Table of Contents

Mission of the Company 3

Vision of the Company 3
Recruitment 4
Recruitment Procedure: 5
Orientation: 5
Overview of the Evaluation process
!emand and "upply #
$rainin% and !evelopment #
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Sources of Recruitment:
1. Decision points at different stages of the hiring process
Case 0nalysis
"1 Cowen: (ew Recruits
E&ective $alent 0c2uisition
Case .


/3.
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The hiring process begins with presentations in the core schools, but resumes from other
school were also accepted. The process thereafter can be broken up into three stages.
Each of these stages helped the company make a decision about the candidate and is a
key decision point for the firm
Stage 1 - Informational interviews
After campus presentations, interested students were invited to S !owen office for
interaction. This process was not evaluative" still some amount of insight about the
candidate could be gathered in this stage.
Some decision points that were involved in this stage were:
4 #evel of !andidate$s interest in the company%
4 &s the candidate an initiator%
Stage 2 - On campus round
&n the on'campus round, interviews were conducted to screen the candidates for the
(Super Saturday). There were two rounds of interviews conducted and finally three
candidates were shortlisted from the school.
Some decision points which were considered in this stage were:
*oes the candidate+s skill set match the ,SAs re-uired for the .ob%
&s there a cultural fit between the candidate and the company%
Stage 3 - Super Saturday
The thirty shortlisted students from on campus round were invited to the S !owen
office for the final interviews. These interviewers were the senior employees of S
!owen. Each candidate had to go through five rounds of interviews and each interview
lasted for almost half an hour.
The ma.or decision points which were considered while evaluating a candidate were
*o the candidates demonstrate a pattern of success%
Are they technically sound%
*o they have interest in technology and emerging markets%
*o they have good interpersonal skills%
Are they good team players%
Are they mature in their .udgments%
Other Decision Points
The other decision points considered especially at the planning stage were
4 /hich schools to target as core schools%
4 0ow many positions are to be opened%
2. valuation of the process used !y S " #owen
*ifferent components of the hiring process have been evaluated in the following manner:
Talent 1ool from which candidates are hired
S !owen hires three kinds of candidates for Associate positions:
1. Analysts who have completed three years at the firm and do not have any business
school education.
2. Summer interns with the firm
3. 4ew outside hires from business schools
/
/e believe that this leads to a wide talent pool and gives S !owen the opportunity to
select the best candidates for the associate position.
Informal Interviews
S !owen used informal interviews to gauge the interest of students in their firm. This
was e5tremely beneficial as it gave the students a chance to learn about the banking
industry. The involvement in recruiting activities was taken into consideration in the
performance reviews which decided year'end bonuses. This might be an insufficient
motivation for the team captains.
6n !ampus 7ound
The focus of interviewers was to -uickly conduct a second round so that they could be
conducted on the same night for the 8 shortlisted candidates. &deally they should allow
time between the two so that the candidates are rela5ed and at ease to give their best.
Also, having a fi5ed number of students whom they want to forward to the ne5t round
might result in losing out good candidates or selecting not so good candidates.
Super Saturday ' post lunch process ' collective decision making
The collective decision making process lacks a proper structure. The process is more
-ualitative than -uantitative. The process relies on the recruiting skills of the bankers who
are more suitable to evaluate the .ob talent of the candidates which forms only a part of
the ob.ective of recruitment process.
/e see the following problems with the group decision making process:
Escalation of !ommitment for the interviewers
roupthink
6verall positives of the S !owen hiring process
They hold their interviewers responsible for the -uality of candidates they bring
thus ensuring that only the best candidates come to the firm.
&t was made sure that the bankers were not partial in their selection process and
favouring candidates from their own alma maters though it+s not mentioned how.
They looked for the right people with the attitude to work at S !owen and were
willing to go the e5tra mile to create .obs for them if re-uired.
/riting down comments and making e5tensive notes about candidates made it
easier to recollect and discuss about their abilities..
3. valuation of the criteria used !y S " #owen in ma$ing hiring decisions%
1. The evaluation criteria are alignment with type of person suited for the .ob. The
interpersonal skills play important roles important for client handling. #eadership
is indicative ability to take up responsibilities, challenges and stress. &t is due to
this reason that they even gave priority to entrepreneurs. Also, it is for this ability
that the bankers were given as much autonomy and decision power as possible.
1eople with entrepreneurial s$ills can make independent decisions and bring in
new clients. Though the hiring process is based more on hiring for attitude than
skills but pattern of success is a critical factor of gau9ing the basic capabilities. The
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work ethic the other evaluation criteria is also important and again measure of
attitude. Apart these the case discusses follows:
2. #ultural &it: :y the ;right fit$ it is meant that the attitude and work style of the
person matches that of the company. .
3. 'ong term relation with the firm: They were looking for associates who look to
work with dedication for long term and look for their prolonged career in the bank.
This would be helpful to reduce the re'hiring and training cost.
<. (aturity) They were also looking for go'getters and people with (can be done)
attitude. &n the commoditi9ed service the right attitude of banker is important to get
newer clients to the firm.
=. *uic$ 'earners ) As mentioned wall street has no time to wait for people to
slowly develop the re-uired skills , hence it is important that associates get into
work as soon as they are deployed into the respective assignments
8. #ommunication S$ills: This -uality was re-uired as these investors were
supposed to interact with clients.
+. ,he ,wo candidates selected !y group)
(artin Street) 0e is the most preferred candidate. 0e is good on both the formal
evaluation criteria and the other evaluations discussed in case. 6n formal evaluation
front he is good in interpersonal skills. 0as shown good leadership e5perience.
Though he doesn$t come from finance background but he has taken finance courses at
campus. As mentioned in the case they are not doing rocket science .ob" hence
attitude matters most while skills can be imparted. As far as work ethic is concerned
he has been a team player and has served < years in military. The only ma.or concern
is his not .oining the .ob post hiring but that alone doesn$t .ustifies re.ecting him. 0e
should be definitely selected
-en "oldstein) 0e is true performer. 0e was among the top => of firm at 1/!. 0e
has the re-uired skill set and the attitude they are looking for. All the interviewers
found him suitable to represent S !owen and culturally fit. 0e fits on the formal
evaluation criteria being used to select the candidates. The only thing that bothers the
panel is his marital status. :ut it would be unfair to discriminate someone for a .ob
based on the martial status. Though he has e5pressed a view point of balancing work
and life but it was any employee must try to do. 0e has = years of work e5perience at
1/! hence he must be having the real .ob insight with him. &t is upto him how he
balances the work and family. The company must be concerned about his conduct at
office and he fits in that area.
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