phones

            Stuff like this always expand. Do you then question the shoes you are wearing to an interview (because it might be too italian), how about the pen you are holding to take notes or the the type of suit you are wearing or the eyeglass frames, handkerchief in your suit pocket ("hey he's got a handkerchief, he thinks he's better than us end this interview"), he drove here instead of taking the 5 trains necessary to get here....
            rengek
            Reply Vote

      • Hereditary...

        The article suggests that young Chinese with iPhones have them because their parents are wealthy & successful. The proportedly discriminatory Chinese company rejected the applicant on the basis of the environment in which the applicant was raised. The other side of this argument of course is that the applicant being the offspring of obviously successful parents was more likely than the average applicant to possess those genes likely to drive them to succeed. Should not the company thought also of that?

        I guess it really does all come down to the question of nature vs. nurture... Who would have thought that an iPhone could differentiate users on the basis of their genes. Suppose Apple will be getting another patent, soon..
        z2217
        Reply Vote

      • Not really.

        IF they were a "smart" as you claim the fact they had an iPhone vs an Android/WP8/feature phone should not have been an issue - their resume, experience, and interview should have been the determining factors not some idiotic fixation on what communications tool one uses. And BTW not everyone who owns an iPhone is unable to work hard or is born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
        athynz
        Reply Vote

      • Chinese Economy

        Wait, their time is coming. their economy is not sustainable because it is filled with corruption and exploitation.
        The Cranky Bear Reader
        Reply 1 Vote

    • slave labor for all then?

      You can't have your cake and eat it too. Companies there don't have political correctness. yes that is true. They also don't provide workers with decent working conditions, a decent wage and/or health care. If you want that method to strengthen your economy then by all means move there and support that country.
      rengek
      Reply Vote

      • China is communist...

        Hence no need to worry about health care or wages.
        tdogg219
        Reply Vote

  • That tells me its not a nice place to work at

    Interviews tell a lot ... on both sides. Rejection aside, she'll learn there are places you should avoid. If a prospective employer discriminates based on what smartphone one has or a facebook profile content... what will they look at next once an actual employee? Next time that happens she'll know better, get off her chair and walk away from the interview.
    SinfoCOMAR
    Reply 1 Vote

  • I wouldnt hire student with iPhone as well

    If the dude drives some decent car, wears decent suit, etc., I don't care about his phone. Seriously. Otherwise iPhone is a very poor recommendation, and yes - a sign of probable mental disease (fanboyism).
    polarcat
    Reply 5 Votes

    • Don't worry,

      we wouldn't hire you either.
      MG537-23482538203179240121698430309828
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Nice and subtle grammar lesson

        Keep it up ;-)
        D.T.Long
        Reply Vote

    • Mental disease?

      I'd say that anyone who can't see the polarised disconnect between 'I don't care about his phone' and '... iPhone is a very poor recommendation, and yes - a sign of probable mental disease (fanboyism).'
      ...is indeed devoid of irony and himself somewhat deranged.
      You couldn't make this stuff up.
      frogspaw
      Reply 1 Vote

    • Sigh.

      Like that LBeige dude/chick above you see with a set of blinders on. I could say that someone who owns an Android phone is someone who could have a potential mental disease - fanboism. I could say the same about someone who owns a WP8 device, a Windows based PC, an Android based tablet, a Mac... it's all sheer idiocy.

      But amuse me - how is the iPhone a poor recommendation? As someone who uses both an Android phone and an iPhone daily I can tell you from personal experience that the Android phone lacks some things the iPhone does not and the iPhone lacks some things the Android phone does not. They are simply different tools for a job - anyone who cannot recognise this simple fact is someone I would not consider hiring to take out the trash much less any sort of job that requires criticl thinking.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

    • Based on your small minded mentality

      I think it's pretty safe to say it's never going to be a concern because you will never be in a position trusted to do any hiring or firing.
      non-biased
      Reply Vote

  • Actually, I agree.

    iPhone users simply don't have common sense. Otherwise they wouldn't be iPhone users.

    I wouldn't want anyone working for me who doesn't understand the value of money or have the ability to past the marketing blurb.

    At least not in a position where they have to make any kind of decision.
    Bozzer
    Reply 5 Votes

    • With an attitude like that

      we wouldn't want to work for you either.
      You're the appearance is everything, content is nothing type.
      MG537-23482538203179240121698430309828
      Reply 2 Votes

      • This does raise an interesting question

        Can one assign general personality traits to Apple users vs Android users?

        Would these supposedly different character traits make Apple users more suitable for certain types of work and work environments, and the Android users more suitable for different types or work and work environments?

        Or maybe it is just a slow morning at my house. ;-)
        D.T.Long
        Reply 1 Vote
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