Name: Garima Gaur

Student Number: 190101047

Section: E

Due Date: 17 June, 2019

Executive Summary

SG Cowen is a boutique-sized investment banking firm hiring for its associate. Chip Rae, the

director of hiring at SG Cowen is faced with the problem of choosing two candidates from

the four candidates who have been interviewed by the senior bankers. Also, he has to bring

different senior bankers to a consensus about which candidate is the best fit for SG Cowen.

In order to choose the best fit for the firm it is important to prioritize the qualities that SG

Cowen most wants in its candidates. Some of those parameters that can be used to select

the candidates and bring the bankers to a consensus are- self-starters, fast-learners,

cultural-fit, good understanding of the work- technology as well as emerging growth,

creative and energetic. The reason for prioritizing certain aspects over others is that each

and every banker has different criteria for judging the candidates and are not immune to

bias.

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 Statement of Problem

Chip Rae has to choose two candidates from the four candidates that have been

interviewed by the senior manager in order to reach the ideal class size after taking into

account the expected yield.

The root cause of the problem is that of difference of opinions among the bankers. There

were a total of thirty bankers that had come to interview the candidates and all of them

firmly held on to their own views about the candidates they had interview.

Short term problems-

Some candidates might have an advantage over other candidates due to the informational

interviews that take place before the first round of official interviews- some might get the

chance to talk to a more helpful banker than others and in the process gain a more

thorough understanding of what to expect from the firm and then work accordingly for the

future rounds, others may not get the same opportunity. Like me syndrome, which might

lead to choosing candidates that the interview feels he/she most identified with in the

informational interview is important to look out for.

Long term problem-

Different approach of different bankers while evaluating the candidates, which reflects in

the discussion and notes made by them during the interview. Chip Rae has to choose two

candidates from the four candidates in order to reach the class size.

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 Causes of the problem

The investment banking company SG Cowen is looking to hire 30 associates. These 30

associates are selected in different ways- first, the third-year analysts who were hired

from institutes like Babson, Colby, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard and New York

University. Next, the students who were recruited as interns from b-schools and will

now be given full time employments. Finally, the candidates who would be chosen from

the top 25 core business schools. The hiring of new outside associates starts in fall.

There were Team Captains assigned to every school at which SG Cowen recruits, so that

there is a constant point of contact. Rae Chip tried to match up the alumni with their

own school.

SG Cowen stresses on the importance of being a self-starter. In order to give the

candidates a chance to take the initiative, they have the opportunity to set up an

informational interview with SG Cowen professionals where they get to know more

about the firm and the industry before the actual interview takes place. For the On-

campus round, at every core school, SG Cowen has two or three schedules out of which

at least one is open and one closed. In the first round the interviewers try to gauge

which candidates can make it through Super Saturday. The second round took place on

the same day as the first round and then the candidates for Super Saturday were

finalised. Super Saturday started on Friday afternoon when the candidates arrived and

then met for dinner with many of the interviewers. On Saturday morning, interviews

began at nine, and each interviewer and each candidate had five half hour sessions with

short breaks. Thirty candidates were present for the interviews which meant that thirty

bankers were present for conducting the interviews. After these interviews, there were

some “yeses” and some “nos” and remaining were the “maybes”.

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- The informational interview is helpful to know whether the candidate is a self-starter

or not. But not every SG Cowen professional provides the same kind of information

to the candidate- some might be more interested and enthusiastic and others might

not have the same zeal and passion. This would lead to the candidates to have

disproportionate prior knowledge of the company which would affect their

performance in the interview.

- The changes made by Chip Rae in selection of the core schools SG Cowen would be

focusing on for recruiting the associates is another point to focus on. It was observed

in the past that most of the candidates who were selected from the top 10 schools

were from the middle of the class. So, Rae had made the decision to focus on the

next 15 schools so that they would be able to get the students who were at the top

of their class. This decision was not welcomed initially but was later accepted by the

seniors at SG Cowen. They saw that recruiting from the top 25 schools with students

at the top of the class was better.

- In order to bring different bankers to a consensus on which candidates to choose, it

is important to have a standardised process which quantifies the parameters on

which the candidates will be chosen.

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Recommended Solution, Implementation and Justification

The four candidates have their own sets of weaknesses and strengths. Here are the

points for consideration for selection of candidates in brief:

1. Natalya Godlewska

Pros:

- Relevant Experience

- Multilingual

- Relevant knowledge in the field of finance

- Great reference from previous employer

- Go-getter

- High GPA in undergraduate and MBA

- Good negotiator

- Analytical Skills

- Adaptable

Cons

- less proficient in English

- stiff in informal conversation

2. Martin Steve

Pros

- Leadership skills

- Good Strategist

- Decision maker

- Problem solver

- Flexibility

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 Cons

- Military experience

3. Ken Goldstein

Pros

- Self-starter

- Multi-tasker

- Top performer

- Presentation skills

- Technical Knowledge

- Charming Personality

- Love for the job

- Good references from the previous employer

- Problem solving skills

Cons

- Lack of experience in the field of investment banking

- Clash of opinions

4. Andy Sanchez

Pros

- Entrepreneur

- High GMAT/SAT

- Keen Interest

- Leadership skills

- Self-starter

- Responsible

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 - Future Oriented

Cons

- Low GPA

- Lack of relevant experience

- Lack of loyalty

The candidates to be chosen so that they fulfil all the criteria for SG Cowen are Natalya

Godlewska and Andy Sanchez.

Reasons for selecting Natalya Godlewska:

Natalya has been a consistently good performer in her academics as well as in her job. She

had the highest GPA in her undergraduate in finance from an Eastern European college. Her

adaptability skills are evident from the shift she made from Poland to USA at the age of 22

without any blemish on her professional work. At CommScan, where she worked for 4 years,

she developed a M&A modelling software which shows that she was well versed in

technology. Her previous employer had called her a good negotiator and highlighted how

good she was in tough negotiations.

Reasons for selecting Andy Sanchez

Andy is a good hire because of his entrepreneurial experience. He not only founded his venture at a

very young age but also managed it very successfully. The fact that he had an equity partner

onboard goes on to prove that he has practical experience of negotiating and closing a deal. This skill

is very crucial for an investment banking firm. The success of his venture justifies his low academic

scores and I would not judge him by it. I would judge him by his focus, hard work and

entrepreneurial success.