Case Study Analysis Hiring Decisions

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

Case Study Analysis

Decisions to hire a new class of associates in SG Cowen were made each year during spring and early winter. Before the decision to hire was made, there were various steps they followed. For instance, SG Cowen made decisions to hire by participating in recruiting programs in the on-campus. First, they made presentations at its ‘core business schools’ whereby 15 schools in the top 25 would be chosen. The “core business schools’ were inclusive of, but they were not limited to; Berkeley, USC, Emory, Cornell, and NYU (Delong and Vijayaraghavan, 2006). It would be prudent to note that SG Cowen would make first-round interviews with students in office to help them learn more about the firm and to gauge their seriousness (Delong and Vijayaraghavan, 2006). In addition, the said interviews were to test interviewees for culture fit and to help them make it in Super Saturday. According to the authors, such interviews were informal as they were not part of the main interview. In addition, Rae, who was the recruiting officer, would assign team captains - essentially alumni of the above schools - to conduct the said interviews. It would also be prudent to note that the said team captains were from the core business schools. Therefore, students had a familiar agent they would contact. Assigning first round to team captains to ensure that identification of talent was down streamed while offers would be closed by the seniors (Delong and Vijayaraghan, 2006). Second, two or three schedules were made at every core school. The said schedule comprised of one open one - essentially meaning that students would sign drawing on their interests. The rest of the schedules would be closed. Rae argued that he found good people in both open and closed list (Delong and Vijayaraghan, 2006). In addition, he argues that he did the first rounds owing to the fact that he did not want to embarrass himself at ‘Super Saturday’ which was the main interview. This is more so the case given that interviewers’ reputation would be diminished and senior bankers would hold them accountable for the candidates they brought. Third, the interviews were held on Super Saturday since it was a day when decisions had to be made even though they would not want to spend their day in the said interviews.

SG Cowen firm used the criteria of grid sheets whereby bankers were supposed to make a case and vote for their candidate (Deling and Vijayaraghan, 2006). The said criteria was based on the above hiring process. However, it would be prudent to note that the said criteria was not valid and reliable for the selection of candidates. This is more so the case given that it would an illustration of ‘science’ as some of the bankers said. For instance, Bill Buchanan, who was the head of Equity Capital Markets suggests that “the type of person who does well here doesn’t want to be told what to do” (Deling and Vijarayaghan, 2006, Pg. 7). Fennebresque indicates that people should be given time to decide on what they want to do. He argued that individuals who are attracted to SG Cowen should have an understanding of what it is. Fennebresque suggested that people should not be hired based on what they are good at but based on what they like doing.

The four candidates in the ‘maybe’ category had the advantage and disadvantage of being selected. For instance, the first candidate - Natalya Godlewska - was a student at Cornell. She had the highest grade point average (GPA) in finance department. In addition, she was an associate at Cornell’s business school teaching as an assistant in finance program. She was from Poland living in the US and she spoke some French, was fluent in German, Polish and Russian. In addition, she had done the information interviews with bankers at Cornell. However, one of the associates felt that she was not a good culture fit owing to the fact that her English was not perfect. In addition, Godlewska was also uncomfortable the night before and when the interview opened.

The second candidate, Martin Street, was a student at Wharton. He had four year experience in leadership in war-ton Bosnia. He was also a president at running club and Wharton. However, Street did not have any experience in business (Deling and Vijarayaghan, 2006). Ken Goldstein was a student at Berkery University. He had five-year experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers whereby he acted as the manager. As a manager, he solved technical issues, made presentations to win business, and drew budgets and pricing for projects. However Ken was married and had a two-year-old and another newborn son. Andy Sanchez was a student at Southern California with an economics degree from UCLA. He was an entrepreneur both in college and after college whereby he enrolled in a business school while still in the business. He had also attended the informal interviews. He knew much about the firm and was willing to leave his business. However, Sanches had many C’s in his records as an undergraduate (Deling and Vijarayaghan, 2006).