Kevin Gardner, the Chief Executive Officer of a New York-based luxury goods company, was planning to expand the company into China. As a consequence, they were looking for someone to lead the establishment of the company in China. The most promising candidate was Pam, a Harvard MBA and the daughter of Kevin's best friend, a US citizen who ran a number of newspapers in China. Pam was born in Shanghai. She had grown up in China, she spoke both Mandarin and a local dialect, and she had majored in modern Chinese history. After graduating she held a position in a major management consultancy firm and after her MBA graduation she held a post in a major luxury goods company in the USA. When Kevin met Pam, he was impressed by her insights and her ideas about expanding the company into China. After the meeting, Kevin forwarded her file to Clara.

Clara Yeow, Vice President of Human Resources, did not approve of the way Kevin brought together his top team. He ignored internal talent and downplayed the value of \(\mathrm{HR}\), relying overmuch on his 'sixth sense' about who were the right people to bring on board. As she put together a file on Pam for the staff, Clara had to concede that the candidate's letters of recommendation were impressive. Employers described her as aggressively creative, original, opinionated, and a risk-taker. She rounded out the file by running a routing Google search on Pam and on page three she glimpsed something that might cause concern. A story in the local free press identified Pam, fresh out of college, as the leader of a nonviolent but vocal protest group that had helped mobilise campaigns against the World Trade Organisation. On another instance, she found a story featuring Pam protesting outside the China's consulate about on China's treatment of an activist Chinese professor. Clara immediately informed Kevin that they might have a situation on their hands, something that they might need to worry about. She pointed out that Pam could be the kind of person who could get the company into trouble in China.

Questions

1 Should Kevin hire Pam despite her online history?

2 What type of selection system could be used in this case?