Cowen’s Recruitment and Selection Process
Societe Generale’s investment in Cowen and Company led to the creation of SG Cowen. In 2000, it was among the most significant institutions specializing in banking services (Delong & Vijayaraghavan, 2006). Additionally, Cowen had to hire initiatives at a particular business school to find applicants aligned with their goals. Furthermore, they accepted the CVs of individuals who did not participate in the campus event.
Before the formal rounds of interviews, they conducted only educational interviews. The interviewers determine who was involved in “Super Saturday” (Delong & Vijayaraghavan, 2006). SG Cowen’s current recruitment approach is multi-component, including hiring students from affiliated universities and interns who have previously worked with them.
Cowen aims to find trustworthy, dedicated individuals with excellent cultural alignment. Possible candidates from most academic colleges were chosen as applicants. Cowens’ commitment, loyalty, and cultural skills criteria are met by students from less elite institutions, who obtain equal education, training, and opportunities. Additionally, there is an opportunity to find candidates from non-core universities (Delong & Vijayaraghavan, 2006). As a result, Cowen seeks out skilled people with potential for professional growth and interns who have already gained professional experience in their companies.
First, SG Cowen Bank gave university presentations to interest potential candidates in their proposition. The presentation was designed to increase students’ awareness about the organization and the benefits of working for SG Cowen.
In the second stage, the business would conduct informational interviews with interested applicants after the speeches. The applicants will be asked to visit the bank for an interview with the bank’s HR team. This interview was not intended to evaluate the candidates but to learn more about the individuals and determine whether they were genuinely motivated to work at the bank. Applicants would be chosen for the Super Saturday contest at this interview stage (Delong & Vijayaraghavan, 2006). Senior staff members will evaluate the candidates and determine their competencies.
Recommendations on the Improvement of the Selection Process
First, there should be a waiting list of applicants who still need to pass the test this time or find another position in another organization. It ensures that the company’s HR records of all applicants and decent candidates will not be lost in an emergency.
The second recommendation is to create a group of employees who can professionally assess applicants’ personal characteristics, including psychologists (Windisch, 2018). It will make the evaluation process more objective and fact-based. The third recommendation is to consider the trainees who participated in the bank-organized summer camp. These applicants have relevant experience working with a particular company, and the resources have already been spent on their professional preparation.
Those applicants who demonstrated greater initiative and commitment to the position during their early informational interviews might have an advantage over others, potentially affecting the company’s employees. To ensure that senior managers would not question their decision, some bankers put more effort and pressure into the interviews, seeking only the strongest and most appealing candidates (Twine, 2018). The primary concern is whether hiring people is best done through a convergent selection procedure that meets both the selection criteria and the evaluation objective.
Quantitative Assessment of Candidates
Table 1. The Candidates’ Strengths and Weaknesses
Natalya’s Polish heritage, the age at which she immigrated to the US, and cultural history have contributed to her perception as a confident adult with an inquisitive attitude. She has exceptional linguistic expertise in three languages, even though her English proficiency could be enhanced. Her approach during the interview is controversial, but it shows she is a professional. She demonstrated she was a model example who achieved everything by organizing interview sessions with bankers.
Andy is a charismatic and competent applicant whose ability to connect with people, establish contacts, and take control of the initiative are among his most notable traits. Even though he runs his own company, he demonstrates a broad range of leadership skills and respect for the strategy of the company he is discussing.
Process Evaluation
It is possible to recommend the participation of the HR professional with psychological knowledge in the evaluation process to make it more fair and objective. The individuals who evaluate applicants are bankers who only have a specialized viewpoint. They need to gain knowledge of HR professionals when working with personnel.
There may be a significant issue with the interviews conducted by team leaders in the core colleges. In reality, they may lead to process misdirection due to individual opinions that arose during the conversations. In other words, the banker needs to learn how to evaluate the student objectively and fairly, which makes the choice of the applicants controversial and needs improvement.
Another issue is that the bankers participate in the evaluation process in their free time, so they will try to end this activity as soon as possible. Discussing objectivity in this situation is impossible, and this aspect requires changes. This means that there should be more HR professionals who interact with the candidates instead of bankers working in the company.
It is possible to hypothesize that it makes sense to avoid candidates from top universities because the company requires innovative, adaptable, and energetic people. The competitive applicants could meet the criteria better than the candidates from leading colleges (Evatt-Young & Bryson, 2021). It allows us to assume that they perform primarily for the outcome and will appreciate how they acquired their job.
Finding people who are devoted employees and who appreciate the work process would also have a positive impact on the business. People who only struggle for money are different from what the organization needs. Thus, choosing Andy Sanchez and Natalya Godlewska would be optimal in this case.
References
Delong, T. & Vijayaraghavan, V. (2006). SG Cowen: New recruits. Harvard Business School.
Evatt-Young, D., & Bryson, B. S. (2021). White higher education leaders on the complexities of whiteness and anti-racist leadership. Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE), 7(1), 47–82.
Twine, F. W. (2018). Technology’s invisible women: Black Geek girls in Silicon Valley and the failure of diversity initiatives. International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, 1(1), 58–79.
Windisch, S., Logan, M. K., & Ligon, G. S. (2018). Headhunting among extremist organizations: An empirical assessment of talent spotting. Perspectives on Terrorism, 12(2), 44–62.