Interview Memories from the Year We Graduated

@DailyLifeOfABeijingDrifter:Reading Prism's article "Becoming China's Richest at 35, Losing 50 Billion After Prison: Where Did Huang Guangyu Go Wrong in the Past Five Years?" reminded me of the year we graduated when we actually attended Gome's recruitment. Simply put, Gome took advantage of the spring recruitment to scoop up candidates, launching a so-called "Reservoir" management trainee program.
At the time, none of us knew better. Hearing "management trainee," we thought it was incredibly prestigious, assuming they were grooming us to be leaders, and happily submitted our resumes. Only later did we realize that this management trainee program was far from the legitimate ones offered by foreign companies and state-owned banks.
As it turned out, all the guys who submitted resumes received interview invitations.

On the day of the interview, held inside a Gome Electronics store, we followed a winding path into the office area. The decor was extremely bare, featuring a raw concrete aesthetic.
Without asking many questions, the HR eagerly started introducing the store system. First, there would be job rotations across various stores, with specific positions pending based on where there were vacancies; then, they introduced the success stories within the system—someone in a major region who started as a store clerk, became a store manager in three years, and a regional head in five years, earning an annual salary of 300,000 RMB!

The more I listened, the more something felt off. So after studying for so long, I was just here to be a home appliance salesperson? Of course, I have no prejudice against this job, but it didn't match my major at all. I should clarify here that back then, graduates from good universities genuinely looked down on this kind of work; it didn't really require any educational background. There were plenty of good jobs available at the time—this was a dividend of the era.
Analyzing the situation, based on my observations walking through the store, none of the clerks looked like college students; plus, as mentioned earlier, you had to take whatever position had a vacancy first. So this "reservoir" of theirs basically meant being a spare tire, filling in wherever there was a shortage?

Fine then, let's ask about the salary.
Answer: 3,500 RMB. Once you get promoted to store manager, it will increase significantly, exceeding 10,000 RMB a month.

Then, the HR tirelessly repeated the example of becoming a store manager in three years and a regional head in five years, implying that their development prospects were very promising.

At that time, Huang Guangyu was still a well-known entrepreneur. Although he was already in prison, the Gome brand name was still quite prominent.

Later, a classmate and I went to Huazhong University of Science and Technology, attended a presentation by a well-known home appliance company, and submitted our resumes. As a result, they didn't fancy us and didn't even give us an interview chance.
It wasn't until after I started working, when I visited that company's headquarters once, met the founder, and experienced the factory floor, that I felt grateful for their "kindness of not hiring me" back then.

Looking back now, some might think we were stupid to attend recruitment fairs for such outdated companies.
In fact, times change rapidly. Back then, we were in the midst of a tide where star foreign enterprises were ebbing, domestic manufacturing was rising, real estate companies were booming, and internet companies were just emerging. From the perspective of a college student from a small town, it was impossible to see the future trajectory of industrial development clearly.
At that time, the most outstanding people went into real estate management trainee programs or big tech companies, followed by various banks and star manufacturers. In hindsight, those who went to big tech had the best outcome temporarily, while those who went to real estate companies ended up the most miserable.

Most of the time, no one can open our eyes to the truth that choice matters more than effort. With the limited vision you have at the time, you can't make the optimal choice; it's mostly a matter of luck.
That's why I've always felt this saying is spot on: Don't mistake the Beta given by the era for your own Alpha.