A Chinese Firm Hires People Based On Their Zodiac Sign - Dog Year Borns Needn't Apply

Superstition remains deeply rooted in Chinese culture, extending into the corporate world. Business decisions have been frequently prompted by these superstitions all around, from favouring your lucky numbers to avoiding certain colours or dates to incorporating feng shui principles into the corporate decision-making of the people.

Recently all eyes have gathered on the superstition which has drawn to Sanxing Transportation, a company in Guangdong Province, southern China, due to its unusual hiring policy. According to the South China Morning Post, the firm has gone viral on Chinese social media for explicitly banning job applicants born in the Year of the Dog.

Dog Zodiac is considered dangerous for Sanxing

Their clear motive behind this decision was that those born under the dog zodiac sign might be the source of some misfortune for the head of the firm, who is a dragon. The conflict in the 12-year zodiac cycle between the dragon and dog is represented in Chinese astrology. The dragon has a water element, while the dog has a fire element. As a result, if a dragon works with a dog, they will often disagree.

Sanxing Transportation's job advertisement for a clerk position offers a monthly salary between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan which approximately counts to 35,140 and 46,853 Indian Rupees has mentioned that anyone born under the dog sign shall not need to apply. This demonstrates the company's reliance on zodiac-related superstitions to guide its hiring practices.

According to SCMP, on August 2, a member of staff told Hubei Television that the reason the company banned those applicants was because their boss was a "dragon," and "dragons and dogs do not get along well." They said that less qualified applicants would be considered "as long as their zodiac sign is not the dog." Each zodiac sign corresponds to an "earthly branch" and is assigned to one of the "five phases": metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Superstitious beliefs also regard dog people as vindictive and capable of bringing bad luck to the careers of dragon people. When it comes to romance, the opposite is believed to be true. It is believed that people born in the Year of the Dog would suffer more if they dated dragon zodiac people because dragon people tend to be less accountable in terms of loyalty and tolerance. The belief is also mixed with the feng shui theories, which suggest that if dog and dragon zodiac people are colleagues, they could hang lucky charms in the workplace to bring harmony.