Careerbuilder, a leading human capital solutions provider headquartered
in the US , announced its official entry into Vietnam on February 21.
The company said that it saw good development potential in the country despite the serious economic downturn.
It has to acquired HR Vietnam and Kiem Viec, two of four main sites
belonging to Vietnam Online Network (VON), for an undisclosed sum.
Company officials said they saw their business in Vietnam as a base
from which it can expand in the Asia-Pacific region especially
Southeast Asia .
Hunter Arnold, President of
Careerbuilder Asia-Pacific, who has spend the last four years
travelling around Asia, said he was optimistic about the Vietnamese
market’s education levels and its “hungry” workforce.
The company’s latest acquisition is a “typical illustration” of the
growing economic relationship between the US and Vietnam , officials
said at the February 21 ceremony.
In 1995, annual
bilateral trade between the two countries was only 500 million USD, but
it was reported at 22 billion USD last year.
The US
has become the most important export market for Vietnam , Le Thanh An,
US Consul General in HCM City , said at the ceremony.
VON’s Kiem Viec , Vietnam ’s second largest career site by revenues,
was founded in 2004 and is among the top two companies of the type in
the country.
Along with Vietnam works, the sites account for 90 percent of the revenue in this industry.
According to Paul Hung Nguyen, CEO of Kiem Viec and HR Vietnam, the
company’s revenues have increased by between 80 and 150 percent ever
year since it was founded. Kiem Viec has over 1 million registered
users and attracts over 400,000 visitors per month.
With its new acquisition, CareerBuilder now operates in 22 markets
outside the US and has a presence in more than 60 markets worldwide.
Vietnam ’s high economic growth rate, averaging between 6-8 percent in
the last ten year, coupled with a high internet penetration rate at 33
percent, makes the market attractive for online recruitment, officials
said.
In Asia, CareerBuilder is already present,
through acquisitions and partnerships, in mainland China, Hong Kong
Singapore, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and India.-VNA