By CHENG Lu

Singaporean e-commerce platform Shopee is facing backlash after many new hires accused the company of withdrawing their job offers days before they were scheduled to begin work. 

ZHOU Bo, a fresh graduate, was packing last week when he got a call telling him the post of algorithm engineer was no longer available. “I was supposed to fly to Singapore on August 28, but now everything has changed,” he said. 

LIN Ge got the call the same day when he was waiting in line at Changi Airport. HR told the baffled Lin that Shopee was going through “internal adjustments.” 

“The person who called me could barely speak Chinese,” said Zhou. 

In its reply to Jiemian News’ inquiry, Shopee said some engineering posts are under reconsideration because the company has revised its recruitment plan. “We keep in contact with the candidates and will do our best to help them,” the company said.

A WeChat group of candidates like Zhou has more than 200 members. Shopee’s solution is to pay one month’s salary as compensation and cover any expenses such as hotels and flights. 

But the candidates want at least three-month salary, but no compensation will help fresh graduates like Zhou much. After receiving Shopee’s offer in December last year, he turned down opportunities from other companies. “Now even the 2023 recruitment drive is over. My chances of finding a job are slim,” he said.

Shopee’s parent company Sea released its Q2 financial report on August 16, showing a loss of US$930 million (6.4 billion yuan), double the losses at this time last year.