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This Company in Shenzhen Won’t Hire People Who Bring ‘Bad Luck’

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An education company located in Shenzhen went trending on Weibo after its director demanded that new employees’ phone numbers cannot have the number ‘5’ as the 5th digit, based on the superstition that it will bring bad luck.

Counting back from the end, is the fifth digit of your phone number ‘5’? If so, this Chinese employer probably does not want to hire you. This topic recently triggered discussions on Chinese social media.

Chinese media outlet Jiupai News (九派新闻) reported that a recruiter for an education company in Shenzhen, Guangdong, asked potential new employees whether their phone number had the number 5 as its 5th digit (counting down). If so, as per the boss’s request, they would not be hired unless they would change their phone number.

“The number on this resume is not ok.” Screenshot of recruitment conversation shared by Jiuwen News.

The news immediately spread around Weibo under the hashtag “Company Doesn’t Hire People Whose Phone Number Has 5 as 5th Digit” (公司不聘用手机号倒数第五位是5的人), which temporarily became the number one trending topic in Weibo’s ‘hot search’ list.

The remarkable employer’s request caused some heated discussions among netizens regarding superstitions in the workplace. The case was all the more surprising to some because the company is specialized in education.

According to blogger Jimenjun (@奇门君), who focuses on astrology and numerology, this particular request is probably derived from the ancient Chinese divination text I Ching or Yi Jing, also known as the Book of Changes and the idea of multiple 5s being unfavorable. Jimenjun explains that persons with the ‘five as fifth position’ might easily clash with their superiors and bring bad luck to their boss.

Jimenju writes that although the request might seem strange, it could also be a way to see to what extent a future employee is willing to adapt to their work and listen to requests from a manager.

Although many joked about the superstition in the comment section, there are also many netizens who would rather be safe than sorry: “My mum told me that it would be best if my phone number did not contain a 0 or 5, so there’s not a single 5 in there.” Another person wrote: “I have three 5s! How dreadful!”

China has a lot of superstitions and traditional beliefs, which are also noticeable in the process of job hunting. When searching for key terms “superstitions” and “job hunting” on Chinese search engine Baidu, there are over 21 million results, including countless do’s and don’ts and more online discussions on the matter.

One Weibo user shared that among the many remarkable job-hunting stories they heard from friends, there was one where an employer would not hire any employees born under the zodiac sign of the Monkey.

While some netizens say it’s not a big deal to change a phone number,there are also those who think such requests cross a boundary and are weird and senseless.

Some argue that, no matter how relevant or deeply-rooted superstitions are in Chinese society, a future employee should never be evaluated based on a number but based on their skills and mentality: “It’s the 21st century, and there are still such superstitious bosses. Why don’t you just hire a fortune-telling Feng-shui Master?”

By Federica Giampaolo and Manya Koetse

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Featured photo by Franck on Unsplash

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The post This Company in Shenzhen Won’t Hire People Who Bring ‘Bad Luck’ appeared first on What's on Weibo.


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