Bookkeeper 

(Female, Age 48) from Oak Forest, IL

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 48 who works as a Bookkeeper in Oak Forest, IL. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Bookkeeper
Salary $20,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 27
Company Size (not answered)
Location Oak Forest, IL
Years Experience 30 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
Forklift repair, rental, sales.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
Payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, jack of all trades!

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
None- part time and I am on my husband’s insurance

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
well compensated

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
Not really, I am pretty much an island

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
Office with a repair shop in the rear. Also have another office located approximately 20 miles north of here which I also work at occasionally.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 5
Benefits: 8
Hours: 6
Co-Workers: 4
Supervisors: 3
Job Title: 7
Level of Responsibility: 2
The Actual Work: 1

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am Prepare for and leave for work
8am to 9am Open mail, office “niceties” with co-workers about the weekend. Hope they all go away and leave me be for the rest of the day (tee hee). Check e-mail.
9am to 10am Separate mail into categories of tasks and begin tasks. Pay some invoices. Stamp invoices “paid” attach packing slips accordingly and file away. Make and eat bagel (very important). Check e-mail periodically.
10am to 11am Prepare daily deposit. Pull invoices that customers paid and credit their payments. File paid invoices in their corresponding customer files.
11am to 12pm Check e-mail again. Return a few phone calls. Analyze credit card statement which came in the mail; this involves matching receipts to charges and then seeking out individual employees to question on out-of-ordinary expenses.
12pm to 1pm Lunch at desk. I continue to work so that I get paid at the same time. Save meanial tasks for this period so I don’t have to think alot about them while eating. (Stamping invoices paid/check number, etc.)
1pm to 2pm New mail delivery, repeat mail opening and separation. Address any odd issues which come in the mail i.e. – vendor address changes, requests for donations, etc.
2pm to 3pm Decide which tasks can be completed prior to closing and which will have to wait and concentrate on those which can be finished. Tidy work area. (a habit from working at a bank – you could not leave piles of papers around for confidentiality issues). Of course, keep an eye on that all important e-mail!
3pm to 4pm Lock up, close up, forward phones, shut down machines. We are only open until 4:00, as this is a repair shop and we open at 7:00. (I do not begin until later).
4pm to 5pm
5pm to 6pm
6pm to 7pm
7pm to 8pm
8pm to 9pm
9pm to 10pm
10pm to 11pm
11pm to 12am

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
A different position was in the newspaper; when I applied my current boss stole me from my intended job!

What was the application process?
Well, as this was long ago in 1979, it was an in-person paper application process……

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes, I remember a typing test (which I loathe). I do believe it was just a somewhat short interview, and then home to wait for a call!

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
This I can’t recall except for questions about my previous position which was similar to the position I was APPLYING FOR, but as I said I was hired for a DIFFERENT position!

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
No! I left almost in tears the first day because he called me in to take “dictation”, which I did NOT know and which the newspaper ad indicated was NOT required! I explained this to him and was told, “just do the best you can”. I of course did just that and apparently I did OK, because here I am 30 years later…..

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Not really, as my boss had FIRED the person prior to me and so there was nobody to train me. I just pretty much learned by doing (which I prefer).

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, pretty much. I was always a math “whiz” and always got straight “A”s.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
I did not have an “internship”.

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
This actually happened to me with my daughter, who now has a very similar position in another Corporation. She helped me out while between jobs, and learned so much that she was able to secure a position in accounts receivable of a very nice workplace. I would suggest “getting your foot in the door” by a temporary position; then you get on-the-job training without the commitment!

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
As a bookkeeper I would say a person would have to be somewhat mathematically and detail oriented. Alot of concentration is required to do the job properly, so I wouldn’t consider being an outgoing “talker” necessary. I like the workplace as quiet as possible!

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
I did take a PC software course in Quickbooks; however I was doing the books manually prior to that.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
I have tried to drum this into EVERY person who I have trained: Do NOT ASSUME a number to be correct! ALWAYS double check, re-add, re-subtract! Make sure you come up with the same number twice, and you will save yourself alot of “looking for a needle in a haystack” when trying to balance your books later!

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
I’m not sure I had a “career plan”. My plan was always to be independently wealthy –

What are your current career goals?
Work for another five years or so and be done with it so I can enjoy life before I’m too old.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Assistant 2-1/2 years $535 MO.! Worked in downtown Chicago at a Bank as the Assistant to the Secretary of the Vice President of the Commercial Loan Department
Prior Job 2 2 years ??? Hardly remember this job, except that I couldn’t look at Ice Cream for YEARS!!!!!

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3.5

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
n/a
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)
n/a

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