Staffing at S G Cowen

Investment Banking Industry

HR is central Compensation costs 50% of revenue

Difficult to get talent, esp. before the dotcom bust

S G Cowen

Assets of over $ 430bn Focus on healthcare and

technology Medium sized

Less bureaucracy Move much faster

S G Cowen (contd.) More freedom and responsibility

“the type of person who does well here doesn’t want to be told what to do.”

Hands on high touch Create jobs for people

Recruiting included on performance review

Rejection of an offer as a blow to co.

Hiring Process

New class of associates Core business schools

Next 15 schools in the top 25: loyal Top of the class Defect after dotcom bust?

HR as symbols Resist any kind of ‘science’

Criteria for Hiring

Demonstrated a pattern of success Fast learners “fit” Lack of information Signals that can ‘differentiate’

Institutions as certifications Clients also look for this: non MBAs?

Informational Interview

Team captains Banking professionals Alumni

First level screens Realistic job previews? Standard presentation by HR?

Involvement of the bankers

On Campus Interview Sr./ associates conduct

Identification of talent Assessing skills

Liable for the quality of candidates brought Easier to handle by HR

Associates are associates Breadth & long term view Future peers and rivals

On Campus Interview (contd.)

Rae as institutional memory Knowledge mgmt.?

Yield: 12.5% Detailed notes during interviews Culture fit

Super Saturday

Top bankers Multiple interviews/ interviewers Confident of ‘whipping through the

list’ Yield: 66% Pseudo social setting with a formal

interview process Very finality

Interviewing

Each had their own methodology “Psychologists and sociologists have

studied the reliability and validity of job interviews in great depth, and their conclusions are somewhat devastating. Job interviews are neither reliable nor valid in general.” (Baron & Kreps, Strategic human resources, 1999)

Interviewing (contd. 1) Recommendation of literature

More structure Hiring is a ‘romantic’ process

Date vs. dry logic of arranged marriage “A good HR practitioner has to be a

proficient detective who asks the kind of questions that get candidates to open up and reveal their good and bad workplace characteristics.”

Interviewing (contd. 2)

“Red flags” Culture fit Variance is good

Share real life experience Some structure

Relative evaluation Take notes

Aids for Hiring

Grades Grades and job performance are

loosely correlated How honest are references? Psychological tests

Interpreting the results Cause-effect relationships at work

Culture through Hiring Get people to behave like a firm Engaging the entire firm “right stuff” Is a firm in which everyone fits truly

a desirable thing? “Ideal type” Personal values vs. organisational

values Cowen stands vs. aspires

Candidates

Godlewska “Culture fit”?: English, social skills Go getter, technical skills

Street Leadership: army Wharton grades not disclosed Lack of interest

Candidates (contd.) Goldstein

Consistently good performer Family “Too mature”

Sanchez Entrepreneur, self starter Grades, other interests

Ran a test coaching service himself

Barriers to Change

Frank discussion on what the job demands

Looking different to third parties Institutional pressures

References

Posthuma et al. 2002 Beyond employment interview validity. Personnel psychology, 55, 1-81.

Campion 1997 A review of structure in the selection interview. Personnel psychology, 690.