Flying to Singapore to get a job, the Chinese engineer was “cancelled” by Shopee at the last minute

Recently, a Chinese engineer shared an ironic story when he flew to Singapore to get a job at Shopee but received a notice to cancel the recruitment result as soon as he landed at Changi airport. His post quickly “stormed” Chinese social networks.

“ I just landed with my wife and dog when I heard that my job offer had been withdrawn by Shopee. At that time, I was still at the airport ,” a user named “Lin Ge goes to Nanyang” shared on his personal WeChat account.

Similar to many global technology companies, Sea Limited, Shopee’s parent company, is also pushing to cut staff amid a slowing economy and recession fears. As a result, Shopee was also forced to shrink the apparatus. Among them, technology positions in Singapore, where the company is headquartered, suffered the most fluctuations.

The company has confirmed to SCMP about the cancellation of some technology-related job positions. “ We have adjusted our recruitment plan for tech teams, so some positions at Shopee are no longer available. The company is urgently taking action to assist those affected .”

According to an insider, the compensation that Shopee offers is one month’s salary and travel expenses.

Lin Ge shared on WeChat: ” Can’t believe what has happened in the past 3 days. I created this account originally to share my new life in Singapore and algorithmic technology. Unexpectedly, the first post was about me being unemployed, claiming compensation and struggling to find a new job .

This engineer’s story has made waves on Chinese social networks Weibo and Maimai, when receiving the sympathy of many similar cases.

Many other parts of Shopee are also affected by staff cuts this year. In June, Shopee also laid off many employees in food delivery and payments, in addition to cutting staff in Argentina, Chile and Mexico.

Sea Limited posted a higher loss in the second quarter of this year. According to Refinitiv, net loss more than doubled to $931.2 million, 42 percent higher than experts’ prediction of $655 million.

Similarly, many Chinese tech giants have chosen to “optimize” their workforce to deal with the economic downturn.In the second quarter of this year, Tencent terminated contracts with nearly 5,500 employees in the second quarter of this year. The first staff reduction since 2014. Xiaomi also laid off more than 900 employees, or 3% of the workforce, as quarterly revenue fell.

Meanwhile, looking for career opportunities in Singapore is a trend for many Chinese workers, given the slow economic growth and strict zero-Covid policy at home.

Huang Yimeng, the billionaire founder of game company XD, said he will move abroad with his family next year, after suffering a strict blockade in Shanghai due to Covid-19. Shein, the Nanjing-based fast fashion e-commerce platform that mainly operates overseas, has been investing resources in Singapore.