Never a dull moment for Chinahr.com boss
By Sun Min (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-29 10:27
Chinahr.com has set a target of 250 million yuan (US$31.25 million) for this
year's turnover a 150 per cent rise compared to 2005. To achieve this,
Chinahr.com will spend more than 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million) on
advertising and other marketing activities, with this figure expected to rise
next year.
"We don't immediately expect a profit," said Zhang, who said
that this was likely come "in two years."
In terms of turnover,
Chinahr.com has already set its sights on outpacing its biggest competitor,
51job.com, this year. NASDAQ-listed 51job reported 55.1 million yuan (US$6.9
million) in income from its online recruitment services in the second quarter of
this year.
But the majority of 51job's income and profit still comes from
51job Weekly, a weekly magazine with recruitment advertisements.
"We
don't want to copy this model," stressed Zhang, who insisted that Chinahr.com
will "focus on its online services. That will be our future development
direction."
Founded in 1997, Chinahr.com first turned to Zhang for human
resources consulting in mid-2003. At the time, he was still running a human
resources consulting company after leaving Shenzhen Huawei Technology, a leading
Chinese telecom equipment maker, where he spent a decade as its sales manager,
human resources boss and vice-president.
Zhang's consulting team spent
four months conducting the consulting project, and it was this work that sparked
his interest in the business. So when the client came to him again and asked if
he would like to actually run the website, Zhang was delighted to accept the
offer.
"The choice was not made randomly," he recalled. "I like the idea
of combining traditional recruitment services with the new platform of the
Internet."
"Doing this business requires a combination of good marketing
skills, human resources management and sense of innovation," said Zhang. "And
this suits me."
Lured by the huge market potential, foreign investors
have also muscled in on this sector in recent years.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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