S G Cowen

Chip Rae, director of recruiting at SG Cowen, had been involved in a hard time to make a decision. He had only two offers to be given out, but the amount of remaining candidates was four. Meanwhile, not so much time had left for him and his recruiting team members, who were all very tired after a serious of marathon-recruiting processes in the past two days.

From my opinion, all the four candidates have a strong background for them to enter whatever well-known investment banking companies. Natalya Gldlewska, a Poland-born MBA student who can speak four foreign languages at Cornell, had impressed background in finance market and seemed very determined, ambitious, and ready to work hard. Martin Street, a Wharton MBA, had substantial leadership experiences and dynamic personality. Ken Goldstein, a former top employee in PWC, was a Berkeley MBA with ample knowledge and strong understanding of business. Andy Sanchez, a personable and enthusiastic MBA from University of Southern California, was an entrepreneur who owned a company with $2 million revenue. It was hard to choose as they all had some traits that impressed recruiters.

I also had met some situations before that were very similar with which Rae was facing. In fact, no matter for HR recruiters or line managers, it is very common for them to be asked- who is your preference? Facing so many candidates whose knowledge, skills, and abilities (KASs) provide a great fit with clearly defined requirements of specific jobs, what are the bottom-line and rules to choose?

At this time, one of the most important principles of recruiting is that recruiters are hiring people for “organizations”, not just for “jobs”. It is true that the individual behavior is related to individual KASs, however, more and more evidences show that, in the long run, no matter from the point of organizations’ retaining costs, or from the point of individual contributions to organizations and individual returns from