Case Analysis: SG Cowen - New Recruits
Case Analysis: SG Cowen - New Recruits
Case Analysis: SG Cowen - New Recruits
Case analysis :
SG Cowen – New Recruits
In partial fulfillment of the course on Managing People and
Performance in Organizations
Submitted by –
Harsha Jyoti Malviya (1211343)
Ishan Vishnoi (1211346)
Karthik P (1211347)
Kavya Gollavilli (1211349)
Koneti Nishitha (1211350)
Rajani Ch(1211368)
Ritesh Yarlagadda (1211372)
S.Sairam(1211376)
Soumya Basu (1211385)
Introduction
SG Cowen is a financial industries firm based in the United States. The firm is
looking to recruit for its Associate program. The case outlines the methods,
process and decision criteria that the company uses to arrive at the final
decision. We have studied and assessed these processes, criteria using the
models from the course book and material and have suggested improvements
wherever possible. We have also designed a linear model that will allow the firm
to standardize and quantify the various criteria it uses in its hiring decision.
Using this linear model, we have assessed 4 candidates that the firm is looking
to hire and pinned down the 2 most eligible candidates
These questions were mostly related to the planning stage and had to be
decided before the start of the recruitment process.
We believe that this is a wide talent pool and gives SG Cowen the opportunity to
select the best candidates for the associate position. Hiring from analysts makes
the recruitment process easier because these candidates have been with the
firm with three years. They have a better understanding about the firm and
have proven their cultural fit.
Informal Interviews
SG Cowen used informal interviews to gauge the interest of students in their
firm. Each core school had Team Captains who would usually be the alumni of
these schools and were responsible for interaction with the candidates. This was
extremely beneficial as it gave the students a chance to learn about the banking
industry. However, students at non core business schools did not have such an
option and had to approach bankers themselves for conducting these
interviews. This process was difficult and cumbersome as usually the bankers
would have extremely busy schedules. As described by Schoenberg, SG Cowen
was not very receptive to the people from non core business schools. The
process of informal interviews might thus create an undue advantage to people
from core business schools.
Also, the team captains are not human resource professionals and thus may end
up testing only skills and not personality. This might lead to bias creeping in the
process as the team captains might be selecting candidates on few
characteristics and thus stereotyping the candidates. 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.
On Campus Round
Two rounds were conducted in campus. The first round was usually conducted
by associates or senior associates. Candidates were also tested for cultural fit in
these interviews. This helped to select candidates who would be able to work
efficiently and satisfactorily in the organisation. At the end of the first round
interviews, the two or three people who were interviewing candidates discussed
their observations about the candidates and compared their notes about the
different candidates. They had a fixed number of candidates to be chosen after
this round, ie, 6. The focus of interviewers was to quickly conduct a second
round so that they could be conducted on the same night for the 6 shortlisted
candidates. Ideally they should allow time between the two so that the
candidates are relaxed and at ease to give their best. Also, having a fixed
number of students whom they want to forward to the next round might result
in losing out good candidates or selecting not so good candidates.
We see the following problems with the group decision making process:
• Escalation of Commitment for the interviewers
The 5 interviewers who have interviewed the candidate are made to
commit to a Yes, No, Maybe before the start of the interview process. So
when they present their views about the candidate to the group, they are
representing the candidate whom they have said ‘Yes’ and have already
taken a position. Thus, they will try their best to protect that position.
There is very little chance that this opinion might change even after
discussion. Also, when interviewers are forced to take a position, there is
more chance of the final decision being more of a political decision than
being a scientific decision as co-bankers in the group are more likely to
vote for the candidate who has been approved by someone they like and
vice-versa
• Groupthink
In the Super Saturday meeting, the 5 interviewers are made to commit to
a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ about the candidate she/he has interviewed. During the
post-lunch discussion process, where the final call is taken on the
candidate, there is very high probability for the rest of the group to be
biased by the number of yeses and no’s and might go with the majority
due to conformity pressures. Say, a particular candidate has got 5 yeses a
1 no from his/her interviewers. There is absolutely minimal chance that
the rest of the group will even take interest in discussing the candidate
and might just want to get to the next candidate.
To overcome the above problem, we feel that they can make use of the
nominal group technique. In this method, the group can follow the following
process.
• When a candidate’s name comes up for discussion, the 5 members
present their views of the candidate on various parameters using
examples from the interview. Some might be positive and some might be
negative
• The remaining members of the group then ask for clarifications on the
views expressed by the interviewers to make sure they have understood
them correctly
• There shall be no rebuttal of the views made by the interviewers or any
one-on-one discussions
• After this period, there shall be a silent period and the different members
of the group shall vote Yes or No for the candidates.
Chip Rae will collect the votes and the results shall not be announced
immediately but shall be withheld till discussions on all 30 candidates are
completed. At the end of all the discussions, the candidates will be ranked
according to the number of yeses they have received and the top 20 shall be
given the offers.
• They hold their interviewers responsible for the quality of candidates they
bring thus ensuring that only the best candidates come to the firm.
• It was made sure that the bankers were not partial in their selection
process and favouring candidates from their own alma maters though its
not mentioned how.
• They looked for the right people with the attitude to work at SG Cowen
and were willing to go the extra mile to create jobs for them if required.
• Writing down comments and making extensive notes about candidates
made it easier to recollect and discuss about their abilities.
• Making sure that candidates are relaxed and comfortable before Super
Saturday.
• They did reference checks with previous employers and ensured that
candidates gave the right information.
• Their process answers the three fundamental questions necessary for
Selection Interviewsiii:
o Are the candidates competent for the job? : Candidates are
shortlisted on the basis of their resumes and their skills are checked
in the first round of interviews
o Are the candidates well motivated? : Informal interviews are done to
see if the interviews are really interested in the firm.
o How well they fit in the organisation? : Cultural fit is checked during
the interviews.
• One gap we find is that the process is fraught with uncertainty about
whether the candidate will accept the offer or prefer another firm. They
need to have an alternative in place so as to mitigate this risk. And the
recruitment process is also sandwiched into a very short time frame and
this will cause a lot of stress both for the interviewers and the
interviewees. Given that the firm is very particular about cultural fit,
initiative and on the job learning and they are inviting all shortlisted
candidates for a “Super Saturday”, SG Cowen can try to create an
Assessment Centre for the candidates in the long run.iv Assessment
Centres can provide a more comprehensive and balanced view of the
suitability of a candidate for an organization. They can design exercises to
simulate the key characteristics that they are looking for in candidates
and this will eliminate the subjectivity in the process. Since performance is
measured in several dimensions and several candidates are assessed
together to allow for interaction, it would facilitate better comparison of
candidates’ potential.v
• A student who comes for a summer internship works in the organization
for 2-3 months. During this period, the organization can judge the
candidate’s skills, cultural fit and future potential and hence the firm can
make a better decision on hiring for a full time position. The students who
intern at SG Cowen has 2 months to understand the culture of the firm
and hence can make an informed decision if they want to pursue a career
with the firm. So the acceptance rate will be much higher compared to
that in the case of new recruits. The current number of associates hired
from summer interns is 8. This can thus be increased in the future.
• MBTI to assess work ethics and personality type
While a lot of emphasis is laid upon personal fit in the organization, it is
quite difficult to gauge a person’s fit objectively. To eliminate any
discrepancy and to scientifically analyse a prospect’s work ethic and fit,
we could have them answer an MBTI. The MBTI is a standardised test and
we have results from past tests to guide us in this regard. Study of a
number of Investment Banking personnel profiles has revealed that
Investment Bankers typically fall into one of these personality types: INTP,
INTJ, ESTJ, ENTJ, ISTJ.vi
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. This can be gauged by the candidate’s
profile, interest shown in the informational interviews.
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.
According to Rae “long-term success ….. came from loving the work, loving to
teach and sell …”. Candidates would need to have very good inter-personal
skills to be able to sell well
Leadership
The firm needed people who were 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 is very important for prospective
candidates
Technical skills
At the end of the day a person’s technical prowess, number crunching skills,
domain knowledge of Finance & Accounting, creativity and ability to prioritize is
what helped one deliver his duties. So the management had earlier rejected
candidates who fell short on these criteria. And we too think this is the right
move since at the end of the end this is what the client would be paying for. For
instance, from the Exhibits, we infer that Bill Berry had been rejected since he
lacked number crunching skills and William Xu had been dinged since he fell
short on Accounting Skills.
Overall, we are in agreement with the usage of the criteria in the evaluation
form. But we feel there is no scientific basis for the overall rating in the
evaluation form. This may introduce bias in the final decision. 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
The usage of linear models will reduce the subjectivity that is currently present
in the process and will also bring in consistency in judging different candidates
on similar grounds. Chip Rae should take the lead in designing this linear model
as he is exposed to the different banking teams and has been a banker himself
and he can design a model that reflects the overall wisdom of the firm.
Based on the information given in the case, we have evaluated the importance
of each criteria and we have given the following weights for each of the criteria
Category Weights
Commitment to Firm 10%
Judgement/Maturity 10%
Interpersonal
Impact/Presence 5%
Communication Skills 8%
Leadership
Initiative 7%
Motivation 8%
Technical
Creativity 7%
Modeling 7%
Accounting/Finance 12%
Prioritizing 6%
Work Ethic
Team Player 7%
Flexibility/Versatility 7%
Motivation 6%
Technical Skills: We have given this the highest weight. Investment banking is a
skill-heavy job and firms are fighting for candidates with high technical abilities.
Given that SG Cowen’s core competency and competitive advantage comes
from research, technical skills should be given the highest weight (32%).
Work Ethic: SG Cowen is a boutique firm. Because of its small size, its associates
usually work very closely with firms and they need to demonstrate good team
abilities and flexibility as they are given high responsibilities and very little
hand-holding. Also very important is the fact that the candidate must be
motivated to join the company as if a person rejects the offer after being made
one, then the company has committed an error. We have given this a weight of
20%
We decided to evaluate the candidates using the linear model proposed earlier.
Based on the weights accorded to the different parameters, a scorecard was
prepared for each of the four candidates. The candidates were given a rating for
each of the parameter – Outstanding, Good, Fair and Unsatisfactory. Also, a
score was awarded for each of these parameters. The weights given to the
parameters were then multiplied with the scores to give a weighted average
score for each of the candidate. These scores are tabulated below:
Ken
Weights Natalya Martin Goldstei Andy
Parameter (total 100) Godlewska Street n Sanchez
Commitment to
firm 10 9 1 5 9
Judgement/
Maturity 10 7 7 3 9
Interpersonal
Skills
Impact/
Presence 5 1 9 7 7
Communicati
on Skills 8 4 9 7 9
Leadership
Initiative 7 9 9 9 9
Motivation 8 8 7 9 9
Technical Skills
Creativity 7 5 5 5 5
Modeling 7 10 5 9 5
Accounting/
Finance 12 10 5 9 5
Prioritizing 6 5 5 9 5
Work Ethic
Team Player 7 7 7 2 5
Flexibility/Ver 7 7 5 7 5
satility
Motivation 6 5 5 5 6
Overall Rating 7.07 5.9 6.59 6.88
So based on the weighted scores, we can see that the two people who should be
selected are Natalya Godlewska and Andy Sanchez.
Appendix
Weights
(total Mar
Natalya Godlewska 100) ks Remarks Reasons
Called the bankers she had met at
Commitment to Outstandin presentation for informational
firm 10 9 g interviews
Having worked in the industry for 4
Judgement/ years, she showed an in depth
Maturity 10 7 Good knowledge of the sector
Interpersonal
Skills
Impact/ Unsatisfact Seemed stiff and uncomfortable so
Presence 5 1 ory may not be a great cultural fit
Her less than perfect English might
affect her ability to work with fellow
team members, but she will be a hit
Communicatio with the clients due to her positive
n Skills 8 4 Fair energy
Leadership
Was highly recommended by her
Outstandin referee and she displayed a "can-do"
Initiative 7 9 g attitude
Outstandin She seemed ambitious and ready to
Motivation 8 8 g work hard
Technical Skills
Creativity 7 5 Fair
Worked 4 years in firm which
Outstandin developed modelling software for
Modeling 7 10 g M&A firm
Secured the highest GPA in the
finance department and served as
Accounting/ Outstandin graduate teaching assistant in
Finance 12 10 g finance program at Cornel
Prioritizing 6 5 Fair
Work Ethic
Team Player 7 7 Good Good reference from her referee
Flexibility/ Speaks fluent Russian, Polish,
Versatility 7 7 Good German and some French
Motivation 6 5 Fair
Overall Rating 7.07
Weights
(total Mar
Martin Street 100) ks Remarks Reasons
Though he said he preferred the
boutique nature of S G Cowen, it was
Commitment to Unsatisfact not sure if he would accept the offer
firm 10 1 ory if made
Having served for 4 years in the
Judgement/ military, he was expected to show a
Maturity 10 7 Good high maturity level
Interpersonal
Skills
Impact/ Outstandin
Presence 5 9 g Dynamic Personality
Communicatio Outstandin
n Skills 8 9 g Confident and articulate
Leadership
Outstandin Having served in the military, he led
Initiative 7 9 g a rescue operation in Bosnia
He was involved in a number of
activities, as diverse as marathon
Motivation 8 7 Good racing.
Technical Skills
Creativity 7 5 Fair
Grades not known due to college
Modeling 7 5 Fair policy
Accounting/ Grades not known due to college
Finance 12 5 Fair policy
Prioritizing 6 5 Fair
Work Ethic
Team Player 7 7 Good Expected due to his military service
Flexibility/
Versatility 7 5 Fair
Motivation 6 5 Fair
Overall Rating 5.9
Weights
(total Mar
Ken Goldstein 100) ks Remarks Reasons
Commitment to Family life balance was very
firm 10 5 Fair important for him
Weights
(total Mar
Andy Sanchez 100) ks Remarks Reasons
He had several informational
interviews with the firm and talked
Commitment to Outstandin to other asosociates on several
firm 10 9 g occasions whenever it was possible
Had a profitable business; Was good
Judgement/ Outstandin at making the right decisions for
Maturity 10 9 g himself at the right time
Interpersonal
Skills
Impact/ Friendly to candidates; Good at
Presence 5 7 Good making people relax
Always sent follow up mails to
Communicatio Outstandin people he talked to; Spoke very
n Skills 8 9 g cogently about banking industry
Leadership
Outstandin Started his own business during first
Initiative 7 9 g year of college - was successful
Enrolled in business school while he
was running his own business and
Outstandin managed both the responsibilities
Motivation 8 9 g well
Technical Skills
Creativity 7 5 Fair
Modeling 7 5 Fair
Accounting/ Though he had great GMAT and SAT
Finance 12 5 Fair scores, his GPA was very less
Prioritizing 6 5 Fair
Work Ethic
Team Player 7 5 Fair
Flexibility/
Versatility 7 5 Fair
Wanted to try out new challenges in
the banking sector and so he left his
Motivation 6 6 Good venture
Overall Rating 6.88
References
i
Milkman, K.L. , Chugh D. , Bazerman , M.H. (2010 Winter) Intuition vs
Deliberation: How decision making can be improved, Rotman Magazine
i
ii
Rynes S.L. , Brown K.G. , Colbert, A.E (2002). Seven misconceptions about
human resource practices: Research findings versus practitioners beliefs.
Academy of Management Executive, 16, 92-102
iii
Robbins et. al Chapters 31-33, 38-39 “Selection Interviewing”
iv
http://www.uniphiz.com/digital_physiognomy/personality-types.htm
v
Robbins et. al Chapters 31-33, “Selection Interviewing”
vi
Golden Personality Type Profiler — Global Type and Occupational Fit”, NCS
Pearson,2007