Interview question- 125 words

1) Why do you want to work for Kaiser Permanente?

2) Walk me through your resume?

My general approach to a first interview is to have the candidate walk me through the resume, describing their experience in each position, what they liked about it and how they handled problems that came up.  

Goodwill:

At Goodwill reconciling 19 stores daily using Vantiv and Excel, and I’ve posted closing journal entries into Great Plains. I’ve assisted with the annual audit by finding audit sampling documents and by auditing stores to ensure accurate credit card transactions and make sure all our accuracy and compliance policies were followed. I also audited daily transactions where there was a cash discrepancy greater than $20. 

At Goodwill, I process month-end closing journal entries for $3 million across 19 stores in Silicon Valley using Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Dynamics. The journal entries consist of the following accounts: Cash, Donations, Salvage Goods, New Products, Gift Card Issued, Gift Card Redeemed, and Cash Over/Under. I’ve also handled the month-end close process at Atmas Consulting I have prepared cash flow statements, balance sheets, income statements, and statement of equity at Atmas Consulting for $20 million in company revenue. I have prepared month-end reconciliations at Goodwill and West LA Music.

Liked:

At Goodwill, I devised a method to improve the time to completion of reconciliation by using the filter function. I was able to organize the financial data chronologically, resulting in completion twice as fast than managements expectation.

Challenge:

I’ve had the opportunity to train coworkers, and it’s always been a great way to hone my expertise and build relationships. At Goodwill I trained a coworker to use pivot tables and understand reconciliation processes, journal entries, and store sales audit procedures. My training improved efficiency and helped us complete projects under deadline. It was gratifying to help my coworker grasp difficult concepts and advance in his career.

Healthsouk.com

As a critical member of the team, improved Healthsouk’s fund balance 120% through reconciling and then projecting previously unaccounted funds. I managed general ledger activities for A/P, bank transactions, payroll, billing, month-end, account reconciliation, and accruals.

Liked:

At Peralta Community College I coded 40 invoices per week into PeopleSoft and performed check runs for up to 100 invoices a week. I also reconciled 6 funds and $17 million in monthly transactions using Pivot tables. I worked with internal auditors on process flow activity to prepare for annual college budget. Prepared and analyzed monthly reconciliations and researched joining values for District Office reporting. I reconciled OMB funds using PeopleSoft and Excel.

Liked:

At Peralta Community College, a big part of my job was helping college presidents to work within their budgets. I was responsible for compiling budgets totaling $14 Million monthly,  including meeting operating expenses, along with the other commitments of four separate colleges.  Each college president had their own priorities and I was under pressure from each to provide and allocate more money for classes and other district services.  I handled these demands objectively, while keeping the details of each budget confidential and sharing details with each respective president and their finance representative. One way that I managed that pressure was providing each president an explanation of how and why the funds were allocated. This really made me realize the importance of not only allocating funds in a fair, efficient way, but also communicating my decisions persuasively.  Challenge:

Disliked:

I am an adaptable team player. At Peralta Community College, I developed a method to find discrepancies through cross checking one account with another. I spoke to management about my observations and explained why I believed my method would be more efficient than what we were currently doing.  Management decided not to adopt my suggestion; however, I supported the team’s decision because I believed it was important to follow management’s directions.

At Greater Opportunities I reconciled payments consisting of dental payments, day program, and activities and researched variances related to profit and loss by examining journal entries and financial statements exceeding $2M.

Results:

· Performed collections calls that exceeded $800K in monthly revenue methodically and thoroughly, resulting in an 80% recovery rate.

· Detected $2M in variances by thoroughly investigating books and subsequently organizing them with precision and accuracy.

· Completed bank reconciliations 3x faster by automating processes using pivot tables.

· Demonstrated team player attitude by serving as a backup for accounts receivable.

· Delegated work load among team members based on their strengths and weaknesses to break down projects piece by piece to ensure deadline expectations were met and exceeded.

· Resolved customer questions, disputes, and complaints by phone ensuring customer satisfaction.

Liked:

it was peak audit season, and we were behind schedule with two weeks before the deadline. As the accounting assistant, I took the initiative to discuss the situation with our accounting manager.  We brainstormed some ideas on how we could meet the audit deadline. One of my ideas was to divide the project into manageable pieces by delegating work to four team members instead of two. I persuaded my manager to try this method. Each person was in charge of a section. I ensured everyone stayed on track by checking in with each member before the close of business. With my effort, our team actually met the deadline 3 hours quicker than management’s expectations.

Disliked:

I was given a time-sensitive project with eight days for completion. When I was planning, I did not take into account that some of the work depended on another department. I assumed they would deliver the information as planned and didn’t keep tabs. As a result, the work was set back by two days and we had to work additional hours to complete the project. I handled this by taking full responsibility and explaining what had happened to my supervisor. Then I proposed a plan to finish the project as soon as possible. We had to redistribute the tasks and work extra hours, but we were ultimately able to minimize the delay and salvage our relationship with the client. This taught me not only the importance of admitting mistakes and taking responsibility, but also of planning ahead and communicating with everyone on the team.

At Atmas Consulting I prepared audit schedules for management and external auditors, researched variances for external auditors and management to assess comparison of actual vs. budgeted expenses.

Liked: At Atmas Consulting, I was able to expedite the audit deadline three times faster than past employees. I reconciled the bank statements by reconciling the Wells Fargo account, spreadsheet, and MAS 90 systematically. Once I reconciled a pattern of 5-6 values, I deduced a pattern to reconcile the property’s credit card accounts within one week. The supervisor was impressed with the efficiency and it became the standard about how work should be done at the company.

Challenge: At Atmas Consulting, I was working with a coworker who was not contributing as much as others, and as a result it was putting burden on the rest of the team and prevented in meeting deadlines. I told him that: I enjoyed working with him, briefly told him his areas for improvement, offered to compromise on tasks, and then worked with him to come up with a plan to improve his performance. Six weeks later, my coworker got a positive review from our supervisor. The coworker and the supervisor thanked me for helping to solve the problem. I was trying to foster a team environment, so I made sure I didn’t take the credit from the co-worker.