Jobstreet to expand India operations

JobStreet, born from the ruins of the 2001 dotcom carnage that saw most of the dotcoms go bust and vanish altogether, is poised for growth.

As a result of this expansion, "we will have more brick and mortar offices in India", said managing director and vice president of Jobstreet (India) N Muralidharan. He, however, declined to reveal where the new offices will be or how much investment this will involve.

The expansion will help more Indian companies recruit through the jobsite. "Many are still a little skeptical about the virtual world and a face-to-face interaction should help the company garner more business," says Muralidharan. JobStreet also has to jostle for market share with competitors Naukri.com and Monster.com.

The job portal, with its five offices at Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, has 1.2 million registered jobseekers from India, out of a global total of 2.8 million.

"Over 2,000 companies too are registered with us in their endeavour to headhunting," said Muralidharan. Today the online recruiter counts India as its second biggest market, after Malaysia.

JobStreet Corporate Berhad, the parent of the Indian operation, began to expand out of Malaysia in 1999. In the quarter-ended September 30, 2004 it recorded a topline of $2.42 million and its bottomline was $705,000. In 2003 it made $1.58 million and $259,000 respectively for the corresponding period.