Interview Story - Took Initiative

While working at Grainger, I was responsible for processing new hire employment verifications. Soon after I started with the company, I noticed we were getting a high volume of EVs through the mail. We did not have a structured procedure to handle them, leading to time delays and misplaced documents. I realized this issue could lead to hiring a potentially highly destructive employee that could damage our reputation.

I saw an opportunity to put a new set of eyes on the process and present my ideas.

So, I took the lead in informing my manager about the situation. I documented the existing process, and I did some research about best practices in document tracking and coordinating information across departments. Then, I gathered different examples, and I sat down with my manager to discuss how the process could be improved.

We both agreed that the best approach was to reach out to people from other departments to see if there was any way we might be able to work together to complete Employment Verifications that required more information from different sources. We coordinated our efforts with benefits, workers comp, absence one, and payroll.

I tested the new approach and teamed up with these departments to improve the process. As a result, I completed over 50 EV’s in a month. I then created a user manual and process and created a list of the main point of contact for each department, which I shared with my team. So, in this case, I feel I involved the right people at the right time and that resulted in a positive outcome.