By now, Web-based businesses know that volume clicks on a site don't mean increased sales. For online recruiters, that axiom couldn't be more true. Companies are cutting their work forces and freezing hiring to save money. Already, traditional headhunters are feeling the pinch. And so will online recruiters. Page views may be up, but the global economic slowdown will give way to lower revenue projections -- except at Monster.com.

According to Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix, the six-year-old Monster.com, a division of recruiter TMP Worldwide Inc., leads the industry in the U.S. with a 53% market share measured in terms of site visits. When TMP reported its profits in early May, it singled out Monster as a significant revenue generator, making Monster the only profitable major career site. U.S. competitors such as Headhunter.net Inc. and Hotjobs.com Inc., both listed on the Nasdaq, and JobsDB.com in Asia have yet to turn a profit. In 2000, Headhunter reported a loss of more than $25 million, and Hotjobs reported a loss of more than $40 million. Both have lowered their revenue growth prospects.

Libby Christie, Monster.com's managing director for Asia Pacific, recently talked about how Monster can grow amid a global economic slowdown. The following is an edited excerpt:

WSJ: For many traditional headhunters, the U.S. economic slowdown has meant less business. How has the downturn affected Monster?

Companies [in Asia] are still hiring but they're just being more selective. They're trying to find cost-effective ways to hiring. In times of economic slowdown, what we find is that people want cheaper and faster ways of doing recruitment. ... The opportunity to connect through the Web is enormous.

Here's a statistic. Between November last year and April, we registered a 392% growth in the resume database in Asia. Those people are trusting us with their resumes. The early adopters of Internet recruitment tends to be IT [information technology], but the percentage of IT job seekers compared to the rest of job seekers is falling month on month. More middle management people are getting onto Monster. ... I haven't seen any drop-off at all. Monster has 15 million registered world-wide and 10 million of those people have put their resumes online. Monster also has clients who are recruitment companies desperate to take time and costs out of their processes. The Internet gives them the opportunity to have a one-on-one even before they meet the candidate.

Q: If recruiters can take the technology and re-brand it, what makes Monster unique?

These recruiters don't spend a quarter billion dollars marketing the brand to at-tract job seekers or have experts who can interface with job seekers to manage their careers ... [with] what I call a two-sided portal. One side is the job seekers whom we give those services to. The other is the recruiters and we sell them products [database, technology].

Q: In which market is Monster growing the fastest?

Right now I would say India because we just started in India in March. But just last year, I would have said it was Hong Kong because we launched that site last May. In India, we've seen a 540% increase in site traffic and resumes. In Hong Kong, [site traffic and resumes have] increased 379%. ... It's a factor of being in the markets at the early stage of online recruiting. Asia ... will be our next growth area. Already we're in five highly strategic countries. Hong Kong is important for the North Asian and Chinese market. India is a huge market. Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are important because of the growth in recruitment in these countries as well as the skill levels there and the penetration of the Internet among users.

Q: Where do you plan to expand next? Is China a potential growth area?

Right now, we're not talking about China. ... It's not that we're not ready or the market isn't ready. Europe has been the focus of growth this year, in the near future it'll be Asia. In most of the markets [we plan to enter], there would be [no other sites] that are competitive with us. Not to sound arrogant, but we know what it takes to make a business successful. This is not a cheap business. We only go in where we can seriously become number one. When we go into a market, we're in there for the long run.

Q: Monster is turning a profit in the U.S. and Canada. Is it doing so here?

We don't talk about the details of the results. But I can tell you we would expect to invest in a country for three years. That's a model Monster understands very well. We need the time to establish the brand and create the client relationships.

Q: Is it harder to establish a brand in Asia where the markets are fragmented than in the U.S. where there is one national market?

We understand each country is different in terms of how people approach their careers and receive and process information. ... In each country, you've got to find something that works. In Hong Kong, there's no one TV program that would give you that reach. ... Our preference there is to do outdoor advertising and online advertising. In India, there is a different challenge... I want the people from the top schools and I want people in particular recruitment categories like accountant, IT professionals. I'm not going to put out a mass market campaign. What we do there is advertise on the business channels on cable TV and on the few major portals and advertise in the business print media, which is still the most popular place for job seekers to find listings.