(Yicai Global) May 17 -- Longfor Group is offering a CNY500,000 (USD72,320) salary for outstanding fresh graduates as the Chinese real estate developer looks to compete for talent with tech giants Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holding and Huawei Technologies.

Around 50 percent of employees at Chongqing-based Longfor Group's digital technology division are from renowned internet firms such as Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, Haier Group, Microsoft, IBM, Accenture and SAP, reported the Economic Observer.

Set up last year, Longfor's digital unit unconditionally admits graduates who have received offers from BAT firms (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) as well as Huawei for this year and will offer them an annual pay of over CNY500,000.

"To be honest, this offer is much higher than the market price," said recent graduate from Shanghai Jiaotong University and a new recruit at Longfor named Zhou Yilei. "But I know nothing about Longfor and didn't fully figure out what the division is doing until after the interview."

The unit started a new round of recruitment early last month. The division has over 500 employees, one Longfor employee stated, saying "it will recruit hundreds more." 

Longfor is not the only real estate firm to tap internet talent. Over the past years, many other players set up new positions such as chief information officer and chief digital officer similar to internet firms. More and more property companies including Vanke, Evergrande Group, Country Garden and Longfor have launched digitalization businesses and also splurge on attracting talent. 

Editor: William Clegg