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.

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