Case Study on Recruitment: Australia's Leading Healthcare Company Entering China

Talent Spot International is a one-stop solutions provider to help overseas companies quickly launch and expand their business in China.

Chinese healthcare and medical industries remain a huge market full of abundant opportunities for investment because of sheer size, a growing middle class, and government interest in improving market conditions. But looking to start in China, numerous obstacles exist.

Here are the three biggest challenges when foreign/healthcare companies enter China:

1. The first challenge is that any company with expansion into China will need a local team to find the most success. However, unfamiliar with China’s medical and healthcare talent market, creating obstacles to contact and reach talents.

2. The second challenge is unfamiliar with the policy landscape of Chinese medical/health industries. It is hard to make sense of the ever-changing regulations, but getting professional support to understand the laws and regulations to start and operate a business in China is crucial.

3. Last, although China has become more open to foreign investments, entering into China requires a legal entity to run a business and hire employees. Before deciding whether China is the right marketplace for you, you may want to test the water such as hiring the needed employees during the pre-incorporation period. But, how can you legally hire employees without a legal entity in China?

If you want to expand your business in China, and facing numerous challenges, how do you begin doing that?

Case Background

Our client is Australia’s largest healthcare provider with a growing reach across the globe, and they are expanding the operation to China by establishing one headquarters in Beijing and two JV projects in other cities. They were seeking a trusted and professional recruitment service provider to find qualified candidates for their projects in multiple destinations.

Client's Requirement

Our client was planning to hire candidates in different roles, to start with, they need a CEO, then a team, Finance Controller, HR Manager, Project Managers, Doctors, and Therapists.

The Challenges

Our client has very strict requirements for the candidate’s qualifications. They prefer candidates who have excellent bilingual skills, tier-3 hospital working experiences, a high capability to serve patients, excellent medical qualifications, and corresponding management skills. Candidates who can meet such high requirements are difficult to reach throughout China’s medical or healthcare industry.

The operating model of the client company is quite new in China, and its lack of brand awareness makes it hard for the potential candidates to trust us, so it is necessary to find a selling point to attract and convince them.

Top-quality candidates primarily come from first-tier cities. However, the working location is actually in second-tier cities, and persuading the candidates to relocate is another challenging task.

The Solutions

First, we conducted market research which was tailor-made for our client’s niche market needs, and talent mapping, giving my client deep insights into China's overall medical and healthcare talent information.

Our consultants know the industry and are specialists in placing hard-to-fill positions, so we can quickly select and deliver candidates for my client to choose from.

Last, we provide various tests for evaluating candidates, such as leadership behavior evaluation, hard skill testing, and other tools to assist the client in identifying the most qualified candidates for the role.

What are the benefits for an overseas company to enter China by using contract staffing services?

For many foreign companies trying to get the initial foot in the Chinese market, we truly understand it may be a difficult task due to the lack of knowledge of local regulations and requirements. Our contract staffing services can help!

From the signature of a local compliant contract to payroll, from mandatory benefits administration to tax contributions, as well as visa processing and other optional features such as expense claim management or medical insurance, the contract staffing services fit perfectly for those conditions.

Furthermore, the use of contract staffing solutions enables foreign companies to increase or decrease their employee headcount in China with high flexibility, as the procedure is simplified to onboarding new employees or terminating them through an agency like Talent Spot.

In addition, this market entry model is fully compatible with longer-term plans for companies wishing to set up a legal entity in China, as all employment relationships can be transferred from the agency to the new business entity.

The Result

We successfully secured all the positions that our clients required for both headquarters and JV projects in China. And now, my client successfully managed to begin operation in the Chinese market in under three months without spending any unnecessary time or funds on setup errors.