At AROMATICA, there's someone who stays by our people's side from the moment they join, through onboarding, and all the way to the moments they grow. That's Choi Hyun-jin (Tiki), who handles recruitment on the HR Operations team. We sat down with her — someone who genuinely values every connection made through the hiring process — for an honest conversation about recruitment and culture at AROMATICA.
Q. Hello! Could you introduce your team and yourself?
Hi, I'm Choi Hyun-jin (Tiki) — I want to be the person people think of first when they're not sure who to ask about something. At AROMATICA, I handle recruitment.
Q. What's the atmosphere like at AROMATICA, or on the HR team specifically?
If I had to describe it in one phrase, it would be "free, but responsible." There's a well-established culture of sharing opinions comfortably regardless of title, and a strong sense of ownership — a lot of people here find their own work to do rather than waiting to be told.
Within the HR team, we respect each other's work while helping each other out without hesitation whenever it's needed, so collaboration always feels comfortable. One thing I'm especially grateful for as a recruiter is how warmly our leaders engage with me. It makes it easy to bring up even difficult topics comfortably.
Q. What does your day-to-day work actually look like?
I handle recruitment. Working in recruitment means meeting a genuinely wide range of people, and that process itself is something I really enjoy. I find it interesting getting to know each person — what experiences they bring, what they value.
I also see it as my role to help build an environment where the people who join us can stay engaged and keep growing. In that sense, organizational culture work has naturally become part of what I do as well.
Q. What led you to choose this line of work?
Since I was young, I thought a lot about the idea of "positive influence." I've always been drawn to the process by which good intentions actually create positive change for people. That naturally led me toward wanting to work with people, and being able to closely support someone through the process of joining a company, adjusting, and growing felt genuinely compelling to me.
What I find especially exciting is watching things that start with good intentions eventually turn into an employee's growth, and from there into company growth and revenue. I think the biggest appeal of this work is that genuine care for people can translate into real results — and that's why I chose HR operations: I wanted to do work that genuinely helps people in their day-to-day working lives.
Q. What do you think is the most important skill for this role?
I'd say two things: communication skills and attention to detail — but communication is the more important of the two. Recruitment means continuously communicating with people in very different positions — candidates, hiring managers, and team members. Everyone has different priorities and different concerns, so without the ability to explain a situation from the other person's perspective and align everyone's expectations, the hiring process itself can't run smoothly.
Attention to detail matters too, of course. A small mistake in the hiring process can shape a candidate's impression of the company, or cause scheduling problems for the hiring team. But even that attention to detail only really works when it's backed by good communication, so if I had to pick one, communication is the skill I'd call most essential for a recruiter.
Q. As a recruiter, what kind of person do you think fits well at AROMATICA?
I think people who aren't afraid to try something new fit well here. As I mentioned, we have a culture where people take initiative and find their own work, so people who are willing to jump in and try things — rather than waiting for a predetermined answer — tend to adjust especially well.
We're also an organization with a lot of collaboration. So someone who can think about "my work" and "our work" together, and move forward with colleagues with a genuine one-team mindset, would fit really well at AROMATICA.
Q. What kind of colleague do you enjoy working with?
Personally, I find it especially enjoyable working with upbeat colleagues. If the work has to get done anyway, I think it's so much better to do it while laughing together in a lighthearted atmosphere. I believe that kind of positive energy has a good ripple effect on the whole team, so I really appreciate colleagues who make the workplace fun to be in.
Q. Is there a project you've worked on that stands out most in your memory?
Last year's year-end party stands out the most. As part of the HR team, I joined the year-end party task force and helped plan and run it from start to finish. The preparation wasn't easy, but that's exactly why so much care went into it.
More than anything, watching everyone come together to encourage and celebrate one another's hard work over the year made me feel proud — it really hit me that creating moments like that is part of HR's role too. Seeing how much fun everyone had made all the effort behind the scenes fade away. That's why it's stayed with me for so long.
Q. Is there a candidate who left a lasting impression on you?
AROMATICA is a company with real philosophical depth. I connected with that philosophy myself, which is part of why I joined — and maybe that's why candidates who already loved AROMATICA before applying tend to stand out most in my memory.
One candidate walked into the interview room and said, right away, "It smells really nice in here." It might sound like a small thing, but I could genuinely feel that this was someone who truly knew and loved our brand — and it made me feel proud all over again.
Q. What's a goal you'd like to achieve at the company going forward?
Even though I'm a recruiter, I want to contribute to building an environment where our people can work happily. We have a culture that values horizontal communication over hierarchy — even our CEO goes by "Jerry," not a title. Building on that horizontal culture, we also try to share the company's direction and decisions with our people as transparently as possible.
In that context, as a member of the HR team, I want to serve as a bridge — making sure our leadership's thinking and direction reach our people in a way that feels comfortable and direct. My goal is to make sure this culture of open communication, regardless of hierarchy, isn't just a formality — that it genuinely helps our people understand and connect with the company's direction as they work.
Q. Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to future "Ticans" (AROMATICA team members)?
I think AROMATICA is a place where you can grow exactly as much as you're willing to ask questions and take action yourself. There will be moments early on that feel unfamiliar or difficult, but as you work through them alongside your colleagues, you'll find yourself having grown more than you expected. We're rooting for that journey, and we'll be right there to help however we can. Welcome!