John Cogan '99
Director of Global Energy Group
Credit Suisse

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"The culture at SOM — teamwork, integrity, accuracy of work product — is one that meshes well with Credit Suisse." — John Cogan '99

I’m the team captain for Credit Suisse recruiting at SOM and have been in that role for three years. Our goal is to identify those students who are interested in investment banking as a career and to tell them a little about Credit Suisse. Ultimately I’m held accountable internally for how well we’ve done, measured in terms of our perception at the school, based on what we hear from the CDO, how many offers we make, and how many of those are accepted. The ultimate measuring stick is how well those students perform once they’re here. We really have a good track record moving people into the higher ranks throughout the company. I think that this is because the culture at SOM — teamwork, integrity, accuracy of work product — is one that meshes well with Credit Suisse.

My favorite part of being a recruiter is when we have a full-time hire. This year we had five people join the company full time, three of whom had been with us as summer associates. I met them all first at the “Meet the Firms” event, and I have now seen them through the first weeks of their summer internships to accepting a full-time offer and beginning their careers with the firm. One of them is in my group, the energy group, and he’s working with me on a deal now. It’s very satisfying to see my work as a recruiter result in this type of relationship. From a different perspective, we are also recruiting smart people who could have gone to any of our competitors and who are now here making us look very good. If we weren’t bringing in very good people, we would be shut down very quickly.