Of course, Lee Hyun-woo thought that how one succeeds was important.
‘I often forget because of work, but I must not lose the initial determination I had when I returned to the past.’
Rather than struggling fiercely, Lee Hyun-woo’s goal was to reach the peak by achieving a balance between work and life, that is, work-life balance.
In that process, it would be really fun to change the world incidentally.
Naturally, this includes advancing the era of free email much faster than now.
‘By the way, won’t this hasten the decline of PC communication earlier than expected?’
The big picture of changing the world is already being drawn.
Now, it was Lee Hyun-woo’s task to select the people to change it with.
He reviewed the resumes that came in through notes even during the weekends.
Every time he read them, he felt,
“They’re all so uniform.”
He couldn’t help but click his tongue.
Next to him, Lee Jung-woo, listening to his brother, added a word.
“Right? They’re all the same, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, it’s a country that runs on human resources, so there’s a lot of education, but maybe because of the standardized education methods, there’s a severe lack of creativity?”
“It’s disappointing. If someone stood out, they would be noticeable.”
“Just as you said, a few people are somewhat impressive. Here, send notes back to these people.”
“Yes, CEO. For when?”
“Is there any reason to delay? Programmers need to be as fast as possible.”
“Then this Friday?”
“Yes, and the rest next Monday.”
“Understood, I’ll proceed immediately.”
The most urgent need was for programmers.
Thus, interviews were scheduled right away for Friday, and through the interviews, two partners were chosen for Lee Jung-woo and Jang Yoo-chul.
In fact, because programming is a specialized field, in-depth interviews were impossible.
Inevitably, the interviews were conducted focusing on the basics, and since they were to assist Lee Jung-woo and Jang Yoo-chul, they had to hire people with that concept in mind.
In this way, ‘hire and train’ was a realistic alternative in the early stages.
Once things settle down a bit more, they wanted to bring in experienced personnel from other IT companies.
‘Now that we have four programmers, maybe we can start the free email service earlier?’
On the evening of the Friday when the developers were confirmed, Lee Hyun-woo thought of this internally, worrying it might burden Lee Jung-woo and Jang Yoo-chul, but they were actually having a similar conversation.
“Now that we have two more people, can’t we start working on the email from Monday?”
“You mean the free email?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, let’s do it. We should get things done quickly.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s slightly droopy eyes held a contented smile.
He was proud of the two who were taking initiative.
‘By the way, if we can do email, there’s no reason we can’t do a portal site, right?’
The future is truly unpredictable.
The ‘future’ Lee Hyun-woo thought of here referred, of course, to the point in time when he returned.
Back then, he was just thinking of rushing to dominate the IT business, considering auctions, but as he went with the flow, he ended up incorporating online shopping.
Now, he was dreaming of a portal site as well.
‘No matter what, I shouldn’t mention this to others immediately.’
Lee Hyun-woo, who had served as the deputy director of the planning and coordination office.
He experienced in his previous life that if subordinates worked with complicated goals, efficiency dropped.
The goals should be simple.
So that the workers can sprint towards only that.
Therefore, since the current task was free email, let’s keep the portal site dream to himself.
Thinking this internally, Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes sparkled.
For a moment, his eyes, looking into the distance, thought that the world he was changing seemed really fun.
After Saturday and Sunday, it was Monday again.
This day was the day to hire three new employees.
Lee Hyun-woo hurried to work and checked the interview preparations.
After checking for a while, he finally heard Yoo Jin-young’s voice saying that the interview preparations were all done.
“CEO, all six candidates are here.”
“Luckily, no one was late.”
First, full marks for diligence and keeping promises.
“Then, please bring in three at a time.”
“Yes, CEO.”
Due to the company’s size, there was no dedicated secretary yet.
So sometimes, Yoo Jin-young, who handled phone duties, also guided the interviewees in this manner.
But the interviewees who came in following her guidance had to face an absurd question from the CEO here.
“Kawa Noriaki of Japan Electric said, ‘If you’re not first, you’re last.’ Do you agree?”
Two people nodded simultaneously at that moment.
However, among them, a 26-year-old young man who introduced himself as Kang Dong-ho paused momentarily.
This was because he did not understand the questioner’s intention at all.
‘Is this person ambitious?’
From the outside, it seemed so.
The website 【Jungle】 is a system that runs 24/7 throughout the week.
Therefore, Kang Dong-ho thought the working environment would be quite challenging, but once inside, it wasn’t necessarily so.
Although busy, the employees seemed to be relaxed.
‘Everyone seems to be enjoying it?’
Kang Dong-ho quickly gave this answer.
“I understand the saying ‘if you’re not first, you’re last.’ The public finds it hard to remember people who are not first.”
“……”
“I also want to be first in any competition. However, maybe because I’ve lived leisurely, I want to run at the forefront leisurely like the employees of 【Jungle】 here.”
“You want to run at the forefront leisurely like our employees here?”
“That’s how it looks to me. And isn’t 【Jungle】 number one in online shopping?”
Lee Hyun-woo laughed after hearing Kang Dong-ho’s answer.
Since there were no competitors in the industry, it was indeed number one.
Actually, Kang Dong-ho mentioned that part too.
“It’s easy to be number one if you’re running in a place with no competitors like 【Jungle】, so if I join the company, I’ll do my best to pioneer a blue ocean as the CEO once mentioned on a broadcast.”
It was an informal question.
Although unprepared, Kang Dong-ho’s good answer made Lee Hyun-woo nod.
‘He even watched my broadcast.’
A conversation stemming from one question delivered various information.
The next question he asked was similar.
“Our company operates six days a week. Work hours start at 7:45 AM. Lunch is at 11:45 AM, and afternoon work starts at 12:45 PM, with the end of the workday at 4:45 PM.”
Lee Hyun-woo also provided company information.
But the real question he wanted to ask was the following.
“Considering that, the working hours during the weekdays are exactly eight hours a day. But if the work is not completed by then, what would you do?”
This also started a subtle competition among the three to figure out the intention of the question, and once again, Kang Dong-ho was the first to respond.
“I’ll watch the situation first.”
“Watching the situation?”
“Yes, what does a rookie know? Just watch the situation. If everyone stays, I stay; if it seems like people are leaving, I’ll happily finish the day’s work. Isn’t that the way for the lowest group in the ecosystem to survive?”
At that moment, the other two people who were interviewing with Kang Dong-ho had a feeling of being outdone reflected in their eyes.
Lee Hyun-woo’s gaze was already fixed on Kang Dong-ho.
He didn’t even try to hide it.
“You’re giving more and more pleasing answers.”
“You’re the first CEO to positively evaluate my answers in an interview so far.”
“Formality doesn’t matter. Only the content does. Isn’t it the employer’s job to determine who fits the company’s values and philosophy?”
“Are you saying I fit within that framework?”
“I’ll judge that after seeing the remaining candidates.”
By the remaining candidates, he meant the other two interviewing now and the three who will interview second.
Knowing this, Kang Dong-ho sighed in disappointment.
“Ah… I was happy for a moment.”
“Don’t worry too much. The saying ‘if you’re not first, you’re last’ doesn’t apply to this interview.”
“Instead, it’s ‘if you’re not third, you’re last’?”
“No. It’s up to the CEO.”
In other words, it’s up to Lee Hyun-woo.
Originally planning to hire three, it meant he wouldn’t be confined to that if all six were good.
‘If I hire more, I’ll earn more.’
Indeed, excluding the uniform resumes, he felt from the first interviewees that they were extraordinary.
To work with Lee Hyun-woo, such people needed to be brought into the company.
Of course, they needed some refinement before immediate deployment.
He thought they could be trained like Han Se-jin and posed more in-depth questions to the remaining two, including Kang Dong-ho.
After this ended, he sent them out and welcomed the second group of interviewees. At some point, Lee Hyun-woo sensed the eyes and ears of others in the office turning towards them.
‘It must be fascinating.’
This interview method would be a first for them.
Actually, as times change, interview methods evolve in various ways.
Companies put a lot of effort into selecting creative talents.
Sometimes, it takes a day, sometimes up to four days.
Also, depending on the type, there are competency interviews, personality interviews, PT interviews, discussion interviews, English interviews, and group interviews.
‘I’ll extract the essence and test it today.’
The core today was that it’s hard to judge work capability with just one interview.
Whether a person can excel in sales, has talent in material management, or shows creativity for promotion and marketing can only be assessed through limited questions and answers.
Having conducted the final interviews, on the way home, Lee Hyun-woo discussed with Lee Jung-woo.
“Who seemed good to you?”
“Me? Well, strangely, maybe because of the strong first impression, I definitely want to hire Kang Dong-ho.”
“And?”
“The others weren’t bad either. Some seemed reliable, some seemed smart. Just as you mentioned during the interview process, there’s no need to stick to hiring just three.”
“Right?”
“Yeah, basically they all know how to use computers. That means they meet the first qualification. Plus, since you filtered them through the resumes, I think it’s okay to hire several.”
Hearing his brother’s words, Lee Hyun-woo smiled.
It seemed like Lee Jung-woo and Jang Yoo-chul had come to trust Lee Hyun-woo completely, seeing the changes in the company over the past few days.
That was inevitable, as other record companies were competing to inquire about new album events.
This was a reflective effect brought by Shin Sung-hoon’s live album and Clones CD.
Seeing that, it was predicted that explosive growth was coming, and they realized more people were needed.
Sure enough, almost home, Lee Jung-woo spoke in a sentimental voice.
“Our company, which used to grow an inch every time we woke up, now seems to grow as tall as us each day.”
