Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co is a case study about the recruitment process and finding the best candidates that would match the company’s objectives and values. According to the case, Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co is one of the leading finance organizations that was established in 1979 (Gabarro et al., 1993). The organization works with many large corporations in the United States, helping them in management, promotion, and marketing. There are a lot of prerequisites and conditions for becoming a part of the organization. Candidates should be eager to learn, have the capacity to take on tasks, and take the initiative to help the company to reach its goals.
Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co focuses on cooperation and values the diversity of personnel. As a result, potential workers must be comfortable working in a team setting, functioning as a leader, managing people, providing creative ideas, and respecting others. In addition, having strong writing and research abilities are essential for employees as these abilities will limit the likelihood of errors and assist clients in learning presented information. These talents and qualities will not only assist Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co achieve its goals but will also advance the candidate to become a professional manager with good skills.
Furthermore, these abilities will be very useful since they will enable the associates to arrange their arguments into a strategy, interact with directors, manage and engage team members in productive work and create positive relationships with clients. The suggestions in this report are based on the KSAO (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics) criteria. This paper determines and evaluates the significance of each KSAO to an associate. The evaluation criteria that are chosen to serve as a benchmark for applicant recruitment. Based on the education and work experience of the applicants, the report provides the top three people who are the best suited for the company.
Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. (BHC) is a leading financial company in the U.S. that was based in 1975 (Gabarro et al., 1993). The company’s competencies include baking deals, mergers and acquisitions, private finance, and evaluation assignments. The BHC aims to become one of the top investment banks in the middle market and keep its clients satisfied. BHC expects that both employees and management support its aim and contribute to the growth of the company. The BHC’s expansion was aided by its focused concentration on the middle market. It concentrates on offering extremely personalized service to its customers. Another critical component of the BHC strategy was an unwavering dedication to its four fundamental ideals, which included: (1) providing high-quality services, (2) conducting a considerable investigation, (3) avoiding misleading expectations, (4) selecting the best candidates. These four basic ideas served as the foundation for the organization. In addition, BHC’s corporate culture was very collaborative and team-oriented. At the company, this was characterized by mutual respect. Furthermore, BHC hoped to maintain its success by enhancing its marketing and functional competence.
BHC requires employees that understand the values of the company. People who want to join BHC need to be interested in staying for the long term and eventually becoming equity partners. At BHC, being an associate is a challenging position that demands patience. Yet, it provides all the opportunities to steppingstone up the corporate ladder. With hard work in BHC, Kelly Katterhagen, Vice President of Bowles Hollowell Corner & Co., is concerned about identifying exceptional prospects to suggest to the Harvard Business School recruiting team. Finally, the team could interview the best-qualified individuals for the post of associate at BHC. Katterhagen understood that hiring people who connect with company culture, business strategy, and the job description is critical in order to have the best prospects possible. As such, the critical issue is to determine who among the associates is suitable for the BHC and would satisfy Katterhagen. To be suitable for the position, a candidate must have relevant and vital Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAOs). There are particular KSAOs that are incredibly significant for the organization and should be kept in mind when selecting applicants for the stage of interviews.
The most important ability that potential applicants need to have is a functional understanding of the financial field, as the positions require certain knowledge of finances and banking. Therefore, looking at employees from the financial stream is relevant because they will fit into the organizational architecture and structure of BHC. As the corporation intends to enhance its market share, effective marketing abilities are also required in candidates. This will help BHC to promote itself more effectively in the future. It will also rely less on word-of-mouth marketing. Furthermore, a good applicant should have strong analytical and numerical abilities. This is due to the fact that associates must conduct comprehensive company analyses and understand financial data.
Another key characteristic is being a team player, as it is a crucial quality in the position. Because BHC has a strong team-centered culture, it is critical that potential applicants have this competence. This will help the prospects to feel at ease in the organization, fostering team cohesiveness and employee respect. Furthermore, past team experience will enable the associates to manage personnel, inspire them, and deal with strategic and management challenges. Moreover, a team player cannot be without advanced communication and interpersonal skills. The associates are needed to engage prospective clients by making a marketing pitch as part of their employment; having interpersonal skills would be advantageous. Candidates should also have strong research and writing abilities. This talent is also required since the work demands the creation of memorandums and other analytical reports; thus, having strong writing and research abilities will reduce the risks of error.
Other skills required for the position include creating and managing customer relationships, as well as coming up with new company ideas; thereby, being creative is also important for candidates. These abilities are critical since, as an investment business, BHC generates a major portion of its revenue from client management. Therefore, it is essential that potential employees have these competencies and can demonstrate them. They need to have a clear focus and attention to detail while writing documentation and presenting information for both the leadership and clients.
It is evident that the most significant KSAO would be a functional understanding of the financial stream. This is critical for an associate, and any candidate who lacks functional competence should not be chosen for further screening. Therefore, candidates must have a relevant master’s degree in finances or any related field. An experience in working in the sphere is also valuable for the position of associate. Financial knowledge is critical, but its practical implication of it is much more important. The second major talent that I would pay special attention to when evaluating candidates is interpersonal and communication skills. These are vital to working at BHC as it demonstrates a person’s ability to pursue clients and make deals with them. Associates and other colleagues must operate as a team, explore alternatives, deliver professional presentations, and communicate with clients. Therefore, BHC prioritizes individuals with strong interpersonal skills, particularly communication, presentation, and organizing abilities. Additionally, great writing and research abilities are required for the position, ranking fourth on the list. Associates must undertake extensive research on client firms, collect data, and produce memorandums as part of their profession.
I recommend Glenn T. Mitchell, Mark Phillips, and Jamie M. Palmer to the Harvard Business School recruiting team. First, Glenn T. Mitchell is a relevant candidate for the position. He has excellent experience working as a consultant at The First Boston Corporation (Gabarro et al., 1993). Here, he assisted customers from different sectors with corporate finance, merger acquisitions, and strategic planning. Glenn handled and built a relationship with clients and could communicate with them effectively. He also delivered professional presentations to investors and presided over client-lender talks. All the talents listed above demonstrate that he possesses great analytical and interpersonal skills, comprehensive knowledge, and financial competence in the U.S. financial markets.
The second associate is Mark Phillips, who has worked as an analyst at Lehman Brothers. He could draft and propose a $1.8 billion plan for a Dutch family firm, meaning that he knows private finance well and can manage large projects (Gabarro et al., 1993). It also demonstrates that he is capable of multitasking and can work under stress. In addition, his expertise in mergers and acquisitions will be tremendously valuable to BHC as it is one of the company’s core services. He learned and gained experience in marketing while working for Walt Disney. These experiences are strongly aligned with the BHC’s future growth plans and make him an ideal candidate. Mark has demonstrated great interpersonal skills, collaborative ability, financial and numerical analysis, and company growth via his experience. Furthermore, he has exhibited initiative and responsibility by starting his own firm.
The final candidate is Jamie M. Palmer, whose prior job experience in the middle-market banking group broadened her understanding of BHC. As an associate in corporate finance, she worked in a team and prepared a memorandum. She has also done a Fortune 500 company study, aided in strategic planning, handled the bank’s lending connections, found new business prospects, taken steps to build business proposals, and managed personnel (Gabarro et al., 1993). It is seen that she possesses all the job’s financial and functional expertise, making her a good candidate for the position of associate. The abilities and knowledge she displayed would be useful in her future career as a managing director.
BHC is one of the market’s leading players with a strong brand image and long history of success. The company has the capacity to enhance its recruitment and hire the best candidates. When hiring an associate, Katterhagen needs to prioritize competent hiring personnel with suitable knowledge, skills, and talents who can also open new opportunities for the company. Selecting employees that fit the appropriate KSAO would be a valuable contribution to BHC, helping it to grow and preserve its leading position in the market.
Reference
Gabarro, John J., Herminia M. Ibarra, John P. Kotter, and Andrew P. Burtis. (1993). Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. Harvard Business School Case, 494-071,