(1) How would you continue checking references of your chosen candidate for the CFO position? How much of that process should you delegate?
The process of checking reference is very critical as it will give an insight regarding the work approaches of the employee as well as his personal skills. The candidate should also be informed that his or her contacts are being checked.
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 courteous 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 Reddings or De Carlo. They must collect the contact information of these references.
She must personally make calls to these references. The call should last approx. 15 to 30 minutes if possible and she must try to get comments on Phillip’s inter-personal skills. She must also try to confirm the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses from the referenced person. She must ask the referenced person on how can she get the best out of Phillips and how can she drive him towards success. 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 Phillips.
Best practice in reference checking:
The recruiter will initially have to ask for references from the candidate, so that he can check those references and use their feedback. While reviewing the resume, he should ask for additional references. The interviewer might ask those questions which can entail names, for instance, the past boss, sub-ordinates and colleagues. Within the references’ names, the recruiter must find the people who are candid in their conversation and behavior.
(2) 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 dealt 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. She should tell him that they are going to formally interview him soon as they are currently in the process of planning the selection procedure. She must affirm that they will keep him notified regarding the process, the schedule of the process and the dates for the interview. She should also ask Johnson to get his resume updated so that he may receive proper considerations.
When responding to the email after he had been interviewed, the email should be a thanking him for showing continued interest. She can further write to inform him if there are no developments regarding the process and as soon as there would be, he will be informed soon.
When the candidate is finally chosen, then Albert should be emailed regarding the final decision and some of the major reasons that probed it. In the same email he should also be informed that a meeting should be conducted with Jennifer Gaston, Albert and the new CFO.
In that meeting Albert should be motivated and asked that he should not lose hope. He should be shown direction for his future career and must also be told the prospects for his career if he continues with the same devotion towards his work and help the new CFO to reach his goals..........................
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In this fictional case, Jennifer Gaston, founder and CEO of Aquamarine average luxury jewelry company, was the manager of several key issues of employment, which have recently emerged. In just six months, Gaston led to a new CEO and plans to complete several months of searching 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. Students were asked to evaluate several aspects of the recruitment and training of role play for them. "Hide
by Jim Ellis, Bethany Coates Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business 9 pages. Publication Date: October 19, 2007. Prod. #: E279-PDF-ENG
