What happened when Coolpad suddenly solved the problem of freshmen around 260?

Qin Yu thought he would run away. During the long wait on May 15 and May 16, he didn't receive the cancellation call from Coolpad HR as scheduled, which also means that he will be the lucky one besides more than 260 cancelled fresh graduates. Qin Yu dare not slack off. He soon got on the train from Wuhan to Shenzhen. But on the way to report to his new employer, he suddenly learned that he was fired.

Just four years ago, Coolpad was one of the mainstream brands in the domestic mobile phone market. However, the mobile phone market is changing rapidly. In just a few years, Coolpad quickly fell out of the first echelon. Coolpad, which is trying to make a comeback, urgently needs to expand fresh blood. For more than 260 freshmen, Coolpad's high salary and former reputation are important factors in their choice. But before leaving the campus, Coolpad gave these freshmen the last lesson.

Liu Jiangfeng, CEO of Coolpad, admitted to the reporter of China Youth Daily and Zhongqing Online that "(these recent graduates) mostly canceled their contracts because the business of Coolpad was not very good in the past two years."

On the eve of graduation, more than 260 fresh graduates were suddenly terminated.

On the morning of May 15, Shen Bing, an undergraduate from a university in Chengdu, found that more than 300 freshmen who had signed up in the "Cool 20 17" WeChat group could not be contacted any more because they were removed from the group chat.

Shen Bing and the signed alumni asked each other, but they didn't know what had happened. Just when they thought that Coolpad might have to re-establish a new department group according to each classmate's position, suddenly a classmate received a cancellation call from the company. Next, Shen Bing alumni received termination notices one after another. By 4pm, when Shen Bing got a call from Coolpad HR to cancel the contract, she was already very calm. The HR said that because of the company's business adjustment and structural adjustment, the position no longer needs people. Coolpad will give her a penalty of 3,000 yuan and help her contact some enterprises with recruitment needs.

According to the tripartite agreement signed by Coolpad and these fresh graduates, Coolpad should compensate undergraduates with 3000 yuan and master students with 4000 yuan as liquidated damages. However, some students still find it difficult to accept Coolpad's termination behavior.

"It's too late to break the contract now. 20 17 school recruitment is basically over, and everyone has to write papers to defend themselves. Time is too tight. In a few months, we will start the 20 18 school recruitment, and we will lose the status of fresh graduates, which is very unfavorable for us to find a job. " Jiang Yun, a master student at a university in Chengdu, said.

Jiang Yun also said that fresh graduates have hope, desire and trust in the company and should not be treated like this. She is willing to believe that the termination of the contract is a last resort, but if it is beyond the legal agreement, Coolpad can give her classmates even one or two hundred yuan more compensation, which will at least make her feel that Coolpad has remorse and regret.

Talking about Coolpad's countermeasures, Liu Jiangfeng said, "We are rearranging their work now, and everything will be arranged properly. We can always find 2000 posts, but there are actually 300. (These positions) are not only in mobile phones, but also in other industries. " "If we can turn, we will turn. If you can't turn away, then look again. So we will definitely have a satisfactory plan. " Liu Jiangfeng said.

Students who sign contracts are still lucky.

However, at the beginning of the campus presentation in September of 20 16, Coolpad was still a reliable company in the eyes of students. Some recent graduates said that the recruitment process of Coolpad was very formal at that time. First hold a presentation to attract students' attention, and then send a text message to tell those who have passed the resume screening to enter the interview. Students who pass the group interview, professional interview and HR interview can sign the contract.

In Shen Bing's view, the interview pass rate of Coolpad is quite low. She feels that only one out of 50 people will be hired and the salary is not bad. In addition, the position provided by Coolpad is in Beijing, which is also her goal when looking for a job. 20 16 1 1 month, letv, which has been questioned by the outside world for many times, once again broke the news of financial shortage. Dragged by LeTV, the largest shareholder, Coolpad's share price suffered heavy losses, with a one-day drop of 17.6%. Jiang Yun was worried that LeTV's problems would spread to Coolpad, but people around her and Coolpad HR told her that LeTV and Coolpad's businesses were separate, and Coolpad would not be greatly affected.

"I think even if the situation is not good, it should not get worse soon. And now the economy is depressed, and many companies are not doing well. In short, I am very lucky to stop looking for a job. " Jiang Yun said. 20 17, 16, it was reported by the media that two new employees who just graduated and entered coolpad on 20 16 were inexplicably dismissed two days before they became regular employees. The media quoted insiders of Coolpad as saying that Coolpad was forced to optimize layoffs due to poor management.

Shen Bing also noticed relevant news at that time, but Coolpad HR told the fresh graduates that these news belonged to online hype. "There was doubt at that time, but there was no doubt about the kind of default. At that time, I was a very simple student mentality. I think I should trust this company or have confidence in Coolpad. "

However, near graduation, more than 260 fresh graduates who have signed up for Coolpad suddenly received the news of the appointment. Some media reported that? "Since February, (Coolpad) did not want fresh graduates, but it was suppressed by the top management. A few days ago, he said that he would adjust the internal structure, and he might call everyone. I hope everyone will be transferred ... I just called to cancel the contract today, saying that the performance is not good and the focus is on overseas. "

In this regard, Sun, president of the First Mobile Research Institute, analyzed that LeTV is now in a tight financial situation, and it is conceivable that Coolpad also has financial problems. Therefore, Coolpad should maintain stability from existing things instead of making a fuss about innovation breakthroughs. In order to maintain stability, we need to streamline these fresh graduates, mainly from the perspective of cost.

I have repeatedly missed development opportunities, and Coolpad has turned from prosperity to decline.

According to market research organization IDC, in the fourth quarter of 20 13, Coolpad's share in the domestic smartphone market was 1 1%, ranking third after Samsung and Lenovo. In the global market, Coolpad also ranked seventh with shipments of 37.2 million units.

However, the "Analysis Report on China Best-selling Mobile Phone Market in 20 16" released by First Mobile World Research Institute said that Coolpad's ranking in the domestic market had dropped to the 9th place in 20 16. Liu Jiangfeng, CEO of Coolpad, once said that the shipment of Coolpad in 20 16 years was about150,000 units. In recent years, with the great development of the smart phone market, Coolpad has turned from prosperity to decline.

In Sun's view, the turning point of Coolpad stems from the policy changes in the operator market. The rapid growth of 3G mobile phone market in 20 13 years has made some mobile phone manufacturers very optimistic about the market prospect in 20 14 years. According to his estimation, at the end of 20 13, these manufacturers purchased orders for 3G mobile phone components from suppliers, which was equivalent to three times that of previous years.

However, from 2065438 to June 2004, the State Council SASAC informed the three major operators to cut their marketing expenses by 20% within three years. According to media reports, the specific direction of cost reduction includes measures such as reducing subsidies for contract machines. According to estimates, the three major operators need to reduce marketing expenses by about 40 billion yuan in three years.

Sun Changxu, chief analyst of international e-commerce, said that Coolpad relies too much on the operator market, and online channels and open channels are not dominant. Before, it has been facing the coolpad of operators. In the case of shrinking channels of operators, it did not quickly turn to consumer-oriented thinking, which led to the decline of its domestic market share.

Sun yanbiao believes that what is even more fatal is that the three major operators immediately shifted their business focus to the mobile phone sales in the 4G market, which led to the sales of about 200 million mobile phones in the domestic mobile phone market at that time, among which Coolpad and Lenovo had relatively large inventories. These mobile phones were forced to be shipped to the markets in Southeast Asia and South Asia for sale at reduced prices, and the huge losses caused by inventory made Coolpad's funding problem continue until now.

Facing the unfavorable situation, Coolpad is also diversified in 20 14. On the one hand, it created the Internet mobile phone brand Cool God, on the other hand, it launched the ivvi mobile phone for open channels. However, due to the equity dispute between 360 and LeTV in Coolpad, Coolpad was badly hurt. The Great God brand and Qiku Company are classified as 360, and ivvi is also split from the Coolpad system, attracting many former Coolpad executives to join.

Although LeTV later invited Liu Jiangfeng, the former president of Huawei Glory, as the CEO of Coolpad, Coolpad also launched a variety of mobile phones focusing on photos, music and games from 20 16, trying to narrow the distance with young people, but the market has never improved. According to the announcement issued by Coolpad on April 2 1 7, as of March 20 17, Coolpad's operating loss was about HK$ 460 million, and it is estimated that the operating loss will increase to HK$ 600 million to HK$ 800 million in the first half of 20 17.

According to the above-mentioned insiders, Coolpad is currently facing dual pressures from channels and suppliers. On the one hand, due to the historical problems of a large number of stocks before, social public channels such as chain stores and operator stores have resistance to cool new products. On the other hand, the mobile phone market should have a four-month lead time and a large amount of cash flow as a buffer. Coupled with the recent tight supply of many mobile phone parts, it is necessary to give suppliers more time in advance. For Coolpad, this is obviously not good news.

It is difficult to quantify the losses suffered by students.

In the face of fierce competition in the domestic market, Coolpad's statement of "focusing on overseas" does not seem to simply prevaricate the rhetoric of recent graduates.

Sun Changxu believes that the smart phone market in China is saturated, and it has entered the stage of stock game through online and offline switching in recent years. Without strong differentiated products and abundant capital, it is difficult to gain a foothold in the China market. But the switching in Southeast Asia and South Asia has just entered the climax, which is roughly equivalent to the market conditions of China 20 12 and 20 13. Under the same capital conditions, Coolpad has a better input-output ratio in overseas markets.

Sun Changxu suggested that Coolpad now needs to reduce its spending in China and transform its domestic brand image into a younger one. After regrouping overseas, wait until a new wave of replacement climax appears in the domestic market, and then come back.

But in any case, these 260 fresh graduates have become victims of Coolpad's response to the crisis. Qin Yu said that until now, Coolpad has no official explanation and apology for the cancellation of the contract. He and his classmates reserved the relevant rights when replying to the cancellation email, and then made plans to collectively defend their rights after finding a job.

Lawyer Coboo Liang, a senior partner of Beijing Jincheng Tongda Law Firm, believes that the tripartite agreement is a pre-agreement signed by the employment department of the school, students and the third party, and it is a civil agreement in law, with the purpose of signing a formal employment contract in the future. According to Article 42 of China's Contract Law, the parties to a contract make an agreement in anticipation of the contract. If one party tears up this pre-agreement, it can be legally recognized as liability for contracting fault.

"The principle of liability compensation for fault in contracting is to compensate the efforts and losses caused by the no-fault party in signing the contract. But as far as the tripartite agreement is concerned, it is difficult to quantify and calculate the losses suffered by students in practice, which is actually the loss of employment opportunities. If there is a clear agreement on the amount of compensation in the contract, it will be performed according to the contract, but there is no agreement on the amount, and it is understandable for the company to take out some money. " Coboo Liang said.

Hu, an associate professor at the School of Civil and Commercial Economics of China University of Political Science and Law, said that in addition to the agreed liquidated damages, Coolpad's breach of contract has brought losses to students, and students can claim compensation according to the size of the losses. "Compensation includes round-trip transportation, the cost of making resumes online, and even the cost of buying clothes to find a house, but the company may only give you (compensation) direct losses."

In addition to unemployment, the termination of the contract has also caused a chain change in the lives of these fresh graduates. Jiang Yun, who is bent on going to Shenzhen, had to recite her thesis with her classmates in order to find a job, so that her classmates could help her deal with the submission during the interview. Qin Yu, who has come to Shenzhen, found that his previous idea of renting a house in Nanshan District and studying data analysis by the way was also ruined.

Shen Bing, who was full of hope to reunite with her boyfriend after graduation, once doubted whether she could find a job in Beijing again after being terminated by Coolpad. Fortunately, now she has got the offer from Beijing, although the treatment is not particularly good. "I am so lucky," she said.