Baidu declined to disclose its number of non-Chinese high-level researchers but said it is hiring local employees in several countries including Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Japan.

"We recruit overseas staff because local employees understand local markets, users and partners better," said Lee.

Baidu is not the only company actually hiring overseas executives.Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltdare seeking such people to expand their overseas businesses.

Jason Wang, managingpartner of the recruitment company Experi, part of US-based Manpower Inc, said information technology companies began recruiting overseas executives about three years ago and activity is picking up.

"Apart from Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, smaller companies and even startups are also looking for high-quality leadership outside of China," Wang said.

In May, Alibaba appointed Jim Wilkinson, a former senior PepsiCo Inc executive who also worked for the US government, as its new head of international corporate communications.

Wilkinson joined the company about one week after the group filed for its record US initial public offering. Global public relations and relationships with US investors are more important than ever for the Hangzhou-based company.

"As Alibaba extends its platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses around the world, it is important that we have the right people in place who have a track record of building bridges across geographic boundaries," said Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma in a statement.

Alibaba also hired Google's head of investor relations Jane Penner, who will be based in San Francisco.

The Internet is becoming a rich hunting ground for talent for Chinese companies.

The China branch of the world's largest professional networking company LinkedIn Corp has seen an increasing number of Chinese corporate clients who are eager to boost their presence among the networking system's 300 million global users.

Ever since it officially entered the Chinese market in February by launching a Chinese-language website, LinkedIn China has seen its paid corporate users increase rapidly to about 150. Most of them are trying to use the global networking system to find talent with an overseas background.

Derek Shen, head of LinkedIn China, said in a recent interview that the company's Talent Solutions, which helps human resources departments locate the people they want, are welcomed by Chinese companies that are coping with the talent shortage caused by rapid overseas expansion and business growth.

Chinese high-tech companies are among LinkedIn China's top corporate clients. According to Shen, Baidu, Tencent, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd are among LinkedIn China's major clients.

"We just signed a high-value contract with Alibaba," he said. Apart from headhunting, LinkedIn can also serve as a platform to build up companies' brands and reputations.