Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: The Interview (2)
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"That concludes the interview. Thank you for your hard work."
"Your perspective on games is truly remarkable. I've learned a lot."
"Thank you so much for applying to our team!"
After that, the interviews proceeded quickly.
Occasionally, we encountered an applicant with an attitude problem, but for the most part, everyone engaged in a fierce debate, sharing their own well-considered ideas about the 'Pass On Dream' project from their respective fields.
Though physically taxing, I found the act of having these conversations with everyone quite enjoyable.
Perhaps because of this, I often found myself emotionally invested in the applicants during the interview process.
'If it were up to me, I'd hire them all…'
But reality is a harsh mistress.
The number of people I could bring aboard my ship was limited, so we had to make some cruel decisions.
"Daeri Heo, was there anyone who stood out to you? What did you think of Mr. Sangmin?"
"He's incredibly skilled, but his ego seemed so strong that I think he'd be difficult to work with… For the UI position, I thought Mr. Kim Ho was good. He was meticulous and had a deep understanding of our game… As for the concept artist…"
"For the client-side, the last person who came in was the best, and after them…"
There were many talented individuals, but finding the perfect fit for our team among them was no simple task.
If someone was too assertive, collaboration would be difficult. If they were too quick to follow others' opinions, they usually lacked passion for the project.
We needed someone flexible who could find a middle ground, and discerning such a person was anything but easy.
Since I wasn't an expert in their respective fields, I delegated much of this responsibility to the two who would be leading each department.
"Alright, let's select these candidates for the first round of interviews. We'll proceed with an employment test for them."
"Yes! No objections."
After concluding all recruitment-related schedules, we finalized the list of successful candidates.
I organized this into a file and handed it over to the HR department, adding one special request.
"If it's not a problem for HR, I would be grateful if you could include the commentary we've written when you send out the acceptance and rejection emails."
Heo Yuri, Daeri Jeong Yosep, and myself…
It was a collection of our three opinions, compiled and polished into clean sentences.
About 1,000 characters per person.
It took a considerable amount of time to write commentary for every single person, but considering the effort each applicant had put into applying for my team, I felt this level of response was only natural.
When I was on the job market, receiving a thoughtless rejection email would crush my self-esteem.
If spending a few of my hours could lessen the blow for someone else, I believed it was the right choice to make.
'And… handling recruitment this way will also help build our team's brand.'
Of course, my decision wasn't based solely on goodwill.
The reputation and branding of our team itself.
For that reason, I wanted to be… at least publicly, a good industry professional.
That way, if the time ever came for us to leave this company, we would be able to find people willing to join us.
[Hello, this is Jo Hyunsoo, the PD for Pass On Dream…]
[We would be delighted to have you join our team. The HR team will be in touch with you individually…]
[While you demonstrated great skill, we regret to inform you that we are unable to move forward together at this time…]
And so, the emails I had personally written, informing each applicant of their status, were sent out.
Within a few weeks, all the successful candidates would complete the administrative procedures and begin joining the company one by one.
As that busy period passed and we refocused on our work…
A strange piece of news suddenly reached us.
"PD-nim, have you seen the posts about our team on Blind lately?"
"B-Blind? Why?"
The moment I heard those words from Daeri Heo, my heart sank.
[Blind]… an anonymous social media platform where employees could write about their companies.
You could only sign up with a company email, and its key feature was that even the company couldn't identify who wrote the posts.
For that reason, many employees used it to vent their complaints and frustrations about their workplace.
On the public board known as the "Game Lounge," anyone in the industry could post, so the HR and PR teams of every company were extremely sensitive to anything that appeared on Blind.
If a negative story or false information about a company started circulating, they would sometimes use multiple accounts to mass-report the post and get it taken down.
'Our company already hates being mentioned on Blind…'
NB Soft's HR team had a history of getting blown up on Blind.
Interviewers lording their power over applicants, making sexually harassing remarks, putting their feet up on the desk, taking phone calls during interviews…
Such incidents, unbecoming of a company that earned hundreds of billions of won a year, were commonplace, and each time, a post would appear on Blind.
[Aren't the interviewers at NB Soft fucking insane?]
[Trust and skip NB Soft! T&S NB for short!… Experiencing it firsthand is no joke.]
[Are you crazy? Did I go for a job interview or to audition for Slave 101?]
These posts would then leak to the media, and each time, the stock price would plummet.
And each time, the poor PR team would have to make calls to news outlets and run ads to cover it up, a cycle that repeated itself regularly.
NB Soft being mentioned on Blind?
That meant, with 99% certainty, that they had messed up and were getting ripped to shreds.
As I stared at Daeri Heo with a face full of dread, she casually held out her smartphone.
"Take a look at this. It's a hot post right now, over 2,000 views."
"Uh…"
[My Interview Experience with NB Soft's 'Pass On Dream' Project]
- I'm a UI designer with 3 years of experience. My startup went bust, and I've been job hunting for three months. I've been to over ten interviews in that time, and my self-esteem has taken a huge hit.
Everyone rejects me, but not a single person has properly told me why I was rejected or what kind of person I am.
To be honest, I didn't even know who 'Christian' was. I just went to the interview wanting to get a job, but they conducted it so seriously and professionally.
They were transparent about the project's details, explained their vision, and specified exactly how I would need to solve problems if I joined.
We talked for almost an hour, and there wasn't a single useless personal question or uncomfortable moment. They were so kind.
How should I put this… I imagine this is what a counseling session would feel like.
At the end, they even told me what my strengths and weaknesses were in a positive, constructive way. I got a little choked up then…
In the end, I was rejected… but I understood why, and I'm currently redoing my portfolio based on their feedback.
And then a few days ago, I got this email telling me I didn't get the job?
Isn't this incredibly moving… I mean, regardless of his achievements, I've come to respect him as a person.
Even if I can't work on Christian's team, if he releases a game, I'm definitely going to buy it and play it. -
At the end of the rather long post was a screenshot of the email I had sent with my comments.
And below it, the number of replies had already surpassed 100.
[Jangbob - DC Soft: …I'm moved just reading this. I'd love to have a boss like him someday.]
[Sailmane - HNH: Wow, damn, that's truly touching. As an indie developer and as a person, he's admirable.]
[Blackjack67 - NB Soft: Hey, NB Soft HR and execs, look at this. Can't you guys just act like this for once? Stop causing trouble and ruining the company's image all the time. Learn from this guy.]
[Tila - Startup: I'm cheering for you! I want to meet a boss like that too!]
A veritable flood of handshakes and praise was pouring in.
I was dumbfounded, wondering what on earth was happening.
"This… won't be a problem, will it?"
When I asked with a strange expression, Daeri Heo gave me a thumbs-up and replied.
"A problem? This is something to be praised for! The applicant was moved, wasn't he? Honestly, when you were writing all those comments, PD-nim, I thought you might be overdoing it… But as expected, you had a plan all along!"
"Ha… haha…"
While boosting my own reputation was a small part of why I wrote the comments… this felt like too much.
[Diug - NB Soft: NB Soft HR should learn from PD Jo Hyunsoo!]
[Sailmane - HNH: Hey, is it okay to mention his real name?]
[Diug - NB Soft: It's a compliment, so what's the problem? People who do well should be praised like this.]
'No… you don't have to praise me *this* much, really.'
It was nice to have a positive story about me circulating, but the problem was that it was turning into an attack on NB Soft's HR team, other executives, and PDs.
The people getting bashed in this post were not going to look at me favorably.
I felt like I was making enemies left and right without even doing anything.
[Director Shin Chihwan: Whoa~ PD Jo Hyunsoo, you're super popular, huh? You could be a celebrity.]
[Me: Haa… please don't tease me.]
[Director Shin Chihwan: I'm not teasing. The CEO loves it. He said it's great for the company's image.]
[Me: Then what do the other executives think?]
[Director Shin Chihwan: The other execs? Of course they're tearing you to shreds. Laughing about how you think you're so great and noble. You were already on their bad side, and this just made it worse.]
[Me: …I want to cry.]
Even Director Shin Chihwan started teasing me.
And to make matters worse…
[That's Game - Famous Game Company PD Writes Touching Letters to Interviewees?]
[Game Gica - Famous Developer 'Christian' Jo Hyunsoo Delivers Heartfelt Letters to Company Applicants.]
[Call My News - NB Soft's PD 'Jo Hyunsoo' Sets an Example for Sincere Interviewing. Other Companies Should Take Note.]
Gaming news sites started picking up the story, and then even general newspapers began covering it in their society sections.
Oh, for fuck's sake… please stop, you guys.
It kept snowballing against my will, and now netizens were starting to leave comments.
<<Hello, this is Call My News. We would like to conduct a phone interview with PD Jo Hyunsoo.>>
<<This is Game Gica! Would it be possible to arrange an interview with you, PD-nim, if I were to visit the company?>>
It escalated to the point where I was now getting calls for interviews.
How on earth did they get my phone number?
The PR team seemed to be subtly hoping I would agree to them.
Maintaining good relationships with the press was a very important part of their job, after all.
'Let's not add fuel to the fire.'
I dodged the interviews as much as possible, using the excuse that I wanted to focus on development.
The more I put myself out there and talked, the stricter the scrutiny from other executives on Pass On Dream would become.
- Why is that kid making so much noise? -
- No wonder the game is in this state when the Game PD is busy doing interviews instead of making games. -
I didn't need a crystal ball to know what kind of comments would be thrown around in this paradise for old-timers.
And around that time… I received a call I couldn't refuse.
<<PD Jo Hyunsoo! This is Oh Geoshin. Is this a good time to talk?>>
"Uh… yes?"
It was a call from the CEO himself.