News and Research on 51job, Inc. (JOBS)
Business Description
51job, Inc. provides integrated human resource services in the People’s Republic of China. The company principally engages in recruitment related advertising services, including the production of a city-specific publication of advertisement listings as newspaper inserts and Internet recruitment services. The company also provides executive search services and other human resource related services.
The company operates as a foreign investment enterprise in China through its wholly owned subsidiaries, 51net, which is the registered owner of some of its trademarks and its domain name, 51net Beijing and 51net HR, which are Cayman Islands companies, as well as its affiliated Chinese entities, including:
Shanghai Qianjin Advertising Co., Ltd., or AdCo, and AdCo’s eight branch offices, seven majorities owned subsidiaries and one jointly owned subsidiary with Tech JV, or, collectively, the AdCo Subsidiaries. AdCo and the AdCo Subsidiaries hold licenses and permits to conduct advertising businesses.
Shanghai Run An Lian Information Consultancy Co., Ltd., or RAL, which holds human resource related services and Internet content provision licenses.
Qianjin Network Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., or Tech JV, which is allowed to conduct online advertising and holds a human resource related services license.
Qian Cheng Wu You Network Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., or WFOE, which is wholly owned by 51net Beijing and owns certain of the company's trademarks and registered copyrights.
Beijing Qian Cheng Si Jin Advertising Co., Ltd., or Qian Cheng, which is its joint venture partner in Tech JV.
Beijing Run An Information Consultancy Co., Ltd., or Run An, which holds a minority interest in Qian Cheng.
Shanghai Wang Cai Advertising Co., Ltd., or Wang Cai AdCo, which is an AdCo Subsidiary jointly owned by AdCo and TechJV and holds licenses to conduct advertising businesses.
Shanghai Wang Ju Human Resource Consulting Co., Ltd., or Wang Ju, which is owned by 51net HR and Run An and holds a license to provide human resource related services.
Wuhan Mei Hao Qian Cheng Advertising Co., Ltd., or Wuhan AdCo, which holds a minority interest in Tech JV and the company's AdCo Subsidiary in the city of Wuhan that conducts advertising businesses.
Product and Services
The company provides a range of human resource services in the following categories: recruitment related services, including print advertising, online recruitment and executive search services; and other human resource related services, such as training and business process outsourcing. The company offers a number of other value-added human resource services in areas such as training and business process outsourcing.
Recruitment related services
Print advertising 51job Weekly: 51job Weekly is a city-specific recruitment advertising publication which is published once a week and is distributed as an insert in local newspapers. As of March 31, 2007, 51job Weekly was published in 23 major cities in China.
A different version of 51job weekly is published in each of the company's markets, with each version containing city-specific recruitment advertisements. The company coordinates 51job weekly with its www.51job.com online recruitment website and posts all of the recruitment advertisements appearing in 51job weekly on www.51job.com as well. 51job weekly contains recruitment advertisements for the range of job categories that are available on its website, including sections for professional, middle management and technical personnel. Advertisements placed in 51job weekly are primarily in Chinese language.
Employers use 51job weekly both as a recruitment tool and as an advertising and publicity medium to promote their brand name and raise their corporate awareness among job seekers. 51job Weekly recruitment advertisements come in various formats, from large, multi-color advertisements using graphics and corporate trademarks, which are often placed by international and large domestic companies, to simple text job announcements, which are typically posted by smaller, local businesses. 51job Weekly is divided into a number of separate sections, with certain sections targeted at higher income and more educated job seekers containing large, colorful advertisements on glossy, high quality paper. Other sections include simpler text-only advertisements targeted at middle and lower income job seekers. The circulation, page dimensions, type of paper used and number of sections appearing in local editions of 51job weekly differ from city to city.
In China, entities engaged in publishing activities are required by the government to have a publishing license. The company provides point-of-sale vendors with marketing materials such as posters, display racks and other promotional items. The company also circulates 51job Weekly independently through its direct marketing campaigns. Its direct marketing includes offering free copies of 51job weekly at self-help kiosks at job fairs, in the lobbies of major office buildings, at post offices, on university campuses and in other public areas where the public circulation of newspapers is permitted. It has entered into marketing arrangements to offer free copies of 51job Weekly in subway stations in Shanghai and Tianjin, and in light rail stations in Chongqing, Dalian and Tianjin.
The advertising fees that the company charges depend on various factors, including the size, placement, format, and use of color and graphics in the advertisement, the length of time the advertisement is to appear, and the city in which the advertisement is placed.
Online recruitment services — www.51job.com: Online recruitment advertisements appear in both Chinese and English on www.51job.com. These advertisements cover many different job categories ranging from professional and middle management positions to clerical, industrial and hourly jobs. Job seekers may search for positions based on a number of criteria, including city of employment, industry, job function, job title and job posting date.
Employers can use the company's eHire web-based platform to search its job candidate database and download resumes for a fee. In addition, eHire contains other tools that enable employers to manage, organize and streamline the recruitment and hiring process. The company also offers website design as an additional value-added service and marketing tool for corporate customers. The company designs these sites in-house to client specifications and operates and maintains these sites for its clients. These client sites, together with its www.51job.com website, are hosted by China Telecom and China Netcom.
www.51job.com provides job seekers with online tools to search for job opportunities and allows them to: search and review all recruitment advertisements; receive e-mails of advertisements matching the job seeker’s profile and preferences; submit resumes directly to prospective employers to apply for a desired position; organize and track job related information and applications; and obtain information about upcoming job fairs and career development and other job related information.
The company provides job seekers access to www.51job.com free of charge.
Executive search — eSearch: To meet employers’ recruitment needs, the company supplements its recruitment advertising service with eSearch executive search services. The company conducts searches principally for employers seeking to fill mid-level professional, managerial and junior executive positions.
Other human resource related services
The company conducts training seminars in business management, leadership, sales and marketing, human resource, negotiation skills, financial planning and analysis, public administration, manufacturing, secretarial and other skills. The company provides its seminars to the general public and on a customized, in-house basis for corporate clients. The company licenses content and materials from third parties for some of the training courses it provides.
The company provides business process outsourcing services to a small number of corporate clients with respect to social insurance and welfare payment processing, tracking compliance with local governmental employment regulations and payroll processing.
The company provides its monthly human resource trade magazine called Human Capital to clients on a subscription or complimentary basis.
The company also provides general and customized salary survey studies with analyses of compensation and benefits packages across various cities, industries and job positions. Human resource departments utilize this data to understand the market for compensation levels and to assist in their determination of compensation and benefits packages for employees and candidates.
Customers
The company's customers consist of large multinational corporations, large national Chinese corporations and local Chinese enterprises of all sizes.
Competition
Print advertising
The company's competitors in its main markets include Beijing Evening News, Guangzhou Daily, Shanghai Talent Market and Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
Online recruitment services
The company's principal online competitors include ChinaHR.com, Cjol.com and Zhaopin.com.
Other services
The company's competitors include Bó-Lè Associates, Ltd., Horton International, Hudson Highland Group, which is a spin-off from Monster Worldwide, and Sterling, each of which provides executive search services on a nationwide basis.
History
51job, Inc. was founded in 1998.
