SG COWEN

SG COWEN: NEW RECRUITS COURSE ID: HRM301

TEAM MEMBERS  NAME: NAFEES REZA  NAME: TAMZID RABBY  NAME: ABU HENA MOSTAFA AWAL

iNDE  1. WH WHAT AT ARE ARE THE KEY KEY DECIS DECISION ION POIN POINTS TS USED USED BY S. S. G. COWEN IN MAKING HIRING DECISION? WHAT IS YOUR EVALUATION OF THE PROCESS USED BY THE FIRM?  –  03 2. WHAT WHAT IS YOUR YOUR EVALU EVALUATI ATION ON OF THE THE CRITE CRITERIA RIA USED BY THIS ORGANIZATION IN MAKING HIRING DECISIONS? –  04 3. WH WHICH ICH TWO TWO CANDI CANDIDAT DATES ES WOULD WOULD YOU YOU SELEC SELECT T IF YOU WERE A MEMBER OF THE RECRUITING COMMITTEE? WHY?  –  06

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Question: 01

What are the key decision points used by S. G. Cowen in making hiring decision? What is your evaluation of the process used by the firm? Answer: Key decision points used by S. G. Cowen in making hiring decision are given below: 

Recruiting process had done by the Banking professionals and not human resource  professionals

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Select top 25 universities for recruiting new graduates.

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Recruiters make a presentation with candidates to know them about the company and inform them „‟who they are, what do they do, what distinguishes them from the competitors and what are the next steps.

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Give a chance to visit the company /firm to the candidates.

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Make two rounds of interviews.

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They justify the behavior/attitude of the candidates on the super Saturday.

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Finally they hire those candidates who are fit for t he firm.

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They target threshers, who will be loyal to the firm.

The hiring process using by the firm is quite well. Specially the made two round of  interview which is a very innovative one. And they had also selected top 10, sometimes top 25 universities students who are meritorious, skillful and off course scholars. These candidates can be made a good contribution for the firm. The recruiting process had done  by the professionals which was also good for the hiring because they know which type of  candidates they need.

But the problem is that, campus recruiting is time consuming process and it is also costly. The recruiter made the interview on the class time, for this many qualified candidates may not able to attend the interview. The recruiter also offered to visit the firm to the candidates. It was good. But candidates were told to visit on their own cost/expenses. That was not good, because that might make a negative image to the firm.

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The presentation made by the recruiters to the candidates may make good impression about the firm. This is because here firm was introduced to the candidates. From that presentation candidates may know who the firm does, how they do, what the quality they want. Finally we think S.G. Cowen hiring decision is very impressive.

Question: 02

What is your evaluation of the criteria used by b y this organization in making hiring decisions? Answer: We think currently the candidates are being judged on the basis of the following criteria‟s: criteria‟s:  

Technical Skills -(Creativity, Modeling, Accounting/Finance and Prioritizing). Leadership -(Initiative and Motivation).

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Interpersonal skills -(Impact/Presence and Communication Skills).

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Commitment to firm –  firm – ( Judgment/Maturity).

Evaluation of current criteria used by this organization Commitment to firm: Almost all firms without exception would want to recruit for the long term. Especially in the current scenario in the investment banking industry where firms are fighting for talent and given that SG Cowen‟s employees would be wooed by the top banks, it ma kes all the more sense for the firm to measure candidate‟s commitment to the firm. As SG Cowen is offering an informational interview we thinks it is a good way of selecting candidates on the basis of commitment to firm by judged the candidate‟s profile, i nterest and lot others.

Interpersonal skills Given that SG Cowen is a boutique Investment Bank, Associates would be involved in a high level of exposure to clients. They need to be well versed in oral communication since that is crucial to perform their duties their  duties effectively. Rae believes that “long“long-term success ….. Came from loving the work, loving to teach and sell ….“ According to Rae‟s comment and

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the hiring process, we can say that SG Cowen has emphasized selecting candidates on the  basis inter-personal well.

Leadership SG Cowen is searching candidates who are go-getters, self-driven individuals who could take initiatives without being given instructions on what to do. This can be gauged by the  past leadership experiences of the candidates and whether they demonstrated a pattern of  success in such opportunities and the way they handled such an opportunity in their   previous work environment. In Schoenberg‟s words “Wall Street does not give enough time to people to develop slowly” and according to Fennerbresque “We want the type of person here who doesn‟t need to be told what to do. …. We want the self self -starter”. Thus, we can figure that leadership and initiative criteria played a very important role while selecting  prospective candidates.

Technical skills At the end of the day a person‟s technical prower, number crunching skills, domain knowledge of Finance & Accounting, creativity and ability to prioritize is what helped one deliver his duties. As we see the management had earlier rejected candidates who fell short on these criteria, we can say that SG Cowen is concerned of selecting the candidates by the  basis of candidate‟s technical skills. skill s. We also als o think this is the right move since at the end of  the end this is what the client would be paying for.

There may be some biasness in the final decision as some may feel technical skills are more important, while others may feel interpersonal skills are more important and their overall rating might depend on their personal opinion. But overall, we are in agreement wit h all the criteria‟s used by the organization for making the hiring decisions.

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Question: 03

Which two candidates would you select if you were a member of the recruiting committee? Why? Answer: In the hiring process, SG COWEN only had two spots l eft and had four candidates for those spots. These four candidates were in the “ma ybe” category, and these four candidates were: Natalya Godlewska

 Natalya Godlewska is one of the most competitive applicants. She has qualification to consider her as competitive applicant. She was the highest GPA holder in in the finance department and she also had experience of being teaching assistant in finance department. Furthermore, she spoke fluent Russian, Polish, German and some French. Moreover, she also had worked for four years for CommScan and these experiences gave her good understanding of the financial markets. Furthermore, she spoke fluent Russian, Polish, German and some French. But she had some issues which actually pull her down. She lacked communication skill and also stiff and uncomfortable during small talk. Martin Street

Martin Street was confident and articulate personnel. He also did possess a dynamic  personality, and he had substantial leadership experience. Martin Street actually had no business skills, s kills, and also there was an uncertainty uncertai nty about his grades. Furthermore, he involved in other selection processes, and had some possibility to change to other firm. Ken Goldstein

Ken Goldstein worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for five years, which actually enrich his experience. He also possessed strong social skills. Moreover he was highly committed to his job and also very liable.

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Ken Goldstein possessed one big reason which actually put him into the “maybes”. The reason was that, he had two newborn babies which might not allow him to work 24/7 like others. Andy Sanchez

Andy Sanchez a second year MBA at the University of Southern California; had found early success as an entrepreneur, which gave him a good knowledge on business. He had an excellent result in both SAT and GMAT. He was highly personable, enthusiastic and ambitious, but his undergraduate GPA was below the average. From our point of view; two candidates we would select as a member of the recruiting committee would be Natalya Godlewska and Andy Sanchez. This is because; Natalya Godlewska was one of the most competitive applicants, though she might not be a good cultural fit. we think she would overcome her problem since she had positive energy and a “can“can-do attitude”; and she would be a huge asset for SG COWEN. We would also choose Andy Sanchez, as because he had good entrepreneurial knowledge since he had his own  business; and he would be a great asset for the company. We would not choose Martin Street because he does not have any knowledge on business, which is requisite for this job. Ken Goldstein did have valuable work experience but we think he might not be able to give enough time to the firm for this reason we would not select him.

The end 

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