Welcome to your interview for the Financial Analyst role at Alten Nederland.
The question is on your right: Pivot Reports in SQL. Take a moment with it first.
Talk your thinking through with me if you like - when you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen. You have three graded attempts to score 7/10 or better.
Many analyst roles expect strong Excel skills, but interviewers often want to know whether you can translate those spreadsheet workflows into SQL. This matters when reports need to be reproducible, scalable, and easier to audit.
Explain how your experience with advanced Excel functions, pivot tables, and financial formulas maps to SQL and data manipulation. In your answer, discuss:
GROUP BY aggregationsIF, lookup logic, and conditional summaries translate into SQLThe interviewer is looking for practical understanding, not just definitions. A strong answer should compare spreadsheet thinking with relational querying, mention common SQL patterns, and show that you understand trade-offs between ad hoc analysis in Excel and production-grade reporting in SQL.