SG COWEN Q&A.docx

1. Evaluate SG Cowens current strategy for recruitment. What changes you would suggest to have an effective recruiting & selection strategy including target schools, providing information to candidates and making final choices for S G Cowen.

The current strategy used by SG Cowen for recruitment was:a) Stage 1 - Presentation in the college by the SG Cowen Bank, wherein the students were told about the bank and the presentations focussed on educating the students about the company and the advantages of being a part of S G Cowen. b) Stage 2- Informational interview- after the presentations the interested candidates were invited to the bank for the interview and to interact with the bankers. This process was not evaluative and some amount of insight of the student was gathered by this process and the student were tested of the qualities that whether they are interested in the company or not? Is the candidate a self starter or not?c) Stage 3- On campus round - The interviews were conducted for the students to check whether they are eligible for the the super Saturday round or not? d) Super Saturday round- 30 students who were selected for the Super Saturday were called to the office to be interviewed by the senior employees. e) Assessment and evaluation of the candidates was done at last to finalised the selection of the candidates for the position. The suggested changes for the SG Cowen recruitment process-I ) There must be a backup for the student to be put ready in the waitlist if in case any candidate do not join then the alternative can be considered for the place.II) Interview process should be of very short time and their should not be an unnecessary stress to the students. III) There should be an assessment centre for the SG cowen to analyse the students performance even after the selection.IV) The students who come for the summer internship must be considered for the full time selection, this way the SG cowen could save a lot of time and energy from selection of a few suitable candidate from a huge chunk of non eligible candidates in a short span of time.

2. What are the key decision points used by SG Cowen in hiring decisions?

There are various decision points which were used by SG Cowen in hiring a candidate, those decision points are:1. During the interviews the students were tested whether they are interested in the company and whether they are a self starter or not.2. During the company visit they are tested of their cultural fit and the required skillset for the company3. In the Super Saturday round the students were tested whether they have demonstrated the pattern of success in their life and they are susceptible to the emergent technology.4. They are checked of decision making qualities and their interpersonal skills which also included that the candidate is a team player or not. 5. The communication skills and the leadership qualities of the students were checked simultaneously almost with all the stages of the recruitment process.

These were the few important aspects which were mainly checked and taken into account while a candidate is undergoing the recruitment at SG Cowen.

3.

Ans: While evaluating the 4 candidates, we can use the various parameters upon which the students can be judged. 1. The commitment of the students towards the firm2. Their judgement maturity3. The interpersonal skilla) Impact b) Communication4. Leadershipa) Initiative b) Motivational 5.Technical skilla) Creativityb) Adaptation to the new technology & Modeling c) Accounting and finance6.Work Ethicsa) Team playerb) Flexibility

1. While judging the first candidate Natalya Godlewaska, She is found best in technical skills viz accounting and finance and modeling. She has a high commitment to the firm and she has demonstrated very good leadership skills. Excluding other parameters she has scored less in communication and some interpersonal skills.2. The second candidate Martin Street has demonstrated well in communication and interpersonal skills but shown a lesser interested in the commitment to the firm.3. Ken Goldstein, the third candidate has demonstrated best in leadership and technical skill but lowest in the work ethics this is not a good sign for a candidate because work ethics are the most important in maintaining the integrity in an organisation. 4.The fourth candidate Andy Sanchez has demonstrated the best in almost all the parameters but average in technical skills.

We can select the best 2 candidates among the four are: Natalya Godlewaska and Andy Sanchez because Natalya may be less in communicating verbally but she is the best in technical skills and she could work upon her communication skills to make it better.Second candidate Andy has performed best in almost all the parameters of testing but he needs a training in technical skills which can be improved gradually.

Executive Summary