Context

Financial analysts at Relias often move from Excel-based lookup workflows into SQL-based reporting. A strong answer should show that you understand both what VLOOKUP does and how to reproduce that logic in PostgreSQL.

Core question

Walk through a VLOOKUP function and explain how you would translate it into SQL. In your answer, cover:

1. What VLOOKUP is doing conceptually
2. Which SQL operation most closely matches it
3. How to handle exact matches and missing matches
4. Why SQL is often more flexible than VLOOKUP for finance reporting in Relias

Scope guidance

Keep the explanation practical rather than academic. The interviewer is looking for a clear mapping from spreadsheet logic to SQL joins, plus awareness of common issues like unmatched keys, duplicate matches, and returning a default value when no match exists.