Rebirth 03: Starting a Business After Giving Up a Secure Job

Chapter 134 Nationwide Recruitment of Station Managers (Part 1)

Lin Feng leaned against the kitchen door frame, looking at Shen Jingyi.

This talented music student wore an old apron and moved swiftly, washing vegetables and cutting meat in one go.

The oil in the pan was hot, and the minced garlic sizzled as it hit the pan, filling the entire living room with its aroma.

As Shen Jingyi flipped the spatula, she hummed a song. Lin Feng recognized it as the original song from the Digital Music Club's welcome party last year. She had sung it on stage with guitar back then, and humming it while cooking felt a little out of place.

Half an hour later, the kitchen door opened, and two dishes were placed on the table: a plate of stir-fried pork, a plate of garlic-flavored greens, and a bowl of egg drop soup.

Shen Jingyi took out two cans of beer, kept one for herself, and handed the other to Lin Feng.

Shen Jingyi raised her beer can and clinked it against Lin Feng's.

"Brother Feng, welcome back!"

"Thanks!"

Lin Feng took a delicious sip of beer, which slid down his throat, and he felt completely relaxed from the long journey.

"Eat up, I don't know if it suits your taste."

Lin Feng picked up his chopsticks and took a bite. The cooking time was just right, and the saltiness was just right.

"It's much better than the cafeteria," he casually remarked.

Shen Jingyi's eyes crinkled into a smile as the two chatted and ate.

After drinking beer, Shen Jingyi's cheeks were flushed, and she talked a lot about the digital music club.

In the past six months, since Shen Jingyi took over as president of the club, she has recruited a new batch of freshmen who are even more enthusiastic than her previous class. She has written a new song, and the club will be holding a New Year's Eve party at the school gymnasium next week, where she will perform it.

She spoke with great enthusiasm, and Lin Feng listened with great interest.

After finishing her meal, Shen Jingyi took the dishes to the kitchen to wash. Lin Feng felt as if she had become a completely different person.

After washing the dishes, she took off her apron and hung it back on the wall, then put the unopened eggs into the refrigerator.

After tidying up, the two sat on the sofa and watched TV for a while. Shen Jingyi looked at Lin Feng with her big eyes full of expectation.

"Brother Feng, can you come back to school to see my performance next week?"

"Okay!" Lin Feng readily agreed, as he also wanted to go back to school for a visit.

"It's a deal then, you can't not come!" Shen Jingyi smiled sweetly.

It was getting late, and Shen Jingyi was getting ready to go back to school.

She picked up the white down jacket from the sofa, went to the door to change her shoes, and as she bent down to tie her shoelaces, her ponytail slipped down from one shoulder, covering half of her face, exuding youthful energy.

Lin Feng got up to see her off.

Shen Jingyi shook her head sensibly: "Brother Feng, you've had a long flight today, you must be tired, so get some rest. You don't need to see me off."

After saying that, she took a step forward and hugged Lin Feng.

Lin Feng was quite surprised. In the six months since they last met, he felt that Shen Jingyi had changed a lot. First, she came to his house to cook for him, and now she took the initiative to hug him.

But he didn't dodge. The beautiful woman took the initiative to throw herself into his arms, and Lin Feng was not an insensitive person.

Three days later, Lin Feng arrived at the office, and Zhou Zhongcheng knocked on the door and came in with a stack of resumes.

Dozens of resumes, each with a handwritten initial screening comment clipped to the upper right corner with a paperclip.

On Zhou Zhongcheng's left was a stack of interview evaluation forms, and on his right was a newly printed organizational chart of Rongcheng Station. The positions of the four section leaders were outlined in red, and the job requirements and salary ranges were marked in dense notes next to them.

The human resources department has been incredibly busy recruiting for the past three days.

"Boss, we need to hire 85 people before the New Year. Due to the tight schedule, I've used all the recruitment channels available. These are the resumes that have passed the initial screening," he said, handing the resume to Lin Feng.

"We received 47 resumes for field sales representatives, and 21 passed the initial screening. We received 9 resumes for section operations specialists, but only 2 had relevant experience. These are all the resumes we have screened."

Lin Feng took the resume and flipped through a few pages.

Most of them were recent graduates, with a few having worked as FMCG salespeople or real estate agents in Chengdu. The photos on their resumes showed them in both suits and T-shirts.

"About what percentage of the graduates are recent graduates?" Lin Feng asked.

"About 60%."

"That's enough. Most of the first batch of field promoters in Shenzhen are recent graduates. Those who can keep up will stay, and those who can't will leave on their own." Lin Feng handed the resume back to him.

"Starting this afternoon, we will conduct intensive interviews over the next week. The positions for the heads of the four sections will remain listed in the talent market, and we will first contact headhunters in Chengdu. The positions for station managers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan will be posted simultaneously, and candidates must be finalized before the end of the year."

Job seekers in these cities are primarily targeting local mainstream job websites and newspaper classifieds sections.

Zhou Zhongcheng added, "Also, Lin Xiaoqiang called me last night. He selected one key person from each of the four sectors in Shenzhen, and the list of training instructors has been finalized."

The housing rental section is run by Lao Zhou, the veteran who was among the first to follow Lin Xiaoqiang to sweep the streets and find rental listings at Shenzhen Station. He is very familiar with communicating with landlords and tracing routes in urban villages.

Sun Hao is in charge of the talent recruitment section. He also developed the Shenzhen secondhand goods inspection point and the door-to-door recruitment section.

The secondhand goods section features Xiao Chen, the same person who helped students take photos and upload them at the Shenzhen University basketball court service point last graduation season.

The domestic service team is led by a female team leader named He Juan under Wei Zejun. The four of them will fly to Chengdu on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year for a training period tentatively scheduled for two weeks.

"Tan Zhao arranged the plane tickets and accommodation in advance," Lin Feng said.

Zhou Zhongcheng clipped the list of personnel into his notebook, tidied up the resumes and evaluation forms on the table, and got up to walk towards the door.

He paused at the door. "Boss, there's one more thing. Are you coming to the field sales representative interview?"

"You and Xu Qiang will be in charge of the first interview, and I will handle the final interview. We'll arrange it in the small conference room."

For the first three days, Xu Qiang and Zhou Zhongcheng conducted interviews for three consecutive days, eliminating about half of the candidates and adding another batch to the shortlist.

On the fourth day, when the first round began, Lin Feng joined in.

At 1:20 p.m., there were about twenty people in the meeting room. Some were wearing suits and ties, some were wearing sportswear with cotton-padded jackets over them, and some were recent graduates carrying backpacks and holding printed resumes.

There were also dark-skinned men in their thirties and forties leaning against the wall, flipping through flyers for local life websites.

Zhou Zhongcheng arranged the tables and chairs in the conference room. A bottle of mineral water was placed at one end of the long table, and three chairs were placed side by side opposite it.

Lin Feng sat in the middle, with Zhou Zhongcheng on his left and Xu Qiang on his right. Each of them had an interview evaluation form spread out in front of them.

The first person to come in was a boy wearing a dark blue cotton-padded jacket, a recent graduate of Sichuan University of Technology, majoring in marketing.

Zhou Zhongcheng asked him to introduce himself. He spoke for more than a minute, speaking quickly but logically. He mentioned that he had worked part-time as a salesperson at a digital store on Taisheng South Road when he was a junior in college, and that he was very familiar with the streets and neighborhoods around various universities in Chengdu.

Lin Feng asked him if he was afraid of being rejected. He said that when he was in sales, he was rejected by hundreds of people every day, and he was used to it. Lin Feng wrote "Keep" on the evaluation form.

The second one was a man in his early thirties who had worked at a real estate agency in Chengdu for three years.

Zhou Zhongcheng asked him why he changed careers, and he said that the real estate brokerage industry was too shady and he couldn't continue doing things like profiting from price differences and cheating customers.

Xu Qiang asked him what the first thing he would do if he were to sweep through a completely unfamiliar residential building. He said he would first find the community bulletin board and copy down all the rental information he could see before knocking on each door.

Xu Qiang wrote "Stay" on the evaluation form.

The third one was a girl whose resume said she graduated from Chengdu University and previously worked as a copywriter at GG Company.

She applied for the position of online marketing specialist.

Lin Feng asked her to talk about her understanding of the local life website. She said that she spent two hours last night opening and reading through all the sections of the Shenzhen station and felt that the Chengdu station should also focus on developing a "three-step graduation season" strategy for the college student market, because Chengdu has more colleges and universities than Shenzhen and a larger number of graduates.

Lin Feng asked her what title she would write if she were to write a pre-event post for Rongcheng University's BBS. She thought for about ten seconds and said, "Where have all the senior students gone? They're looking for apartments, selling secondhand goods, and submitting resumes. You can see that on local life websites."

Lin Feng smiled and wrote "Stay" on the evaluation form.

The final interview lasted for another three days.

People came and went in the small conference room. Lin Feng had put aside all other work these past few days to focus on the interviews.

The final statistics compiled by Zhou Zhongcheng are as follows: 47 people were interviewed for field sales positions, and 24 passed, half of whom were recent graduates; 9 people were interviewed for section operations positions, and 3 passed; 6 people were interviewed for online promotion positions, and 2 passed.

He showed the statistics to Lin Feng, but Lin Feng was still not satisfied with the progress.

He put the statistics table on the table.

"The progress is too slow. Before the end of the year, we must have more than 90% of the 85 positions at Rongcheng Station filled, and not a single management position can be missing."

As for the station managers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan, they need to be in place before the Spring Festival and by the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. There can't be a single day of delay.

Loyalty is paramount. Contact headhunters immediately. We have positions in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. Requirements include familiarity with the local market, experience leading sales teams, and experience with internet platforms—all three are essential. Headhunter fees will be the highest in the industry.

Zhou Zhongcheng quickly jotted down a few lines in his notebook, closed it, and strode out of the office.

Lin Feng did not participate in the follow-up interviews at Rongcheng Station.

Xu Qiang and Zhou Zhongcheng worked non-stop on the initial screening, starting at nine in the morning and finishing at six in the evening, interviewing nearly sixty people in three days.

Lin Feng delegated the final interview to Xu Qiang and focused his efforts on headhunting recommendations for the three city station managers.

Three days later, Zhou Zhongcheng knocked on the door and came in with a fax.

"At the Beijing station, a headhunter recommended two candidates for station manager." The fax contained two resumes.

The first job was with Guo Jian, 35 years old, who had worked as the operations director for two years at a local B2B website in Beijing, overseeing two business lines: information publishing and merchant development.

I previously worked in the GG (Glossary of Category) department of Beijing Youth Daily for five years, rising from GG sales to deputy director of the department, at the peak managing more than twenty people.

The headhunter noted in the resume attachment that Guo Jian had a thorough understanding of the combination of classified newspapers (GG) and internet information platforms, and that the "Online Classifieds Synchronous Publishing Platform" that their website developed last year was led by him.

Zhou Zhongcheng flipped through the resume from beginning to end and said that the headhunter fee was 20,000 yuan.

Lin Feng picked up the resume and read it from beginning to end, then underlined the words "Classification Department".

"What time did this person arrange to meet?"

The headhunter said he's available tomorrow afternoon and the morning after. I haven't replied yet; I'm waiting for your arrangements.

"Then see you tomorrow afternoon. Give him a call first and introduce me."

For the second resume, the headhunter recommended a man named Xiang Chao, who was 32 years old, a computer science graduate from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and had been in charge of business development for the classifieds channel at Sohu.com.

Lin Feng also invited Zhou Zhongcheng, scheduling the meeting after Guo Jian's.

"What about Shanghai and Wuhan?"

"A headhunter in Shanghai recommended someone named Xu Guoliang. He is 38 years old, a local Shanghainese, and has been the sales director at Zhaopin.com's Shanghai branch for three years. He is in charge of both the large client department and the small and medium-sized business development department. He is very familiar with the distribution of talent markets and real estate agencies in various administrative districts of Shanghai."

The headhunter said that back then, he and his team increased Zhilian's market share in Shanghai from single digits to second place within a year, second only to 51job.

"What about Jiangcheng's candidates?"

"It's more difficult in Wuhan. Headhunters say that there is a shortage of internet talent in Wuhan, and most people with platform experience have gone to Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou."

Currently, only one preliminary candidate has been nominated, named Liu Zhigang, 34 years old. He was previously the chief editor of the classifieds channel of Chutian Information Port. He has led an operations team but not a sales team.

The headhunter is expanding the search, saying there are several candidates to consider in Chongqing and Changsha.

"Xu Guoliang from Shanghai, we'll meet him later this week, after we've met Guo Jian and Xiang Chao in Beijing. Liu Zhigang from Jiangcheng, have someone call him first and give me a preliminary assessment."

The next morning, Zhou Zhongcheng waited in front of Lin Feng's office early in the morning.

"Guo Jian's headhunter replied. He's very interested in Tongcheng Life Network and said he's read the related reports. He's free tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM and asked about the location."

"Tell them to let him choose the place. He knows the area of ​​the capital well."

That afternoon, Zhou Zhongcheng booked two plane tickets, and the next morning Lin Feng took him to Beijing.

Guo Jianyue's place is a coffee shop on Zhongguancun South Street, a booth by the window on the second floor.

It was snowing lightly outside, and the whole street was shrouded in a gray haze.

When Lin Feng arrived, he was already sitting in a booth. He had a short buzz cut and wore a dark blue shirt with a black wool vest over it.

He sat there with his back straight, not like someone who works in the internet industry, but rather with the old-fashioned air of a newspaper worker.

The two shook hands, and Guo Jian offered his business card, which read "Operations Director of Jinghua Information Network".

After sitting down and exchanging brief pleasantries, Lin Feng began to introduce the development and philosophy of Tongcheng Life Network to the other party.

This includes aspects such as housing rentals, talent recruitment, second-hand goods, and domestic services. It covers how to incubate each segment from scratch to the forefront of the market and how to compete with rivals.

Guo Jian listened attentively, and only began to speak slowly after Lin Feng had finished.

"Mr. Lin, what you're saying is similar to what I did when I was doing field promotion for the Classifieds Department of the Youth Daily. Except back then, we didn't go to residential buildings, but to every newsstand and newsstand, persuading the newsstand owners to insert our Classifieds into the newspapers and give them away as free gifts."

Summer temperatures reached forty degrees Celsius, winter temperatures plummeted to below minus ten degrees Celsius; he ran to twenty newsstands a day. He did this for five years.

"Why did you switch to the internet industry later?" Lin Feng asked.

"Because newspaper classification will eventually be replaced by the Internet." Guo Jian's attitude was very firm.