Lagou

Lagou is a Chinese recruitment and career services platform with a focus on the internet and technology sectors. It was founded in Beijing in July 2013 by Xu Dandan. The founding team, which also included Ma Delong and Bao Aile, had previously worked together at Tencent and later established the 3W Coffee, a well-known crowdfunding café, before launching Lagou.

The platform was designed to address the high demand for talent in China's rapidly growing internet industry by creating a more efficient connection between companies and professionals. From its inception, Lagou differentiated itself by focusing on user experience for the job seeker, requiring detailed company profiles and transparent salary information to help candidates make informed decisions. This approach attracted a large number of skilled STEM professionals and became a primary recruitment channel for major Chinese tech companies like Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and ByteDance.

The company's business model primarily relies on charging fees to enterprises for successful hires, rather than charging job seekers, which distinguished it from traditional recruitment sites. Over the years, Lagou expanded its offerings beyond job postings to include services like HR SaaS through Lagou Cloud Personnel, IT training courses, and headhunting services. In September 2017, the human resources company 51job Inc. acquired a 60% majority stake in Lagou for a strategic investment of $120 million. Founder Xu Dandan stepped down as CEO in February 2023, with 51job taking over the company's operations.

Keywords: tech recruitment, China internet jobs, STEM careers, talent acquisition platform, digital professional services, IT job board, headhunting services, career development, online recruiting, technology talent, HR services, professional networking, Chinese tech industry