Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, has been hit by a recruitment scandal. It was reported that Huawei’s Chengdu office was involved in recruitment fraud, forming a black industry chain from resume screening to onboarding, with new employees being required to pay high monthly kickbacks. Recently, Huawei internally reported the incident and the individuals involved were dismissed.
According to online rumors, during the written test and interview process, there were actions like proxy test-taking, leaking of test questions, pre-writing positive evaluations, and more. Moreover, pathways such as internal referrals and external hire (OD – outsourced employees) also faced issues, becoming tools for some employees to seek personal gain, with even some management personnel participating in the malpractice.
Reports claim that Huawei directly sealed off the Chengdu office building in question, summoning all employees involved in violations to a designated location for review. Over 100 employees from a problematic department were directly laid off, including more than 50 regular employees and nearly 100 OD employees. Due to the serious nature of the misconduct, the terminated employees did not receive any financial compensation and their stock options were canceled.
On March 11th, Sohu Technology reported allegations of a black industry chain in Huawei’s recruitment process, with the Chengdu branch engaging in cheating from leadership to HR, research and development, leaking recruitment test questions, charging fees ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 yuan for internal referrals, and extracting 3,000 yuan monthly after employment.
The report mentioned a Shenzhen outsourced employee stating, “Some people from our team have been investigated, although their violations are unrelated to this incident.” Huawei PR previously told Sohu Technology that the amounts and details circulating online were partly inaccurate.
Caixin website reported that on March 10th, Huawei’s internal audit uncovered irregularities among multiple departments involving non-employee involvement in selecting business partners, arranging substitutes for exams, disclosing service capability test questions to candidates, and profiting from selling company information assets. The individuals involved were fired and required to return their illegal gains and compensate the company for losses.
As of now, Huawei has not issued a public response to the matter. This incident has sparked widespread attention on social media platforms.
Weibo influencer “Xu Shunda” commented: “Paid internships are actually quite common now. As the job market becomes more competitive, positions at big companies (including outsourced roles) are fiercely contested. Recently, I heard a friend mention that graduates from top universities are even interviewing for outsourced positions. Where there is financial incentive, internal employees may take risks.”
Another netizen, “Rain in June,” said: “The situation in Ningde is even more severe, where hiring an outsourced employee starts at 30,000 yuan per person, with the outsourced employee receiving less than 20,000 yuan, the outsourcing company taking 2,000 yuan, and the remaining over 8,000 yuan going to Ningde Times executives.”