Aquamarine Case Study: Evaluating Executive Hiring Practices in HR

This case study examines Jennifer Gaston, CEO of Aquamarine, a luxury jewelry company, and her challenges in hiring a COO and CFO. It evaluates Gaston's hiring of Olivia DeCarlo as COO against best practices, identifying potential improvements in the selection process, such as clearly defining job responsibilities and avoiding rushed decisions. The case explores developing a short list of executive search firms and the probing questions to ask finalists. It also analyzes the choice between CFO candidates Warren Chang and Steve Phillips, considering experience versus potential. The assignment covers reference checking procedures, delegation strategies, and handling conversations with internal candidates like Albert Johnson. The analysis emphasizes the importance of thoroughness, clear communication, and strategic decision-making in executive recruitment.

HR – Human Resource
Summary of the case
This is the case of Jennifer Gaston, who is the founder and CEO of mid-sized
luxury jewellery company named Aquamarine. She was managing a couple of
key hiring issues that had recently arise. Gaston was too crazy about hiring the
COO & CFO. In just six months, Gaston had brought a new COO and was about
to finalize a multi-month search for a CFO. Although she has almost completed
the conversion of its executive team, it is still necessary to carefully check the
references to CFO candidate and extend a formal offer. A lot was riding on
these positions, despite the assistance of the executive search firm, recruiting
for them was not easy.
1. Evaluate Gaston’s hiring of Olivia DeCarlo as Aquamarine’s COO
and President against the backdrop of best practice. How, if at all,
might the process have been improved?
Gaston’s hiring of Olivia DeCarlo went against the backdrop of best practice.
The best practice would be identifying a reputable executive search firm to
help her identify the best candidate for COO and President of the company .
However, the procedure she took can is justifiable given that she was
recommended by her former professor in business school. Besides, the
professor knows that Olivia Decarlo’s capacity and is sure that she is the best
candidate for the job.
Jennifer Gaston was faced with a lot of time pressure during the selection
process, which was the reason why when offering DeCarlo the job vacancy
job responsibilities were supposed to be further enumerated in the first
months of employment. Thus, the selection process should be improved by
clearly defining and especially finalizing position related tasks and
responsibilities.
Besides, a selection process for highly important job positions should not be
influenced and rushed through because of time pressure to minimize the
consequences and risks of a wrong hiring. Moreover, Jennifer Gaston
received the advice from a trusted advisor to consider Olivia DeCarlo as an

appropriate candidate. As, it is recommended to consider references giving
a second opinion about a potential candidate.
This process might have been improved.
2. what process should gaston use to develop a short list of
executive search firms and what probing questions should she
asked to each finalist?
To develop a short list of executive firms, gaston should consider such
factors as size of the firms, their area of specialization, how long the firm has
been around, any testimonials from companies that benefited from the firm,
and the qualification of the firms top executives.
Questions to be asked:
 What kind of person do you think makes the ideal “colleague” here?
 If you are in this position, how can you make the transition as smooth as
possible for the team?
 What does the onboarding process look like (for the first day, the first
week, the first month, etc.)?
 Is there anything happening or trending right now in the industry/field that
we haven’t talked about that will affect this role/the organization in the
coming year?
3. would you choose Warren Chang or Steve Phillips to
Aquamarine’s CFO? How would you think about making the trade-
off between “experienced a proven” versus “young and hungry”?
Warren Chang and Steve Phillips are two candidates who are competing for
the designation of, CFO. Chang is an experienced person while in comparison
Phillips is not that much experienced.
I would like to choose Phillips to be Aquamarine’s CFO. Because as Aquamarine
is a fast-growing company; there is a need to have a drive that can help the
CFO to take decisions.
I think that he could provide better direction to the finance team as he had
worked with interim CFO of troubled luxury apparel company, Siena Inc. as he
had made profitability over there in eight months.

I think that he can provide strategic plan to the management team as he had
experience of working in various capacities of a financial career.
Chang is a successful CFO so he will take more time to get social with the
existing Aquamarine team and also he wants to be a team leader while Phillips
can even assume the responsibilities by becoming frank with the Aquamarine
team.
Even though Phillips is not that much experienced as compared to Chang but
he has always worked with prominent companies in the financial industry thus
has potential to assume any big financial career role easily.
However, Phillips is having a drive that is “young and hungry.”
4. How would you continue checking references of your chosen
candidate for the CFO position? How much of that process should
you delegate?
I think that conducting reference checks can be one of the most important
steps in the selection process as it will give an insight regarding the work
approaches of the employee as well as his personal skills.
The search firm should only have the responsibility to assess the credibility of
the facts while references checking must be done by Gaston personally.
It is formal to ask the candidate that he should also give suggestions regarding
his decision.
Gaston should delegate the responsibility of setting-up calls to given
references to any senior manager like Redding or DeCarlo. They must collect
the contact information of these references.
She must personally make the calls of these reference. She should also try to
confirm the candidate strength and weakness from the referenced person.
Gaston will have to be really careful while deciding whether the person is
telling the truth or he is just trying to impress her regarding candidates.
5. How would you have handled the conversation with Albert
Johnson in your office? How would you have responded to his
email?
As Albert Johnson is an existing employee who wants to be a candidate for
being the next CFO; he should be handled with extreme care.

During the conversation with Albert Johnson, Gaston can initially calm him by
discussing with him the requirements for being a candidate for the designation
of CFO.
Gaston should tell him that they are going to interview him as soon as they
complete the planning of the selection procedure. She must declare that they
will keep him notified regarding the process, scheduled and the date of the
interview. She should tell him to keep his resume updated.
I will respond to the email by thanking him for showing continued interest.
When the candidate is finally chosen, then she should emailed him regarding
the final decision and some of the major reasons that probed it.
She should conduct a meeting where Albert should be motivated and should
not lose hope. He should also be shown the direction of his future career.