Man claims company reneged on hiring

A man recently sued a company for not hiring him after he won a job offer from the company on a TV show.

Guo Hong, general manager with a technology firm in Beijing, participated in a recruitment show organized by Fujian-based Southeast Television in February and won a job opportunity at Xiaomi, a smartphone producer in Beijing.

On the show, broadcast in March, Xiaomi promised to provide an engineer and design position for Guo with a yearly wage of 200,000 yuan ($31,400).

But after two rounds of face-to-face interviews after the TV show, the company told Guo that he would not get the offer.

Guo has asked a court to order compensation of more than 50,000 yuan from Xiaomi.

Xiaomi President Lin Bin said on Wednesday on his Sina Weibo that he was informed by the TV-show organizer that any deal reached during the show was just a recruitment tool, and candidates must still go through the company's normal hiring procedure.

"I showed my sincerity to Guo in the show and invited him to have interviews with Xiaomi, but unfortunately, Guo did not pass the test after being interviewed twice by four of my colleagues," he said.

The Beijing News quoted a source near to the issue from Xiaomi that Guo was not hired because he "failed the professional-ability test" and that because Guo did not quit his current job, he was "not sincere".

But Guo told the newspaper that the TV-show organizer did not tell him the show was a preliminary test or the employer needs additional interviews afterwards.