SG COWEN: NEW

RECRUITS

COURSE ID: HRM301

TEAM MEMBERS
NAME: NAFEES REZA
NAME: TAMZID RABBY
NAME: ABU HENA MOSTAFA AWAL
 iNDE
X
1. 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? – 03
2. WHAT IS YOUR EVALUATION OF THE CRITERIA
USED BY THIS ORGANIZATION IN MAKING HIRING
DECISIONS? – 04
3. WHICH TWO CANDIDATES WOULD YOU SELECT 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
 Select top 25 universities for recruiting new graduates.
 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.
 Give a chance to visit the company /firm to the candidates.
 Make two rounds of interviews.
 They justify the behavior/attitude of the candidates on the super Saturday.
 Finally they hire those candidates who are fit for the firm.
 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 this organization in making hiring decisions?

Answer:

We think currently the candidates are being judged on the basis of the following criteria‟s:
 Technical Skills -(Creativity, Modeling, Accounting/Finance and Prioritizing).
 Leadership -(Initiative and Motivation).
 Interpersonal skills -(Impact/Presence and Communication Skills).
 Commitment to 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 makes 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, interest 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 effectively. Rae believes that “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-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. We also 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 with 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 left and had four candidates for those
spots. These four candidates were in the “maybe” 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, and also there was an uncertainty 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-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