“Sorry, we only need ‘E people’.”
“Born Offer Reapers: ‘E People’, How Do ‘I People’ Ace Job Interviews with Cheat Codes?”
During the job-seeking season, such jokes often circulate on social platforms.
“I people” and “E people” are labels that contemporary young people have given themselves based on the popular MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) personality test on social networks. In MBTI, the first letter I and E of the personality type represent Introversion and Extraversion, respectively. According to the test, introverts tend to focus on their internal state, such as emotions and thoughts, while extroverts tend to direct their attention and energy towards the external world, including people, objects, and environments. In online popular culture, “E people” are often described as enthusiastic about socializing and able to draw energy from it, while “I people” tend to be less enthusiastic about socializing and prefer quiet solitude.
Group Job-Seeking by Bus: Unexpectedly Overcoming Students’ Interview Anxiety
During the job-seeking season, employers organize various interviews to assess job seekers’ abilities, which is also jokingly referred to as “I people’s hell” on social platforms. Young “I people” share and mock their true feelings and encountered setbacks in job interviews online: “I finally got an interview opportunity with a desired company, but the thought of introducing myself during the interview makes my heart race, my palms sweat, and my mind go blank. I get so nervous in front of the interviewer that I can’t speak.” “Group interviews are really ‘I people’s hell. Watching others speak confidently, I have no chance to interject in the corner. After being rejected once, I don’t even want to participate in interviews anymore.” “Sometimes I think I can definitely do it, but sometimes I feel like I’m too incompetent and unworthy. Ultimately, I end up avoiding interviews…”
Zhang Weihong, a counselor at the School of Automation, Hangzhou Dianzi University, observed this phenomenon in his interactions with students. “Many students say they are ‘I people’, and some even hope to ‘avoid socializing if possible’. Some university teachers have told me that a student who is very active in chatting on WeChat becomes speechless when facing teachers in the office.” Zhang Weihong told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that in reality, quiet students often experience doubled anxiety when communicating with personnel from enterprises and institutions during the job-seeking season, making it difficult for them to take the first step.
Last December, Zhang Weihong saw a job fair in Jiaxing and wanted to encourage students to submit their resumes in person. However, due to the long distance, he rented a bus to take students to the job fair together. Surprisingly, this format not only solved the problem of students’ transportation for job-seeking, increased their enthusiasm, but also alleviated interview anxiety for many “I people” college students. “By inviting friends and going to interviews with roommates and classmates, ‘I people’ can face interviews more calmly in a peaceful and positive atmosphere, and can also more actively prepare and seize employment opportunities,” said Zhang Weihong.
On the afternoon of November 11, the “Job-Seeking Bus” was ready to depart. (Photo by Yang Jiayin, The Paper)
The School of Automation at Hangzhou Dianzi University has organized such group interviews by bus dozens of times so far. On the afternoon of November 11, counselors Zhang Weihong and Ye Yue each rented a bus, taking 46 graduating undergraduates from the 2025 batch from various majors such as Electrical Engineering and Automation, Intelligent Science and Technology, and Measurement and Control to Kuntai Maglev Technology Co., Ltd., located more than 20 kilometers away, for a group job-seeking trip. “Among these students, I estimate that about 80% are ‘I people’,” Zhang Weihong said with a smile.
A reporter from The Paper followed them and observed the entire job-seeking process of these “I people” college students.
“I People” Job-Seeking Journey: There Are Ways to Conquer “I People’s Hell”
After the company’s vice general manager, relevant personnel from the human resources department, and alumni who had already joined the company introduced the company’s development history, main business, and benefits to the students, the 46 students entered several waiting rooms and successively entered the interview process.
The students were listening to the company’s representative explaining the company’s situation. (Photo by Yang Jiayin, The Paper)
“Are you nervous?” Zhang Weihong asked the waiting students with a smile during the interview break. Most of them were quietly preparing for the interview or whispering to each other. After the earlier interviewed students came out of the interview room, some looked worried and admitted they were a bit nervous, while others felt good and would chat and share experiences with the waiting students.
After the interview, Xu, a student from the Medical Information Engineering program, felt that his performance was “overall okay” and also felt that the position matched his major well. He said that although he is an “I person” who prefers to learn new knowledge and watch online courses alone, and prefers solitude to socializing, he doesn’t get stage fright in social situations. “I was very ‘I’ in high school. When I entered college, the academic pressure eased up, and I thought about making more friends, so I joined the college’s Party Committee and some clubs. But at that time, I wouldn’t actively express myself in social situations. I was a ‘little transparent’ in the club throughout my first year.” Xu told The Paper that he found the work of the college’s Party Committee interesting and wanted to stay on, so he started actively participating in activities in the second half of his first year, constantly expressing himself and sharing his views in meetings, and finally succeeded in staying on. During his undergraduate years, Xu would actively participate in some competitions and activities, feeling that his social circle had expanded significantly compared to his high school days, and his social skills had also improved greatly.
However, Xu still felt a bit nervous when facing his first job interview. “It was my first formal autumn recruitment interview. I went to a company alone for the interview. At that time, I was nervous and unsure about what questions the interviewer would ask. I appeared a bit restrained during the interview,” Xu said. He added that what he feared most was group interviews, especially “unled group discussions”, which best reflect the differences between “E people” and “I people”. “Job seekers sit together and think about a topic. ‘E people’ are usually very active, proactive, and brave in expressing their views, but ‘I people’ like me have concerns. We think about whether our answers are complete, whether our logic is clear, and whether our language expression is smooth. Sometimes, we may appear less active and a bit passive, and we can’t clearly express our views, making it difficult for others to quickly understand our meaning.”
In Xu’s view, “I people” don’t necessarily get stage fright during interviews; they tend to think internally and organize their language before expressing themselves cautiously. Both “I people” and “E people” have their own advantages. Currently, he has participated in interviews with seven or eight companies, with three reaching the final interview stage and one offering him a job. As the number of interviews increased, he became less nervous. “I think confidence is very important in interviews. You must believe that you are the best and express and present yourself confidently and openly. Even if you can’t answer the interviewer’s question, don’t show fear. Secondly, you should prepare for the interview in advance, learn more about the company’s background, and assess the position, which can also make you feel more confident,” he said.
He Yize (a pseudonym), a student majoring in Electrical Engineering and Automation, told The Paper that he came to the interview with his roommate this time. He had previously followed the college’s bus to interview for a central enterprise and successfully received an offer. He Yize admitted that he was busy with his studies in high school and almost never socialized unless necessary, making him a typical “I person”. “I always liked being alone, reading books, and watching anime. After entering college, I consciously wanted to improve my social skills, including watching videos on sharing communication and interaction skills online, joining more clubs in reality, and making more friends. Actually, I’m still very ‘I’, but for the sake of finding a job, I have to improve my communication skills.”
Like Xu, He Yize was also nervous during his first job interview. “Before the interview, I was anxious and nervous because I was unfamiliar with the interview process and didn’t know what to expect. During the interview, when I saw a certain look from the interviewer, I stumbled and couldn’t speak smoothly.”
To solve the “stumbling” problem, He Yize thought of a “silly” method—preparing and memorizing answers to potential questions. “First, I looked for some interview experiences online. The questions in interviews are either about personal situations or professional questions. The former can be prepared by listing answers to common questions in advance, such as self-introduction, challenges and difficulties encountered in life, a successful or failed experience, etc. If you can’t think of an answer or express it smoothly on the spot, you can use this method to prepare beforehand, which can also reduce nervousness during the interview.” He Yize believes that some of his “I people” classmates often hesitate to take the