On the bus.
Xu Yaomin and his assistant helped the applicants get off.
Quite a few people on the bus looked disappointed when they saw the factory. They hadn't expected much before coming, but the sight still let them down.
Huang Xiuyuan and Lu Xuedong walked over to Xu Yaomin.
"Manager Xu, are these the first batch of applicants?"
Xu Yaomin replied with a smile, "Yes, this is the first batch. If Mr. Huang doesn't find enough people, our company will arrange for a second batch to come on the twenty-fifth of this month, depending on the situation."
"Good. Then let's get started!" Huang Xiuyuan led the group toward the small office building used by the factory manager.
Among the applicants, a middle-aged man wearing square-framed glasses was discreetly observing his surroundings. Unlike most of the others, he wasn't misled by appearances.
From the information Kerui had provided, the company was a newly established tech firm whose main business was recycling waste and reusing resources.
The two young men not far away were probably the company's investors.
As for the factory, he'd seen some clues when they passed the notice board. It had clearly only recently been acquired.
There was no way to learn more in such a short time. He did, however, have some thoughts about the recycling industry, thanks to his previous work.
Whether he accepted the job depended on the company's investment scale and the investors' attitude. If they were treating it as a pastime, he had no interest in staying.
Soon, the two applicants ahead of him went into the office one after the other.
When the second applicant came out with a look of disdain, the man went in.
"Interviewers, it's an honor to take part in this interview. Here's my résumé."
"Mr. Lin, have a seat." Huang Xiuyuan looked through the résumé and saw that the middle-aged man had an impressive work history.
He asked curiously, "Mr. Lin, you have a strong résumé. You were a technical supervisor at a subsidiary of Xinfa Aluminum and Electricity, and deputy general manager at Toyota's joint venture in China. Why did you resign?"
"Mainly because I felt there was no room for growth. I wanted to switch industries," Lin Baijie replied with a smile.
"What do you think of the recycling industry, Mr. Lin?"
Lin Baijie thought for a moment. "It's an industry with a lot of potential, but also one fraught with difficulties. People are always prejudiced and inclined to jump to conclusions."
"Collecting scrap certainly isn't as comfortable as sitting in an office, but it's easier than mining low-grade ore, isn't it?"
"That's true." Lin Baijie didn't deny it, but then changed tack. "I'd like to ask how your company plans to enter the recycling industry. As far as I know, there are already recycling stations everywhere. If you enter the market directly, you'll probably struggle to compete with the local stations."
Huang Xiuyuan asked in return, "Why would we need to compete with recycling stations?"
"..." Lin Baijie was at a loss for words.
"Of all the things people throw away, only a small fraction is currently recycled. A great deal of waste never enters the recycling process. That's what we're targeting."
Lin Baijie asked the key question: "How will you make a profit?"
"Good question. How do we make a profit? That's why our company exists: to figure out how to recycle waste at low cost. If someone had already found the answer, would there be any need for us?" Huang Xiuyuan remained calm, as if everything were under control.
"One last question: how much does your company plan to invest?"
"Two hundred million."
"Two hundred million?"
That was a substantial sum, at least for the recycling industry at the time.
After thinking it over, Lin Baijie felt the company had potential, but he still had reservations and didn't make an immediate decision.
The thirty applicants went into the temporary interview office one by one.
After more than five hours of interviews, both sides made their decisions. These interviews usually only resulted in a hire when both sides were satisfied.
Huang Xiuyuan and Lu Xuedong removed the names of applicants they considered unsuitable from the list and handed it to Xu Yaomin at Kerui.
Kerui had also collected the applicants' final decisions. Comparing the two lists, they found that only six applicants had passed the interview and were willing to stay.
In the office at the factory, Xu Yaomin gave Huang Xiuyuan the list of the six remaining candidates.
"Mr. Huang, these are the applicants who passed the interview and are willing to stay."
Huang Xiuyuan looked it over and was surprised to find that Lin Baijie, whom he'd thought highly of, had chosen to stay.
"Then I'll trouble you, Manager Xu. Please keep recruiting for the other positions."
"It's all part of the job." Xu Yaomin was beaming, too. Getting six people hired meant an income of hundreds of thousands, so of course he was happy.
He hurriedly took the unsuccessful applicants back to Pengcheng.
Of the six who stayed, besides Lin Baijie, one was a legal specialist, one an accountant, one a human resources specialist, and two were technicians.
After welcoming everyone with a dinner.
Decisive as ever, Huang Xiuyuan held the company's first executive meeting the next morning.
There were only ten people in all: Huang Xiuyuan, Lu Xuedong, Huang Weichang, Lin Baijie, the five newly hired employees, and Accountant Li, who was practically invisible.
As for Huang Sixiao, he was only there to help temporarily. The people at Fuqiang Recycling Plant still needed him to keep an eye on things, so he wasn't part of Huang Xiuyuan's company.
"The main purpose of today's meeting is to assign everyone's positions. First, I'll explain the company's structure."
He outlined the company's initial organizational structure.
Level One: Board of Directors.
Level Two: Scientific Research Department, Industrial Department, Security Department.
Level Three: The research institutes and laboratories under the Scientific Research Department; the Legal Affairs Group, Human Resources Group, Finance Group, Logistics Group, factories, and subsidiaries under the Industrial Department; and the Security Department's security team, inspection team, internal oversight team, and special task force.
"Lin Baijie will be general manager of the Industrial Department."
Applause broke out.
"Thank you for your confidence in me, Mr. Huang. I hope to work sincerely with everyone and build a bright future together."
The applause rang out again.
"Lu Xuedong will be general manager of the Scientific Research Department."
"Huang Weichang will be general manager of the Security Department."
With the positions assigned one by one, the company's makeshift team finally began to take shape, no longer a disorganized mess.
There were still too few employees, though, so many people had to wear several hats.
For example, Huang Weichang was both general manager of the Security Department and the chairman's assistant. Lu Xuedong was also in charge of the Materials Laboratory and the software development laboratory.
Another person had a particularly unusual role: Accountant Li, Li Haibo, who also served as financial director of Huang's Investment Company.
Lin Baijie's Industrial Department was the real heavyweight. Huang Xiuyuan dumped a whole host of tasks on him.
He told Lin Baijie to promptly handle the company's name change, revise its business scope, apply to set up laboratories, and recruit and onboard employees.
Huang Xiuyuan, who had become something of a hands-off boss, wasn't idle, though. He was urging the laboratory construction company to come and survey the site.
Meanwhile, he was secretly manipulating two investment companies to make money by shorting the financial markets.
These short-term investments had raised the total capital from forty million U.S. dollars to forty-three million, earning more than two million in profit.
But those were just small-time gains. The real opportunity he cared about would come next month, in March 2008.
If he seized it, his overseas assets might multiply several times over.
Thank you all for your support, and thanks to the reader "Hao Gei Ren Dao Le" and "Yang He Shan" for the tips.
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