S G Cowen New

Recruits
Case Write Up --- Group 7 Section B

By:
Sahil Saini
Sahil Satiya
Sambhav Tayal
Saurabh Mishra

Abstract
The case of SG Cowen basically deals with the recruitment process followed by the company.
It deals with the various stages of hiring process followed by the company in order to satisfy
its increasing demand for talented associates. Since the company was expanding and was
looking forward to extend into new horizons hiring was an important aspect for its overall
growth and establishing its strategic goals. The case shows the various processes and issues
that can crop up while recruitment process and the importance of finding employees that best
fit with the organization. The case showcases that recruitment process forms a strong base for
any firm to survive and prosper in the dynamic competitive market.

Introduction
Let us first look at some of the basic facts about the firm S G Cowen. S G Cowen was
acquired by Societe Genrale in 1998 which itself was an international bank. However being
an European bank it was looking forward to expand its operations in US. Initially Cowen was
known for its top tier research and strong equity sales and trading. However since its
acquisition it focused on investment banking and M&A advisory services. S G Cowen had
1500 professionals and planned to remain a boutique-Sized firm having access to parent
firms balance sheet. Their new area of concentration involved investments in health care and
technology. Since both these sectors provided a strong growth in near future. Though they
had geographically expanded to various locations they laid importance of increased
interactions among employees from different offices especially from smaller ones this was
important for information flow and to achieve a well coordinated client activity.
As far as the contemporary market of investment market was concerned consolidation was
widespread. The time period also represented a dip in profits forcing certain firms for lay offs
thus retuning talent had become an important issue. In order to retain talent firms provided
fixed bonus payments as well as profit sharing agreements. Moreover firms were developing
guidelines to keep research teams independent from bankers and their clients in order to
protect investors from following analysts and investing in stocks which were falling.

From the above scenarios it was clear that looking for talent pool for recruitment was the
need of the hour. Though well established banks expected to witness and increased interest
from students looking for jobs and seeking secured jobs. But on the contrary the interest
among students seems to be dwindling. On top of that recruiting yields had gone higher and
handling of new recruits seemed to be a mammoth task as business slowed down.
Let us now analyse the various strategies and processes followed by SG Cowen to overcome
the above issues and hire the best people that best fit with the organization.

Analysis
The biggest base for recruiting purposes for S G Cowen was business schools. Hiring was
done in early winter and spring for associates. Some positions of associates were filled by
employees hired as analysts at end of three year period. Whereas certain associate positions
were filled by interns and were offered full time employment at the end of their internship
period. The firm targeted certain core business schools where presentations were made
regarding the firm to provide first hand information to students. Before conducting any
interviews the professionals from S G Cowen used to have informational interviews. These
interviews helped not only S G Cowen but also students in assessing the firm. While targeting
Business schools each school was assigned a team captain. These team captains were
basically banking professionals and if possible in case they are alumni of a targeted B school
would be assigned as team captain.
S G Cowen had a somewhat different strategy while selecting the core schools its going to
target for recruiting process. Rather than targeting the top 10 B schools the firm targeted the
next top 15 schools among the top 25. This strategy was to attract the best students in the
colleges rather than recruiting average students from the top 10 B schools. The firms
presentations as mentioned earlier were used as means by team captains to give detailed
information to students. This was necessary because S G Cowen was a boutique-sized firm
and not a huge branded firm which mostly attracted students owing to secured jobs. At he
same time the presentations showed the growth the firm provides as well as the employee
empowerment enjoyed by the S G Cowen employees.

The presentations done by team captain were also beneficial from their point of view as their
recruitment activities were included in their performance reviews done at year end.
Let us now breakdown the recruitment process followed by S G Cowen into two parts one
involving the campus and the other the super Saturday.
Campus Rounds:
S G Cowen followed two to three schedules at each campus. Initially an open schedule was
carried in this schedule students were given a chance to sign up based on their interest. In the
remanning schedules students were selected on the basis of their submitted resumes. The
focus of first round of interviews was to look for students who could make it to the next
process of super Saturday. This was done in order to save precious time of top management.
This process was carried out at each targeted campus in order to get the appropriate number
of students for super Saturday. The interviewees for these rounds were mostly year old
associates since they had much more first hand experience of work in initial years. Moreover
they would be better of in assessing the skills of potential future employees. At the same time
while assessing skills the firm gave huge importance to watch out for students who would
best suit the culture of the firm. Thus the firm not only concentrated on the technical aspect
but also on the cultural aspects. It wanted to hire students who would accept and help in
developing the work culture at the firm.
Super Saturday:
The super Sunday used to be the final stage of recruitment process where the candidates
selected in the campus round would be further examined and interviewed. The firm held five
half hour sessions between candidate and interviewee. The firms objective was to have full
associate class of 30. The selected candidates were given offer in investment banking the
ones which accepted the offer returned for orientation to meet banking groups which attracted
them most.

Recommendations
Let us first consider stage wise improvements which can be done.
1) Selection of B schools: The firm as if now is much more concerned with the ranking of
the B school rather when considering it for recruitment base. Rather than this they should
concentrates on B schools which have courses relative to the requirements and have specific
courses. For instance Tuck B School in Dartmouth has specific courses relative to investment
banking.
2) Round 1 Interview: The firm used to use to make detailed notes and fill evaluation form. In
this case a much more detailed evaluation should be carried out. A well structured evaluation
form with more versatile questions should be incorporated. Moreover the records should be
kept for future recruitment process.
3) Round 2 Interview: The firm could consider having more rounds. The new rounds however
should concentrate more on the issue of cultural fit. More stress on personality testing could
be carried out. Moreover the first round would be sufficient to analyse the technical skills of
candidates.
4) Super Saturday: Though super Saturday had the presence of top officials. It had no
intervention of interviewees involved testing of behaviour and personality of individual
candidates. Since culture and personality fit was one of the main criteria being looked
forward by the firm. Moreover since these round were the potential future employees using
psychometric test would have proved beneficial as the company was is in need of people who
were dynamic in thinking and fast learners
Let us now look some overall improvements which could be done to improve the recruitment
process
5) Using a better method of forecasting: A better forecasting method would have helped to
increase the base of potential candidates. Moreover a more quantitative approach such as
ratio analysis or scatter plot would have helped to reach a value.
6) Means of advertising: Using internet for job portals in association with B schools can help
them to attract a much wider base and spreading information about their firm to potential
candidates. Rather than relying on presentations and online FAQ could help in providing
information at faster rate.

Selection
Let us now try to solve the dilemma of the candidate to be selected for hiring purpose.
Looking at the requirements that S G Cowen is looking forward for the best fit for the
company would be Natalya Godlewska cause of following reasons.
She is an MBA student from Cornell which is one of the core schools for S G Cowen. Her
performance has been formidable as she had the highest GPA. Moreover she has experience
of 4 years in M&A field. The only reason for selection being in question is the cultural fit
issue since she is not a native of US. However it seems that only her speaking capabilities are
in question this issue can be easily resolved since she can be made to attend a variety of
speaking courses. She has also shown the dynamic nature of hers as well as her fast learning
capabilities cannot be undermined.
The Second person to be selected for the position should be Ken Goldstein. He is an MBA
student from Berkley. He has an experience of 5 years also he has been a consistent
performer and rated among the top 5% in the firm. The only issue with Ken is that he has
been married and would not be able to handle work and family matters and this might affect
his work. However these are mere assumptions since Ken seems to be proficient enough and
looks capable to handle work. Moreover the company should look at value Ken will be able
to add to the firm.