Focus

Fees, humiliation part of getting wired to Foxconn

By Hu YInan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-31 07:52

For many individuals with money, patience and an identification card, you may get a job at the Shenzhen factories of Foxconn Technology Group, the contract electronics manufacturer that has garnered global attention after a string of worker suicides.

The money and ID card must be real; there are ways to work around everything else.

First, you and other job-seekers typically visit one of the job centers in Guangdong province. At the front counter, apply for Foxconn. The company might not have a marked booth at the center, but ask anyway.

Apply to become an ordinary worker. You will be asked about your age, place of origin and education. Be honest with the former two and be flexible about the latter. Your chances of landing a job are slimmer if you are older than 30, but more money - say 100 to 150 yuan - will help.

You will be assured of getting in and presented with a contract with the job center, which will guarantee your admission into Foxconn within a certain period, normally three months to a year. Sign the contract and pay 150 to 300 yuan.

Success typically depends on your appearance and your relations with the center's manager, so rural looks and mingling skills are a plus. Workers from the countryside are often considered to be hard workers and less demanding.

After payment, you will be given a stamped card that promises a full refund if you are rejected, and a letter of recommendation for a contact at Foxconn.

Foxconn staff members will pick you up at a central facility in Longhua, Shenzhen. Don't lose the letter and remember the contact's telephone number by heart.

Once you reach Longhua, call that number. Your contact will pick you up, ask about your work experience and put you up at a hostel with more than a dozen people like you.

Wait till sunset, when the contact comes to tell you which division of Foxconn you will be admitted into and everything else related to the physical checkup you will undergo the next day.

If your diploma is not genuine, you will be asked to pay for a fake one at a cost of 10 to 100 yuan, depending on how deep your wallet is perceived to be. Don't pay. Say you've run out of cash, and prove it by sleeping with two others in a room for three at 15 yuan per night. Bring five one-inch photographs and copies of your ID to avoid paying the contact to make them.

The next morning, you will be taken to a minivan of 11 seats. About 18 people and all their luggage will be on board, so travel light and try to find a spot with breathing room. The trip to the training center in Guanlan takes 45 minutes. When you get off the minivan, pay the driver 10 to 20 yuan.

The driver will escort you inside the training center, where harsh-looking men and women in uniforms await as groups such as yours gather.

You may be shouted at, intimidated, humiliated and bullied. Don't be bothered by it, but be obedient. Sit, stand and be quiet when you are asked to. Bring a pen with you to write on the application form. Otherwise, you will be given less than a minute to rush to a nearby shop to buy one for 1 yuan. Make no mistakes on the form. You might be kicked out if you do.

You will be taken to a room to authenticate your identification. The process could take as long as two hours. Wait in line, and when it's your turn, make sure to leave only after you hear the beeping sound on the machine. If not, you will be forced to start all over again the second day.

After that, you will be taken to a building across the street for body inspections. Unless you are heavily tattooed - in which case you'd best hide in the nearby toilet when the uniformed men check your row and return after they have passed - don't worry. All you need to do is be obedient, stand straight and wait until you are ordered to go inside.

Once inside, pay 50 yuan for the checkup and 10 yuan for a photo that will appear on your badge. Note that you will be waiting with 1,000 others, so be patient and ignore the sweat. Don't worry about the blood exams.

At the end of the day, you will be taken to a dormitory and assigned a bed in a room of 10. You should now be used to the smell of sweat, so bear with it. The orientation goes on for two days. The test is on day two, but if your eyesight and hearing are good enough, you will pass.

Make no mistake in filling out your contract on day two; you may otherwise have to pay for new forms. Make no attempt to challenge the authority of anyone in uniform during the training.

You will be given a badge and assigned a unit to work in at the end of the second day. Work starts the following morning with no prior training.

The card that leads to employment by Foxconn. A recruitment sheet contains basic information about candidates.