The rapidly growing healthcare organizations in China are committed to being China-based and going global. These "global companies" need people with excellent backgrounds who can lead their organizations to become excellent management companies, but healthcare companies face great challenges in finding candidates with the same values, matching backgrounds, and the right price/performance ratios. 

Currently, the difficulties and pain points in recruiting management talent for healthcare organizations are:

First of all, healthcare companies have been developing in full swing in the last two years, with growth companies popping up all over the place and candidates with relevant healthcare backgrounds in short supply. Many of these growth companies have great potential, but their brand recognition is not yet high, thus exacerbating the difficulty of moving talent to such companies.

Second, as the trend of talent moving from large corporations to growing healthcare companies becomes more common, employers are being tested on the practicality of hiring high-paying talent and the ability to have an "empty cup mentality" after joining.

Finally, healthcare is an industry with a long R&D cycle, and from a revenue reporting perspective, it takes at least 5 - 10 years or even longer for a company to go from inception to profitability. Most of the founders of medical companies are highly educated research and technology gurus, and many of the founders have long been renowned in the academic world. The internal drive of the founders to start their own business comes more from their sentiments and beliefs. Therefore, in the recruitment of middle and senior executives, they will also pay extra attention to whether the candidate's philosophy and values are compatible and whether they can work together for a long time, which is also a key factor for whether the candidate can be Offered or not.

The difficulties and challenges mentioned above are even more pronounced in the recruitment of mid- to high-end finance talent for healthcare companies. To address these issues, Henderson China had a discussion with the head of mid- to senior-level recruiting for healthcare and life sciences, and the following is a compilation of our experiences and insights on executive recruiting for healthcare and biotechnology industries from the perspective of Chinese headhunters based on this discussion.

What are the key issues that executive search consultants need to focus on when recruiting C-level talent for healthcare organizations?

As a result, employers hope that recruitment consultants from headhunters can take advantage of their industry contacts and resources to improve the recognition of their companies in the candidate pool and help them attract high-end talents.

In the way of cooperation, the enterprise expects the recruitment consultant consultant to give play to the advantage of the overall knowledge of the development trend of the medical industry, combined with the company's stage of development and the actual situation, to help the enterprise diagnose and analyze the introduction of talent, to find out the real pain points and difficulties, and to give targeted advice on the introduction of talent, team building, salary design and other aspects.

In the actual talent recommendation link, the employer's expectation of the headhunting consultant is to recommend the candidate before the interview, the headhunting consultant can be with the candidate face-to-face communication, and the candidate has done a preliminary background investigation before recommending.

What are some of the challenges that C-level talent face when applying for positions in biomedical companies?

For C level positions, in most cases, the initiative is in the hands of the candidates. It is not difficult for candidates to get an Offer, what is difficult is whether they have confidence in the future development of the company, whether they recognize the product and technology, whether they are in line with the values of the founders and the company, and whether they have a reasonable expectation of the salary.

For director-level positions, the real challenge for candidates in the same industry who are moving from foreign companies to "global companies" is whether they can change their mindset, let go of the pride and comfort of a large platform, and play the roles of "pioneers" and "optimizers" in a growing company. The real challenge lies in whether they can change their mindset and let go of the pride and comfort of a big platform to play the role of "pioneer" and "optimizer" in a growing company and give full play to their own value. For candidates applying across industries, most of them will be rejected at the resume and preliminary interview stage due to the differences in the industries.

Sometimes it is difficult for biomedical companies to recruit the right talent from within the industry, and it is also difficult for non-biomedical talent to get into biomedical companies. What would an executive search firm suggest in this regard?

There is no such thing as a perfect business or a perfect candidate; it's a process of bonding and compromise with each other.

For employers, if they do not recruit candidates under the first option as expected, it is recommended that they also look at cross-industry candidates with an open mind who are particularly interested in healthcare. On the premise that the company's business model is not too different from that of the past, candidates with good character, matching outlook, rich experience and strong learning ability can be selected. Although such candidates need to go through the process of learning and familiarization after joining the company, if the company can give them the opportunity to entrust them with trust, there is a great possibility that a win-win situation can be created.

For candidates interested in joining a growing healthcare company, the first thing to realize is that in today's job market, employers don't subscribe to the notion that "finance is common". Secondly, candidates need to take the time and effort to do some research on the healthcare industry and think about what past experiences can be transferred to certain segments or companies in the industry. Finally, there is the "empty cup mentality". Regardless of their seniority, they should put themselves down and hold the willingness to re-learn and start again, so as to maximize their value in the emerging field.

Can you provide some examples of executive hiring at biomedical companies?

The first case is an unprofitable healthcare company we worked with this year. The company's goal was very clear: they wanted to find a senior investment and financing manager who worked in a top investment bank and had done healthcare projects. As there are too many healthcare companies in the market nowadays, many of the good ones have become less recognizable and the competition for talent is fierce. It was a big challenge to find out the strengths of the company, to increase the recognition, and to arouse the interest of bankers in the position.

During the six months of working with the company, I have communicated with the CEO face-to-face no less than ten times, and have also had many conversations with the company's executive team in order to dig deeper into the company's highlights and needs. During this period, I also encountered many twists and turns and ups and downs, including both market and human factors. Through frequent communication and contact, I still firmly believe that this is a very promising company, and with the belief that I must help the company to make it, I finally helped the company to introduce a managing director level talent from a top investment bank to join the company, which not only matches the work experience, but also the values and concepts of both parties are also highly compatible.

The second case is a medical enterprise in Pre-IPO stage. The financial foundation of this enterprise is very weak, and the overall ability of the team members is yet to be upgraded, so it's really a time crunch and a heavy task for the CFO to complete the overall IPO planning of the company. From recruitment to onboarding, I helped the company successfully build the second echelon of finance in less than 3 months, including positions in accounting, reporting, budgeting, analytics and system processes. I prioritized the best candidates I knew in the industry to gravitate to this company, and did my small part to enable the company to succeed in its IPO.

The third case is a client that I have been working with for a long time, and this company has given me a deep insight into the speed of development of a growth company. In the past 2 years, this company has achieved very bright results in the capital market, as well as in product development and commercialization, and has developed into a well-deserved "ball enterprise".'

However, in 2022, this company opened up a position for which it might not be able to find a suitable candidate for half a year, and had to mobilize multiple channels to poach people. When I talk to candidates from foreign companies about opportunities in this company, the majority of the responses I get are rejections. Candidates from foreign companies still have a strong bias against "domestic" companies.

By 2023, foreign candidates are beginning to shift in their thinking, but many candidates posture is "no other good opportunities then talk about it," to communicate with the company to do, but the employer's uniform feedback for candidates who participate in interviews are not grounded, not grounded, values do not match.

When I work with this company on some manager level positions in 2024, when I go back to the candidates I had counseled 2 years ago on whether to consider director level opportunities with this company, they are instead willing to consider them as well. I have to say this is how fast Chinese healthcare companies are growing.

With the rise of healthcare and life sciences, especially in the areas of innovative drugs, cell therapy, and gene editing, companies are looking more favorably at CEOs, CFOs, and marketing heads with backgrounds in biology and medicine.

How does C-Level talent acquisition in healthcare differ from executive recruiting in other industries?

With the rise of healthcare and life sciences, especially in the areas of innovative drugs, cell therapy, and gene editing, companies are looking more favorably at CEOs, CFOs, and marketing heads with backgrounds in biology and medicine.

For director-level positions, candidates first moved from foreign companies to domestic medical companies. With the development of medical companies, those who have a combination of foreign + domestic work experience are now more likely to be favored by employers. Taking CFO as an example, candidates with Big 4 accounting firms + work experience in domestic medical companies are more sought after by the market; in addition, candidates with experience in "TechCap listing, Hong Kong stock listing, financing, R&D expense control, marketing support" will be more competitive.

Henderson China: 

Henderson China is a boutique executive search firm that helps global organizations recruit great talent in China. As a leading recruitment agency in China, we are able to quickly recruit talent for employers in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Contact us: 

business@liexianda.com

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