Sg Cowen Case Analysis
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SG Cowen Case Analysis Jorge F. RodriguezWebster UniversitySG Cowen Case Analysis  Reflect Upon a Time When You had a Negative Recruiting/Hiring Experience.  What Were the Signs the Experience Wasn’t Going Well?   While serving as the Chief of Human Resources in different organizations, the author has had the opportunity to be part of numerous recruiting teams and evidenced plenty of negativesituations during interviews.  In the author’s perspective the most important things to have a good experience for both sides (recruiter & candidate) is honesty and be prepared.  The recruiter must have a set of questions and scorecard before the interview in order to provide eachcandidate a fair shot.  One of the negative signs the author experienced while interviewing a newcandidate was when the candidate didn’t understand, had any knowledge about the scope ofresponsibilities for the position he/she was applying for or when the candidate listed skills they never possessed.  Another negative sign that demonstrated the interview wasn’t going well was when the candidate started to speak negatively about their current boss after being asked the reason for them looking for a new job.  Further negative signs that candidates brought out during interviews were when they started to discuss private information with interviewers without beingasked and when started to ask about the simplicity of the job to supervisors and different ways to receive step increases in the job.  Finally, as hiring official a negative sign can be demonstratedwhen an offer is presented to a good prospect and the candidate request additional time to make adecision prior to acceptance. What Are the key Decisions Points Used by SG Cowen in Making Hiring Decisions?  What Is Your Evaluation of the Process Used by the Firm?   SG Cowen utilized key decision points to accomplish their hiring process.  As described byDelong & Vijayaraghavan (2006, p. 4), Chip Rae, director of recruiting at SG Cowen, decided to utilize a new strategy and expand their on-campus hiring program to the leading 25 academicinstitutions.  Paying more attention to the next 15 schools in the top 25 was Rae’s new strategy (Delong & Vijayaraghavan, 2006, p. 4).  SG Cowen used to compete with big firms like JP Morgan and Goldman for recruiting new employees, but it was hard to get the best students from the best schools.  “We used to go to the top 10,” Rae said, “but at some of the top schoolswe were getting people in the middle class of the class” (Delong & Vijayaraghavan, 2006, p. 4).Bigger companies attracted most of the best students due to their extensive recruiting budgets.  Also, new recruits exhibited more interest for established brand names companies as they
looked for secure jobs.  Another key decision utilized by SG Cowen was conductinginformational interviews.  During the informal interviews the company was able to estimate the interest level of the candidates for the job and provided the candidates an opportunity to learn more about the firm. Informal interviews can be utilized for what Sullivan (2008, p. 1) referred as Employment Branding.  By proactively making it easy for potential applicants to read, hear, orsee the factors that make working at your firm exciting, you can dramatically increase the number and quality of your applicants over a long period (Sullivan, 2008, p. 1).  Also, byspending more time upfront in active dialogue and aligning on the design of the role, we enabled a deeper understanding of what kind of individual would succeed within the operatingenvironment, they would enter (Page, 2010, p. 5).  SG Cowen also utilized the on-campus round as a key decision to identify if the candidates possessed the necessary skills to perform the job.  Interviewers take advantage of the on-campus round to look for cultural fit.  Further, thecompany used Super Saturday as their final key decision in their hiring process.  Super Saturday was the last opportunity for hiring officials to identify if the candidates were cultural fit for thejob.  Potential candidates were also tested for their skills and ability to manage five interviews in one day.   Based on the author’s perspective, SG Cowen hiring process was very effective.  The firm’s process allowed hiring officials to discover candidates with appropriate interpersonal and academic skills.  Interviewers had the opportunity to seek talented young people while visiting well-established academic institutions.  Also, as demonstrated by Delong & Vijayaraghavan(2006, p. 15) in exhibit 2, the firm utilized a comprehensive evaluation form to identify the best candidates for the positions.  However, the firm could it saved an enormous amount of money if they have utilized other processes like job fairs to attract good candidates from other business sectors for their company.  What Is Your Evaluation of the Criteria Used by the Organization in Making Hiring Decisions?   The author perceived the hiring criteria utilized by SG Cowen to be an effective one.  First,offering an informal interview provided the candidates the opportunity to evaluate if the firm’s mission and vision was what they were looking for in a job to commit.  The fact that SG Cowenemployed formal and informal interviews in their hiring process allowed the firm to evaluateinterpersonal skills in a greater way.  Still, the interview process could be a double edge sourcefor candidates and interviewers.  The interview is really a verbal test for the candidate. However,