NTU Start-Up Recruitment Weekend

Before I go on and tell you about the Start-Up Recruitment event held at National Taiwan University (國立台灣大學), I have to share this amazing photo of my sugar drenched, high calorie, and high fat content breakfast: krispy kreme donuts. This is definitely the worst way to begin a sunny work day: starting the day on a sugar high!

Going into this event, we were a little skeptical of how the day will go. Reports of rain was on the news, it was humid and the sun was pounding. It was also a Saturday morning, who in their right mind would want to spend their weekend on a college campus? We were pretty sure many of NTU's students would be running to their beaches or anywhere out of Taipei.
When we arrived, we found out NTU's secret weapon of keeping students in campus over the weekend: testing on weekends! haha!

 This photo is of the poster for our event. It says: New Start Up Company Recruitment: Full-time, Internship, and/ or Partners. 


I have no idea what were they trying to draw... it seems like either a primitive constellation drawing with a black sun in the middle... or a messed up iPhone screen trying to load.
Then again, it was framed like a National Geographic magazine cover, so guess its pretty legit.

With so many other teams already handing out goodies and leaflets to people at the door into the event center, Kaemiin (one of our system engineers) and I (Sean) decided to not just think outside of the box, but use tactics that most people would be too shy to even fathom: we used guerilla tactics to spread the word of our recruitment event around the campus.
While everyone stayed at the door, Kaemiin and I marched towards the student's recreation area, cafeteria, library, and dorms and posted our candidate application forms all over with our QR codes on them, so passerby's can just snap a photo and apply!  The photo on the right is captured from the student cafeteria in NTU.
Click here for the Prospective Candidate Form !!!

This photo is captured in the library!
Although we are not too sure of our success rate of reaching into the general student population about Patisco.com, but we are certain that atleast more than a dozen students took notice when two black clothed guys walked in and started posting up white pieces of paper with English on it. We were pretty loud since we had to find the "concentration of focus" on these message boards and walls.

 The recruitment event began pretty slow.
In the first 30 minutes, there was virtually nobody in sight, and we took pride that we had predicted the worst case scenario and were prepared to sit the rest of the day in our seats and chill.
Suddenly, the loud speaker came on and announced the end of examinations,which was followed at the hordes of students who flocked into the arena!
There were NTU undergraduate students of all ages, NTU master degree students, alumni of NTU, as well as a vast number of students from neighboring universities.

What began as a chill session of tea drinking and quiet chatter had evolved into the entire team holding the fort, each team member multi-tasking, talking, jotting down notes, explaining, and gesturing to 3 or 4 people at a time.
After the first two dozen students, I had mastered the skill of giving the 45 second pitch of what Patisco.com is about, and what we are doing, and who we are looking for.
The onslaught seemed endless, actually, it was endless, and we all pulled through helping each other wherever we fell short of explanations and ideas.

 There were students and prospective candidates from all realms of society.
Freshmen students were clueless about what they wanted to pursue, while supposedly-experienced alumni tested our patience with their skeptic criticisms. There were so many instances where I thought encounters would ignite into battles of words and ideals, turned into moments of " Oh Wow, that is quite revolutionary what you guys at Patisco.com are doing!" I think that definitely will be one of those moments I won't forget, the moments when the other side finally sees what we

are truly trying to do to improve business operations for SMEs and SMBs all over.

It was also a very interesting experience to be able to talk to and have the chance to explain Patisco.com's service, vision, and mission to many of the alumni and more experienced working people who were at the event. Being able to strike up a conversation about business experiences with a manager that is 20 years my senior is remarkable, and having him ask me: "How old are you? how long have you been working?" I'm as old as most of these students here actually, and I've been in this company for almost a year.

So it goes to show that in today's world, the age of your ID card doesn't necessarily dictate the limits that you can experience and learn.
I am not saying that I know alot or experienced alot in business, but my learning curve has increased significantly since I entered Patisco.com, because I was suddenly put into situations where the only way to go on and move ahead was learn at that moment and keep that in mind at all times.

So when many of these students approach me, and since I seem to be the only team member that is around their age, I always remind them that any opportunity at Patisco.com isn't a coffee and newspaper fetching, facebook check-in job. Whether fulltime or interning, everyone will be pitted against themselves, and learning more from their own experience than what textbooks can give them. Many of the students were also fascinated that we at Patisco.com spoke English to eachother, and commented that it would be an ideal environment to learn a new language... I looked at them and said: You better learn fast, because we won't slow down for you to understand. We operate in the real world and our service goes way beyond the borders of Taiwan.
By the day's end, many of us had sore throats, and I had lost my voice. I had gained a deeper perspective of what students were looking for in a future career and internships, and hopefully those new insights will help in providing an amazing nurturing workspace for future candidates and team members of Patisco.com. As we always say in Patisco.com: "We are a family here in Patisco.com, we want the best and most comfortable working environment for our team members!" Whether it means the unlimited espresso coffee machine in the office, the flexible working hours, the team building events, or the push of the competitive global business that we are faced with every single day... quality is what makes us who we are. Patisco.com believes not in how many people is in the team, but what everyone can bring to the team. Our strength is embedded in every individual's skill, creativity, ideas, and chemistry to bring together a team that is beyond motivated, inspired, and unheeding in our mission. Patisco.com is an internet company, with a global business agenda and perspective. We may be a young up and coming company, but that does not stop us from aiming high and striving even higher. We are made up of a team of individuals who all have overcame the  extraordinary challenges that we have come face to face with, and we yes, we do this on a daily basis. As they: "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and I can say that we at Patisco.com are herculean in our efforts and determination to achieve what we had set ourselves to pursue.