Personnel Management Case #1 Analysis Report 2017120327 박우진 -Q: Whom should Stephen Connor hire? Provide your rationales based on the analysis of each candidate’s pros and cons. -Pros and Cons of each candidate: 1. Gerald Baum -Gerald Baum ranked 11th in the semiconductor analyst rankings, climbing up the ladder much quicker than others. He is an extremely intelligent man with exceptional skills in stock picking. He was referred to as a “pleasant man” by some of his interviewees. However, he was late to his lunch with Stephen Connor, is very cocky, and expresses too much negativity which shows signs of attitude problems. He has a history of moving frequently from firm to firm, is known to treat his staff terribly, and showed too much interest in compensation during his interview with Stephen. 2. David Hughes -David Hughes has overwhelming experience in this industry, and knows how to work with large sales and trading divisions as well as providing service for large corporate clients. He already has a reputation for his razor sharp mind, vast industrial knowledge, and rare interpersonal skills that generated his large client base. He is able to maintain his large client base because he knows the importance of keeping close relationships with his clients, writing quality reports, and providing in depth coverage of the industry. He is a bright, well-known, enthusiastic man who is ranked 2nd in the semiconductor analyst rankings and also a great mentor to his juniors. However, many are worried that he is winding down his career as seen in his less intense travel schedule. He is of older age, and many people were worried that he might be old-headed and lack precision from his early brighter days. 3. Sonia Meetha -Sonia Meetha is ranked 8th in the semiconductor analyst rankings, and is fairly new to the East Coast because she comes an engineering background at Cal Tech. She began her career as a junior analyst in the San Francisco branch of a prominent investment firm, then settled as a senior analyst at Welsh, Harrison, and Smith, which is a small firm in Connecticut. Sonia Meetha has a deep technical and sales background, is an excellent writer, and is mostly immediately responsive to clients. She is very reliable, performing so much work with fewer resources, and still finds a way to balance work and personal life. Her greatest trait is that she is extremely interested and invested in global efforts, even more than compensation. However, she has only worked in a small firm meaning it is unknown if she will be able to handle a senior position at RSH, and because she is a mother of two children, she is reluctant to travel which is a minus for her clients. 4. Seth Horkum -Seth Horkum comes from a working class family, went to Harvard, and graduated in the economics major before going to Columbia for MBA in business. He then became a sell-side analyst at Jefferson Brothers, and worked much longer hours than others to please his boss. He feels that Jefferson Brothers is not giving him the recognition he deserves even though he worked 15 years for them, and is looking for a better platform to receive the recognition he deserves. Seth is ranked 5th in the semiconductor analyst rankings (Also an II runner up), is a great stock picker, has a very congenial personality that should help him with his relationship among RSH and the clients, and most importantly has great contacts at Power Chip, which is RSH’s most important project coming up. Seth’s weaknesses, however, are his below average writing and expressive skills, and his excessive eager to please people might end up being detrimental to him. 5. Rina Shea -Rina Shea was Peter Thompson’s junior analyst. She was temporarily put in charge of the Power Chip project after Peter’s departure, and she was doing a decent job. However, RSH needed a “star” to immediately replace Peter and there was also pressure from higher management towards Stephen to hire a star. Stephen had to end up telling Rina that she might get the permanent senior position, but if another candidate does, she would be in charge of another sector. -Whom should Stephen Connor hire? I believe Stephen Connor’s best choice to replace his star analyst Peter Thompson has to be Seth Horkum. Gerald Baum does not seem like a good candidate because of his negative attitude and reputation for treating his staff terribly, which does not match at all with the team-oriented culture of RHS. His history of frequently moving from firm to firm is also a big disadvantage, and the fact that his greatest interest was his compensation at RHS is definitely not someone Stephen should go for. I believe David Hughes is a great candidate considering his great level of experience and reputation in the industry and for the fact that he can become a great mentor to juniors at RHS, but because of his age and the amount of time he spent in the industry, he might be reluctant to change his habits and routines that are required at a young, dynamic team oriented culture like RHS. I also believe the job might require too much from an old man like him. Sonia Meetha is definitely a great candidate to consider because of her renowned abilities even with fewer resources. However, she has two children to take care of reducing her time to travel, and because she worked at a small firm for too long, it would be difficult for her to transfer to a large firm like RHS and form relationships immediately with new clients. Finally, Seth Horkum promoted himself as an analyst who is very capable and enthusiastic about his work. He is known to be an up-comer in the field, and also proved this with evidence from his clients. It is seen in his interview that he is more interested in his research that can flourish at an environment like RHS than the compensation he would receive. Most importantly, he has close contacts with people at Power Chips which is RHS’s biggest upcoming mission. Seth’s only negative aspect was his over eagerness to please people and his expressive skills, but Stephen Connor is capable of dealing with that, and in my opinion, this aspect weighs much less than the negatives of the other candidates.
