Case: SG Cowen

People involved Decisions to be made Details in the case Additional questions

● Chip Rae ● Deciding ● Hiring ● What do

● Firm’s bankers through a decisions are professionals
● Candidates variety of made in the genuinely think
from various candidates early winter of the term
graduate from graduate and spring of “Street smart”?
schools schools to hire each year to fill ● Do you only
● SG Cowen a new class of have to be in
professionals/H associates wh top schools to
R manager would begin in be considered
● Gregg the summer intelligent
Schoenberg ● Cowen would enough to work
● Ryan Daws hold company at banks?
● Kim presentations at ● What are the
Fennebresque its “core costs of holding
● Candidates for business company
hiring: Natalya schools” for on presentations?
Godlewska, campus ● What strategies
Martin Street, recruiting can be
Ken Goldstein, programswith implemented to
Andy Sanchez, assigned find people like
presenters Cornel who did
● Also accept not start out a
resumes from top school but
noncore is now one of
schools the team
● Cowen captains?
professionals ● Is there a better
would conduct hiring process
“informational they should
interviews” to look into
get an idea of instead of the
the firm and gruesome five
industry before half-hour
actual sessions after
interviews the pre
● Gregg interviews etc?
Schnoenberg,
one of the team
captains
believed SG
Cowen would
benefit from
the high quality
candidates at
 Cornell
● Rae’s strategy:
pay more
attention tothe
next 15 schools
in the top 25
● “Senior
managers
eventually saw
the wisdom.
We were hiring
at the top of the
class, and these
students also
tended to be
more loyal. We
were not
missing much
by not going to
the top
schools.”
● Encouraged
team captains
to make a very
short formal
presentation
and then allow
a substantial
amount of time
to informally
talk and answer
questions.
● There is beauty
in writing notes
down; detailed
notes on
resumes or
evaluation
sheets
● First round of
interviews were
a test for
cultural fit,
looking for
people who
were dressed
appropriately,
or egotistic
questions
● SuperSaturdays
 , interviews
start at 9 and
each
interviewer and
candidate five
half-hour
sessions with
short breaks
● “I try to get
people to act
and behave like
a firm.” -Rae
● “The most
important
clients are
inside, not
outside. I really
believe that,”
-Fennebresque
● Grid sheets are
used for
bankers to fill
out and voted
upon
● They were
down to 4
candidates and
could not
decide on the
two to choose
because of
different
opinions,
perspectives,
etc

The candidate selection process is prone to human bias. For this week's question, research the
common biases that can impact a hiring manager during the selection process. Then explain how
these biases can be overcome. Also, following your research, explain the biases you believe you
have that may influence your hiring in the future.

Unfortunately, there are many biases in relation to hiring, or making decisions in general,
mostly because 80% to 90% of our minds work unconsciously. Specifically, our biases are
tailored from the way we grew up and how we see things based on experience, rather than
looking at it from a bigger scope or simply from the perspective of others. According to a
University of Maryland research on bias, it says that “research has long demonstrated the role of
gender and racial bias in evaluations of competence, leadership, merit and hireability” (O’meara
et al, 2020). They can take many forms, including gender bias, racial bias, age bias and other
characteristics. An example of age bias can be looking at older candidates as having “lack of
energy” compared to the younger candidates or that they are “less tech savvy”. Or, looking at
someone’s certain physical characteristics like someone’s height, weight, and even hair color
play a role in determining who gets a job.
More and more companies are now starting “to build awareness of the impact of
unconscious bias when interviewing and hiring new employees so that employers can hire
diverse talent with multiple aspects of diversity to build a workforce that excels toward
excellence.” (Chamberlin, 2018). This is because the impact of hiring bias can be damaging.
They lead to lack of diversity in the workplace, as certain groups of people may be overlooked
and underrepresented. It can also be unfair to those who are more qualified because it lessens
their abilities or even their pay. It may also lead to lower productivity, increased turnover and can
harm the company in many ways. Throughout our lectures and assignments in class, I have taken
into account unconscious bias and would try to first identify my biases before saying anything. I
believe some of my biases during hiring would involve seeing candidates of my own ethinicity. I
love making my people known that I might overlook their skills above other candidates. I am
aware of this and will tailor my perspective to expertise and experience. Another bias could be
hiring females just because I want to see more dominant females in the workplace. Little things
like that may or may not be the reason for the destruction of my company and I am realizing that
now.

Resources

O’Meara, K. A., Culpepper, D., & Templeton, L. L. (2020, June). Nudging Toward
Diversity: Applying Behavioral Design to Faculty Hiring. journals.sagepub. Retrieved February
23, 2023, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0013189X015002004

Chamberlain, R.P. (2016), Five steps toward recognizing and mitigating bias in the
interview and hiring process", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 199-203.
https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-07-2016-0064