RECRUITMENT OF A

STAR
CASE ANALYSIS

Submitted By,
Group P2
14th Jan15

Problem Statement:
With the upcoming PowerChip deal at stake, should Stephen Connor fill the currently vacant
position of Semiconductor Star Analyst by promoting an existing Junior Analyst or look at
external candidates with more expertise so as to ensure efficient coverage of the
semiconductor industry?
Environment Scrutiny:
External Analysis:
Political Factors:
There are no relevant political factors mentioned in the case.
Economic Factors:

There had been a considerable amount of job shuffling in the industry. Due to these
fairly recent lateral career moves of the top analysts in the Investment Banking
industry, most of them were not ready to make yet another move to a different firm.

Social Factors:

As per demographics statistics, the average retirement age of analysts was around 45
to 50 years. Most analysts in the industry eventually burnt out beyond this age unless

they had incredible stamina.

The industry demands analysts with strong people-skills and relationship-building
abilities with their clients. These are critical prerequisites to hiring an individual for an
analyst position to ensure his or her performance.

Technological Factors:

The industry required the employment of cutting-edge technology to aid research to

provide timely service to clients.

Internal Analysis: Rubin, Stern and Hertz (RSH)

Strengths:

The work culture of RSH was deemed to be one its critical competitive advantages. The
open door policies and teamwork methodology followed fostered a positive work

environment that led to greater productivity.

Increased cooperative efforts that stemmed from teamwork enabled larger coverage

of the industry as opposed to its competitors.

The scheme of providing both individual performance based and team performance
based incentives was just and impartial and motivated employees to put in their best

efforts.
Juniors could benefit from the expertise of analysts with more experience in the field.
This mentorship programme coupled with other learning and development workshops

provided a means of career growth and development to the employees.

The employee-friendly atmosphere resulted in a very low attrition rate. There was
greater loyalty and dedication towards the work. Also, very little had to be spent

towards hiring and training new employees.

The company hired new employees as required very exclusively and after an
extensive analysis of whether the prospective candidate would be a perfect fit for the
designated role. The efforts put in at the time of recruitment showed remarkably when
the candidate lived up to performance expectations and contributed positively towards
the growth of the company.

Weaknesses:

The company does not have suitable contingency plans and this ultimately results in
decline in productivity in the short run. This can be substantiated by the fact that there

was no backup for Peter Thompsons role which led to disruption in daily functioning.
With a low labour turnover ratio and subsequent infrequent recruitment processes, the
company takes a long time to fill in vacant and critical positions.

Opportunities:

The upcoming, high-profile PowerChip deal in the market is currently RSHs biggest
opportunity.

Threats:

RSH faces the risk of losing its valued employees to its competitors. This talent
poaching would lead to a loss of goodwill and trading commission revenues.

The volatile nature of the industry made it virtually impossible for companies to offer a
guaranteed compensation amount for more than a year due to lack of foresight of future
trends.

Problem Analysis:
RSH is currently facing the issue of filling up the critical position of Semiconductor Analyst
after Peter Thompson was lured away by one of its competitors. Adding to the pressure of
filling up the vacancy was the PowerChip deal that had been exclusively entrusted to
Thompson. To take care of the deal on an ad-hoc basis, Connor promoted junior analyst Rina
Shea to cover the semiconductor industry. Connor was faced with the option of permanently
promoting Shea to the star position or sourcing new talent from outside shortlisted
candidates David Hughes, Gerald Baum, Sonia Meetha and Seth Horkum.
Factors:
The following are the factors to be kept in mind while coming up with potential solutions to
the aforementioned problem:

The fit between unique team-based culture of the company and the potential recruit.
Superior understanding of the industry, excellent communication skills and analytical

aptitude.
Need for employees who exhibit Organisational Citizenship Behaviour to enhance the

current competitive advantage the company enjoys.

Need for employees with innate leadership skills so as to provide mentoring and

training to junior employees.

Quick learning abilities and adaptability
Need for employees who believe in providing utmost client delight in terms of

responsiveness to their needs in a timely fashion.

Need for employees who have upper management contacts in the industry so as to

leverage the companys position.

Institutional Investor Rankings is another factor to be considered as the firm currently
has a reputation of employees some of the industrys best experts.

Critical Factors:
1. Team-Based Approach:
Justification:

The company takes pride in its work culture and views it to be a competitive
advantage. The tem-based approach is pervasive at the company and all efforts are
coordinated efficiently in achieving common performance objectives. The horizontal
structuring of the company could very well be seen as an asset. This has been chosen
to be a critical factor as if a person with no team-working skills is chosen to be
employed at the company, he or she would be a complete misfit in the organisation
and would struggle to meet targets due to his/her aversion to working collectively.
This would defeat the very purpose of recruitment which is to fit the psychometric
and aptitude profile of a candidate perfectly with the role being offered to him/her.
2. Industry Expertise:
Justification:
The necessary recruitment for the star analyst comes at a time when high performance
is crucial due to the upcoming PowerChip deal. A long gestation period for the new
hire would prove to be loss-making for the company. The company requires an
employee who is industry-ready, with substantial prior experience and adaptability.
This would ensure that the new employee evolves into a productive contributory
resource within a very short span of time.
Recruitment process:
Critical Selection Criteria:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Institutional Investor Rankings

Industry and domain knowledge
Contacts in upper management of companies
Willing to work in teams and mentor junior analyst
Build relationships with traders and salesforce
Communication (written) and Negotiation skills
Client Oriented and
Good Stock pickers

Selection Process Adopted:

1. Stephen Corner approached a private recruitment agency to shortlist probable
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

candidates
Initial Review of candidates
Pre-screening
Additional information from people working in current company of the candidates.
First Round of Interview with Stephen
Second round of interaction with RSH staff

Alternatives

1. Promote from within the company : Rina Shea

2. Hire from outside : a. Gerald Baum b. David Hughes c. Sonia Meetha d. Seth
Horkum
Analysis of Alternatives
1. Pros and Cons of new hiring and promoting from within
Pros

Cons

Internal Promotion
Employee morale may rise

Seen as reward for loyalty and

competence
Requires less orientation and training
Easier to assess, less costly, quicker

Internal Politics: Employees rejected

get discontented (remedial action

needed)
Seen as waste of time since many a
time managers already have a feeling

whom to hire
Inbreeding: thinking narrows down to
already existing ideas

External Hiring
External expertise (as needed) is
brought in which requires less training
Increases diversity and brings new ideas
Rapid growth possible
Avoids internal politics
Less
information
available
on
candidates
Takes more time and costlier
Requires extensive orientation and
training
Can hurt employee morale and loyalty
May have to pay more for the job

2. General listing of candidates profile

Rina Shea
Advantage of
knowing
internal work
culture

Gerald Baum
Worked at Gotz
and Loeb and
known for
innovative
research

Continuous
improvement
in work
Interest shown
in the job

Frequently
Ranked among
top 5 in II
Interested in
leveraging
companys
exposure to
varied industries
Good technical Active and
knowledge
prompt replies
Work is
appreciated by
clients

David Hughes
Worked at
Spensers and
Company
known for rare
interpersonal
skills
Ranked 1st four
times, 2nd five
times in II
Close client
relations and
interested in
exciting stocks.

Sonia Meetha
Worked at
Welsh,
Harrison, and
Smith known
for clientsatisfaction
up-andcomer said by
II
Interested in
global
markets, and
career oriented

Seth Horkum
Worked at
Jefferson Brothers
known for
dedication and
hard work

Excellent
industry
knowledge
Enthusiastic
monitor and
team player

Emphasis on
work culture

Enthusiastic to
grow as a star

Excellent
writer

Brilliant stockpicker, accessible

and responive

First time runner

up in II
Interested in
networking with
sale and trading

3. Comparison w.r.t. criteria needed for selection

Job/Industry
Specific
Knowledge
Relationships
with colleagues,
sales force,
traders, team
player
Knowledge about
RSH
Experience in
problem solving
Communication
Skills
Ability to manage

Rina Shea Gerald

Baum
Low
High

David
Hughes
Very High

Sonia
Meetha
moderate

Seth
Horkum
Moderate

Moderate

Low

Very High

Low
High
(but clients
appreciate
her)

High

Moderate

High

high

High

Moderate

High

High

Moderate

High

Moderate

High

Moderate

High

Moderate

Moderate

Low

High

Low

High

Recommendation and Course of Action:

Alternative 2 with option b. David Hughes
If we see point 3 of our alternative analysis, we find that David Hughes is undoubtedly the
best among all. We suggest RSH to hire David Hughes and then work around with his
limitations. Not only is he highly knowledgeable in this sector but is also willing to impart his
learnings to his juniors. RSH is in need of an expert at the moment and any compromise on
this level might make it lose out on the PowerChip Company. Furthermore David is wellrecognised, bright and articulate. Having him on board gives assurance of cracking the
PowerChip deal.
Constraints:
David Hughes is much older than the other candidates. He might pose to be a bit oldfashioned. He might not be able to adjust easily with the culture of RSH. Also in the longterm perspective, RSH might not benefit from his short term employment.

Course of Action:

Step1: Analysis of feedback from second interview

Having conducted an onsite interview at RSH, Stephen would have received many opinions
regarding David. He should categorically list them out into factors benefitting RSH and
otherwise. Would he have enough energy to work at top level? He seemed tired and might not
be able to compete with his counterparts.
Step2: Interaction with his immediate staff
Once listed, he should have a talk with the HR department to renew the energy of David.
Have him interact with the junior analysts and transfer of energy can take place. David was
enthusiastic about sharing his tricks, so this could be an ice-breaker and make him feel young
at heart. This would also help the company in the long run.
Step3: Transfer of Duty
Rina should transfer all responsibilities temporarily held to David. If the management sees
right Rina could be made a part of Davids team to work on PowerChip deal.
Step4: Davids roles
David should take full responsibility of the task assigned. His timely availability and response
would be highly needed. His travel schedules could be worked around by organising teleconferencing. Davids interpersonal skills, vast industry expertise and clientele base could be
used as an advantage for tele-conferencing.
In the short run, David should focus on the PowerChip deal. The companys objective of
recruiting a star could be easily fulfilled by this enigmatic persona.