Experience Flashcards
- Did you work while going to school? In which positions? Describe what you did at each position and what you accomplished. What did you learn from these work experiences?
Did you work while going to school? In which positions? Describe what you did at each position and what you accomplished. What did you learn from these work experiences?
Yes, I have worked since I was 15 years old and have been full time since 18.
At 20, I became Sales Manager at Best Western where I was responsible for increasing overall sales and profit from room fulfillment and add-on sales. I developed a sales and marketing plan for the franchise and increased profit 11%.
At 21, I joined Walgreens as an Assistant Manager where I was responsible for executing the Executive Assistant’s plans while leading the staff during my shifts.
At 22, I became an Executive Assistant Manager where I was responsible for running the self-service portion of the store and employees.
Duties included:
Merchandising
Sales
Training
Inventory
At 23, I became a Store or General Manager where I am responsible for all departments. Duties include: Human Resource tasks Training and Development Ledger Reconciliation Loss Prevention plans Merchandising Plans Growing Sales & Profit Expense Mgmt Community Work
Added Projects for the District Manager: Independents Competitor Shops Mentoring Spreadsheets Organizing and Facilitating Meetings Recruiting for the Area New Store Openings Retirement Planning resource Vendor Negotiations Inventory Leader for the District Service Visits at other Stores
- What did you enjoy most about your last employment? Least?
Enjoyed the Most: Currently, I run my store as well as do many extra projects for my boss that other managers rarely do. He really likes to give me stretch projects that can help the district. Occasionally, he will let me create projects as well which I think is great and he is happy because a few have saved the company millions or will in the future. I enjoy the chance to work independently knowing my boss has faith that I will complete the extra projects to his satisfaction and on time. I generally only see him about 2 hours a month and I am able to complete projects that are not part of my job and that other Store Managers aren’t able do.
Enjoy the Least: Unfortunately, there is only one way to move up from here locally and that is to become a DM. While I have had offers to new positions throughout the country, I would like to stay around Columbus at this point in my career. **If pushed – process improvement from employee suggestion system is not optimized.
- Have you ever quit a job? Why?
No, I have been able to this point to continue my self-improvement with Walgreens. At the beginning I was promoted twice and since then I have stayed in my position to finish my undergraduate and MBA. In order to keep being challenged I would have to move on at this point to find the company that I want to spend my next 15 years or more with. Every other place I worked at while younger knew that I would be moving on as I went to college, etc.
- Give an example of a situation in which you provided a solution to an employer.
S: The pharmacy and healthcare business overall are constantly becoming more competitive like many industries. During one of my evaluation cycles, my manager and I were working on choosing a development goal for the next year. We decided that an hour per week should be dedicated to creative ideas to better use my time to help the overall company.
T: I was instructed to take a look during my creative time at how to improve the pharmacy filling process.
A: I did the “field work” so to speak of detailing the filling practices at different stores and recording times along the way without their knowledge to get unbiased results. I spent 3-4 hours of my creative time over the next few weeks and then made suggestions. (Describe)
R: In the end, after doing a few tests we had reason to believe that the process improvements would save $5-10 million annually for Walgreens and my manager then sent the project details and presentation on to corporate to start their evaluations.
- Give an example of a time in which you worked under a deadline pressure.
On December 1st of my last MBA year, we were scheduled to do our consulting presentation for the RCDG, mayors, commissioners, and other leaders in Richland county. I also had the culmination of my six sigma project due that same day. This was all happening while I was working through our busiest time at Walgreens (the holidays).
T: I had to find a way to balance these 2 team projects while not compromising on my work at Walgreens.
A: The window to complete both projects was less than a week due to changes and information needed, so I immediately began my time management exercises. I started by requesting both project teams give me their available times (the Thanksgiving holiday also added complications). Meanwhile, I detailed the tasks needed for each project and organized the task priorities for both projects. I then broke down schedules and projected task times to make mock schedules and sent them to both teams for approval. After a few adjustments, the plan was set for both teams to meet our deadlines.
R: In the end, we received an “A” on the semester long six sigma project and the RCDG was very pleased with our presentation and our deliverables. Meanwhile, my store ran like a well-oiled machine so my boss was happy as usual.
- Have you ever done any volunteer work? What kind?
I have always been excited about helping my community. In the past I have:
Organized 7 blood drives.
Organized local Toy Drives during the holidays.
Organized the donation of $124,000 in Vitamins for a project the local Enactus was doing in Honduras.
Volunteering to help seniors at dozens of events.
Been the Walgreens lead for our Relay for Life team.
Harvest for Hunger Telethon operator.
Volunteering time and items to 5k’s for various organizations.
I also like to do what I can financially and have been a proponent of Kiva for quite some time making over 270 loans personally.
- How do you think a former supervisor would describe your work?
Accurate, Detailed, Creative, and On Time. I have been asked and accepted the mentoring of 4 new Store Managers based on the results of my work. My store is increasing in profit, employee engagement and customer service scores are in the top 10% of the company, and it is consistently on the top of our district KPI’s.
Tell me a situation when you demonstrated _______ skill?
Time Management – Work & School tasks
Creativity - Sometimes this might involve creating a project that hasn’t been done before (vitamins) and other times it might be searching in odd places to find a solution (cigarette taxes). Building a recruiting team.
Leadership - Store Manager for 15 yrs. Organized 7 Blood Drives. Employee Engagement. District - Chamber Of Commerce member for Walgreens. Hiring. Independents.
Change Management -
Communication –
Integrity –
…
