Greg Biersteker, an accounting student working towards his CMA designation at Redeemer University in Ancaster, joined Gelderman Landscape Services earlier this summer. We spoke with Greg, about why he chose Gelderman for his work placement and with Jane Green, VP of Finance here at Gelderman, about why she elected to hire a co-op student.
Why did you choose Gelderman?
I chose Gelderman Landscaping mostly for their tag line, “Caring is in Our Nature”. It is my belief that employees and customers of any organization need to be treated with respect. This is an area that Gelderman does well. From monthly staff BBQ’s to extended warranties to customers, Gelderman is truly a company that cares.
What I have learned so far…
I have learned that caring for employees is caring for customers. I have seen that once an organization begins to care for their employees, their employees have an increased motivation to care for customers. This is a concept that was first presented to me by the President, Nathan Helder, in our first meeting.
I have also learned the process of the office, and which tasks are necessary in order for the process to run smoothly and effectively. My supervisor has allowed me to contribute to a variety of these tasks, and it has been helpful to understand the best way to organize incoming information from different departments
Different from School…
The working environment at Gelderman is very different from the working environment at school. While working at Gelderman I have had the opportunity to step away from the theoretical problems and case studies in textbooks, and deal with real life situations. One very simple example of this would be in the area of expenses. In school we are taught what expenses are, and where they should appear in the company’s financials. At Gelderman I have learned practically the names of accounts that could be used to organize these expenses properly. I have also learned the best way to organize supporting documents for these expenses, and which documents are important to keep.
Challenges..
My greatest challenge at Gelderman has been learning to communicate with various departments. During my accounting classes in school, many assignments were individual assignments, and the information was given to me in a report. In an office environment, however, this is not the case. Accounting in an office can be described as communicating with all departments in order to receive the information that is required to account for all transactions. Each department is an expert in their section of the industry. One skill an accountant must learn is the ability to communicate clearly with each department regarding the information that is required. Information may still be received without this clear communication, but the chances of receiving the correct information is greatly reduced if clear communication is not present..
Aha Moment..
The moments of greatest learning, at Gelderman, have come from being asked to do a task which I have very little experience in completing. Rather than explaining to me in detail how to complete a task, my supervisor asks me to try and figure it out on my own. One example of this would be the year end reconciliations that we completed. I had never completed this form of work before, and was left to figure out parts of it on my own. This greatly assisted my learning as I worked through how to complete the task. I have already been using the information I learned from the latter task in the smaller roles I have outside of Gelderman.
– Greg Biersteker
Why hire a Co-Op Student?
At Gelderman we believe in partnering with our local college and universities as the young people of today bring a different perspective to our organization which is always enlightening. Students have fresh ideas that are unencumbered by past experience and have a very forward thinking perspective on things like technology.
It is also important, as an organization that we give back to our community at large. Part of that is supporting colleges and universities as well as local charities, sports teams, local families in need and other organizations that support our employees and their community.
What made you choose Greg Biersteker?
We selected Greg because when I interviewed him it was obvious that his personal and professional values matched those of Gelderman Landscape Services. Honesty, integrity and our value system were important to him as they are to Gelderman.
Greg was well prepared for his interview. It was obvious that he had researched Gelderman and had spent some time of our website indicating to me that he was hungry for the experience with an organization like ours. Greg listened well at the interview and responded with very good questions.
– Jane Green, VP Finance
