Chinese tech firm ByteDance is launching a global recruitment program aimed at hiring more than 40,000 new employees within the year. The owner of the popular short-video social media platform TikTok is hoping to rival or match Alibaba Group Holding in terms of size despite the ongoing health and economic crisis.
The ambitious hiring frenzy comes as most tech companies at home and abroad are furloughing and laying off staff to reduce cost. ByteDance will reportedly be prioritizing filling out more than 10,000 open positions, most of which will involve the recruitment of high-level researchers and software encoders.
It is also mainly looking at tapping its existing workforce for possible referrals as evident in a post made on its internal website. The first wave of new employees will be tasked in supporting the company's growing number of mobile and online applications, including its popular TikTok platform and its news aggregator Jinri Toutiao.
Other new hires will be distributed to the company's other projects in segments such as e-commerce and mobile gaming. The recruitment program is part of the company's wider goals of reaching more than 100,000 global staff members by the year. According to ByteDance chief executive officer, Zhang Yiming, the company should have roughly the same number of employees as Alibaba Group Holding before the year ends.
The added manpower is expected to aid ByteDance's goal of cementing its top position in the social media and online entertainment segments both in China and in overseas markets such as the United States. It will also support ByteDance's ambitious rapid expansion into new markets.
The hiring spree is a bold move by the Chinese firm given that its peers are now imposing heavy job cuts amid the global shutdowns. Startup companies such as Oyo Hotels, Zume Pizza, and Brandless are all implementing job cuts as their operations dwindle due to the ongoing stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions.
Unlike other startups, ByteDance is seeing a surge in its business amid the coronavirus pandemic. Similar to companies such as Tencent and Zoom, ByteDance has reported a surge in new users, particularly in heavy hit areas. With people now stuck at home, consumers are turning to online apps for entertainment.
Apart from its now extremely popular TikTok app, ByteDance is also expanding its services to include online tutorial platforms to leverage the increasing need for online education in China and aboard. ByteDance is also making strategic alliances and acquisitions to expand its business in segments such as live-streaming commerce, enterprise software, and online video games.
