Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) is making a large-scale recruitment campaign in mainland China, the Chinese-language newspaper NBD reported on Friday.
According to the information posted in Google's Chinese blog, Google is recruiting employees covering 26 positions in seven departments, which are the departments of R&D, products, sales, operation, operation & IT, human resources and marketing.
The post in the blog also showed that most jobs would be in Shanghai and Beijing, except marketing and operation & IT, which will be offered in Beijing only. The company did not indicate how many employees will be recruited in the post.
Many employees have left Google's China branch since the company announced in March it would exit from the Chinese market.
Wang Jin, former vice director of Google China R&D Center, had joined Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU) in April. Song Zhongjie, Google China's general manager for sales, took the position of president of Aibang Net, the top life search service provider in China. Liu Jun, assistant dean, who was in charge of web search development in Google China Project Research Institute, has also left his positions.
According to data from technology research firm iResearch, Google's market share fell to 27.3 percent in the second quarter, while local player Baidu rose to 70.8 percent.
Google, which broke up with Beijing in January over internet censorship, has finally got its Internet Content Provider (ICP) license, which is a must for operating internet business in China, renewed from the Chinese government.
However, the effect of this renewal on China's Internet industry is overall negative, Evan Bailyn, a recognized expert on search engine optimization in U.S. told IBTimes.
"Google.cn is merely a symbol of Google's respect for the Chinese government, but it has absolutely no substance behind it," Bryan told the reporter.
"Baidu has a huge competitive advantage in providing censored results because that allows them to tailor search results to the actual place their users live, rather than a nearby 'special administrative region,'" Bailyn said.
According to Bailyn, Baidu will be able to grow a much more robust local search product, especially one that serves local content based on the user's IP address, something Google is usually able to do quite well, but which they will not be able to offer in its full force to Chinese citizens in the current situation.
However, Edward Yu from China-based Analysys International has a much more optimistic view towards Google's future in China.
"The current situation is temporary (for Google). Since Google provides good user experience, it will gradually regain its market grip." Yu said.
"It's not surprising at all (that Google is recruiting employees in China). China is a market that couldn't be neglected by any international internet company." Yu concluded.
According to government data, the number of netizens in China, already the world's largest internet market by users, has surged to 420 million by June.
International Business Times, The Global Business News Leader
