First for fun, now for recruitment: live streams help jobseekers in China find new employers

Live-streaming recruitment, in which agents introduce job openings to viewers and send links for them to apply, has gained popularity. Big Tech firms including Kuaishou Technology and rival ByteDance have introduced services dedicated to the new form of recruitment. — SCMP

China’s live-streaming platforms have emerged as a new channel for employers to meet prospective employees, as job candidates go online to search for opportunities amid Covid-19 travel restrictions and what economists call the country’s most challenging job market ever.

Liu Chao, 33, finds “selling” jobs surprisingly easier than his previous job as an e-commerce live-streamer. “After selling (clothes) through live-streaming for several months, I realised we didn’t have many advantages, so I gave up,” Liu said. “By coincidence, I met another friend working in the human resources industry and came up with the idea of hiring through short videos and live-streaming.”