SG Cowen: New Recruits Thomas J. DeLong, Vineeta Vijayaraghavan - Article Example

Harvard Business Case Study: SG Cowen: New Recruits Thomas J. DeLong, Vineeta Vijayaraghavan Introduction The case is about the company SG Cowen and the recruitment system at place at the company for hiring new graduates from universities for different positions and programs at SG Cowen. Initially the case provides background on the investment banking industry as of 2001 and the significant changes that have taken place as a result of new banks entering the industry and established banks merging to form large conglomerates. It continues to provide an introduction to SG Cowen the company which is an entity operating in the investment banking segment if the banking industry in the US. The company has operations mainly in Boston, but over the years has also expanded to economic hubs of San Francisco, Dallas as well as London in the UK. The company still seeks to grow further by diversifying into the geographical regions of the world but wants to keep an integrated mission and vision for hiring new talent and recruits at the various positions in the company. The case outlines the recruitment session for a period of 2001-2002 at SG Cowen, starting from the establishment of the recruitment procedures at the company and the flow of applicant and recruitment selection at all levels of the company. Comments and Observations The case of SG Cowen: New Recruits has been analyzed through observation. It has been observed that the company has an established and exhaustive recruitment process for hiring recent graduates, which pertains to inviting applications from candidates in the market, targeting candidates from the core schools by holding interactive career setting and recruitment sessions with the interested applicants and tier based interview sessions at the universities as well at the company in New York. Through the information provide in the case, it has been noted that the recruitment procedure for new graduates into SG Cowen is based on the strategy formulated by Rae. This strategy by Rae is to target the core schools and universities for the future employees of SG Cowen. These core schools include schools ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in the United States as well as the 15 schools which make up the top 25 schools in the United States. This is a unique strategy to adopt in a highly competitive market for recruits. It was also observed that the only the academic performance of the candidates and their previous work records and experiences were not the only factors taken into account when making a decision for hiring new recruits. The orientation of the candidates, as well as their drive, interest and passion for the business and the industry as well as the suitability to the culture of the organization were also taken into account when deciding on the selection of new recruits to be hired by SG Cowen. The problem that has been observed in the case pertains to the issues faced by the management of SG Cowen when it comes to deciding the final recruits amongst those candidates who have the potential, the drive as well as the academic record and experience to be recruits of SG Cowen but for some reason have not received affirmation form all the interviewers at the Super Saturday interview rounds. Connections to Human Resource Management The article is very much related to the human resource field and the Human Resource Management function. This case provides the entire recruitment and selection process at SG Cowen which is a part of the human resource management function. The case depicts the recruitment steps and process though which the candidates go through to be hired by the company. These steps pertain to on On Campus Round and Super Saturday which culminate in the selection of the class of 30 or so recruits for SG Cowen. The On Campus round takes the form of introduction and sign up sessions at the core schools where the interested students can sign up for applying as a candidate to SG Cowen. An informal session is kept between the representatives of SG Cowen, the MD and the interested candidates where the drives, enthusiasm and the personality as well as the interest of the candidates is determines and observed by the company representatives. Simultaneously the candidates are also provided answers regarding the questions that they may have on the company, its recruitment programs and the environment for working at SG Cowen. This forms the applicant registration, and short listing section of the recruitment process as per the human resource management function. The Super Saturday round gathers the short listed candidates who are invited to the company offices at New York and are taken through gruelling back to back interview sessions. The various senior personnel of the company involved in the recruitment process as well as the heads of the different functions conduct the interviews to select the best suited candidates for the company. After the interview sessions the heads sit together to discuss the applicants and decide on the final candidates to be hired by SG Cowen. These forms the detailed candidate analysis, and recruit selection process for the SG Cowen company as per the human resource management function. Lessons Learned The case of the SG Cowen: New Recruits highlights the commitment made by the personnel of the company towards hiring the best suited recruits from diverse backgrounds based on their academic and experience portfolio as well as their fit o the organization culture and how best they can contribute to the company. The company personnel and heads of the different functions give up days of their time to travel to the core schools for recruitment events held by SG Cowen as well as put up using their holidays as workdays to search, analyze and select the best suited recruits for the yearly recruitment sessions at the company. This kind of commitment by the senior management of the company is commendable and inspires others to take a similar dedicated approach towards hiring new recruits in their respective companies and businesses. Discussion & Recommendations The problem that has been identified from the case that is faced by SG Cowen and its management is the selection of the final two recruits from amongst the final four candidates on which the management of the company can agree unanimously. The management has already assessed the academic, professional experience records as well as has assessed the personality of the candidates to determine their fit to SG Cowen. The stakeholders of this problem include the management involved as well as the candidates; however the decision needs to be made by the management for hiring the final two recruits. It is therefore recommended that the management should employ a group decision making approach whereby all the decision makers write down their choice of candidates on a piece of paper and jot down the two main reasons for selecting the candidate. These names can be announced along with the reasons after each round of selection until only two candidates are left in the running for the recruitment positions. These to candidates can be selected for the recruitment program at SG Cowen. References DeLong, T.J., Vijayaraghavan, V., ‘SG Cowen: New Recruits’, Harvard Business Review, 9-402-028, 2006 Read More