Alibaba Founder Says He Would Not Be Able to Work at Company Today

Jack Ma may have found Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba, but even he admits that he may have a hard time being hired by the company today.

The billionaire entrepreneur recently stated that he would have a tough time securing a job there today.

According to Ma, him and most of the other founders would struggle to pass the initial screening for many of the world’s most desirable companies.

“People like me, today, if I tried to apply (for a) job in Alibaba, it’s almost impossible,” Ma said at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Singapore.

“People judge you by your diploma,” said Ma. “They would think ’hey, we’re got a group of people from Harvard, we’ve got people from Stanford, and you are from nowhere.”

Ma had been rejected from 30 jobs before he started Alibaba in 1999.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE: BABA) and have not been compensated for this article.