Westlake Services Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with a 20-minute phone screen covering fit and experience. This was followed by three in-person interviews. Each in-person interview included an Excel test focusing on various functions like sumifs, and/or, iferror, sumproducts, vlookups, and more complex pivot table questions. They were pretty straightforward, offering hints if you got stuck on a formula or allowing internet searches to show resourcefulness. No financial modeling was involved. There were some issues with scheduling and responses, plus a parking problem on one of the interview days, which affected the experience. Even though an offer was made, they were firm on negotiation, and the offered salary was very low, in the 10th-15th percentiles. Based on market research, this offer was significantly below entry-level financial analyst rates in Southern California. I thanked them, countered with a median range based on my experience and market data, and offered flexibility, but they wouldn't negotiate, so I declined.

I got an email to set up an interview. It was a Skype call, only about 15-20 minutes long. Before the call, they had me do an Excel test and another test that seemed to check basic math and logic. Both tests felt poorly designed and pretty useless. The interview itself was also super basic. A couple of interviewers asked me questions, then they brought in a financial analyst to ask some questions. His questions were really vague and not great, like he wasn't sure what he was doing. They said they'd get back to me in about 2 weeks, but it actually took more than 2 months.

I interviewed with the manager of the 30-day collections department for this Assistant Supervisor position, having previously backfilled the same role in customer service. I was nervous about interviewing with the department manager but felt confident my personality and experience would overcome my nerves. The interview felt more like a conversation with a colleague about how we could collaborate to improve the department. The process involved an initial recruiter call, followed by a technical screen with the hiring manager, and concluded with an onsite interview before an offer was extended.

I arrived early and had to wait a considerable amount of time in a waiting area near the security desk. I was then led to a conference room with a big screen. We started with some small talk. Then, I was asked about how I would handle different challenging scenarios and was expected to give examples from my past work experience or school. At one point, the interviewer asked me to sell him the pen he was holding. We also discussed salary, dress code, working hours, benefits, and parking arrangements.