Questions to address in your essay:
Describe how X company can ensure there is a good fit when hiring a new employee.
Please evaluate them and decide who you are going to hire (given out two offers).
Please explain why you make this decision.
Background:
X company is an investment company. The bankers were having a hard time deciding among the four candidates.
X company recruiting information
Job Title: Financial Project Manager
Duties & Responsibilities:
Coordinates and monitors finance-related activities at the program level activities to ensure project is completed on time and within budget
Create and maintain financial tracking reports and reporting of vendor payment schedule and invoice status.
Provide expertise and input to the development of finance-related contract and procurement requirements
Conduct ongoing analyses and forecasts of the Programs performance against budget, financial and operational goals
Develop template for financial reporting to Senior Leadership, and produce such reports on a monthly and ad hoc basis
Provide financial and budget reporting, metrics, and analysis to Program management
Required Qualification:
Bachelors Degree in Finance, Accounting or related field
Required Experience:
Minimum of 3 years experience in finance
Strong analytical skills, problem solving aptitude, financial acumen and attention to detail.
Strong project management and organizational skills
Strong communication and presentation skills
An ability to manage a high volume of work in a fast-paced, deadline driven work environment
Ability to work well with others in fast paced, dynamic environment
Below is the information about these four candidates (4 final short lists).
Sophia
An MBA student at Cornell and had earned an undergraduate degree in finance at an eastern European university with honor
4 year working experience in finance
Great finance background, analytical knowledge, and understanding of the financial markets.
The associate felt that Sophia might not be a good culture fit with the other associates and that she had seemed stiff and uncomfortable during small talk at the opening of the interview and also at dinner the night before.
The managing director felt that some bankers might lose patience with Sophias less-than-perfect English and that this would affect her ability to work smoothly with her managers
One banker said he thought Sophia would be a hit with clients because she was a go-getter and radiated positive energy and a can-do attitude. He said that though it might be an issue with impatient bankers on her team, her language skill would definitely not be an issue with clients because most of our clients think Wall Street types speak too fast anyway.
George
2nd year Wharton MBA with a bachelors degree who had previously served four years in the military. He had 3-year working experience in finance
People either really want to work at this firm, or they didnt get offers from other firms.
Did not participate in the recruiting event because he was always busy involved with recruiting events at other firms
He had said that he liked smaller firms and liked ABCs areas of specialization, but the recruiters still were unsure what the likelihood was that George would accept the offer if it was extended.
The recruiters were also wary of whether he would play firms against one another in terms of wanting additional time to interview and consider offers, which might prevent this firm from being able to fill that slot with another top-choice candidate.
Austin
2nd year MBA at Berkeley who had previously worked at PWC for five years. Quickly become a manager at PWC. He had earned a bachelors degree at UIUC.
Austins performance appraisals put him in the top 5% of the firm.
Everyone who had interviewed Austin liked him and thought he would represent ABC well
Austin is married and has two sons, a newborn and a two-year-old
Its hard on the other first years if we make allowances for Austin to pick up his kids at daycare or not work on a weekend when his wifes away. None of the first years expect to have a life, so what happens when they see Austin having a life?
Austin indicated his intention to be able to balance a family with being a banker
Another banker said, Its weird to say this, because we always say were looking for maturity, but I almost think Austin is too mature. If he were on my team, I wonder if he would do what I tell him to do, or if he dislikes taking orders. Hes used to having a lot of responsibility and being in charge.
Jack
2nd-year MBA at the USC and had completed his undergraduate degree in economics at UCLA
Early success as an entrepreneur, having started his own business during his first year of college
Jacks interviewers all found him enthusiastic and personable. He had talked to a lot of people at ABC and had stopped into the New York office to have informational interviews
Undergrade GPA: 2.8; Business school GPA: 3.1. At a time when most schools including USC had a fair amount of grade inflation
His SATs and GMATs were quite high and that his low grades only reflected the amount of work he was putting into running his business
There was a lot of demand for our services, so we got excited and grew the business pretty fast, and I also needed to make enough money to put myself through school and then put my two brothers through school. Unfortunately, that left me little time for studying.
