Why You Need Excel Proficiency Tests in Hiring

Is There an Excel Proficiency Test?

Yes, there are Excel proficiency tests employers can use to objectively evaluate candidates’ Microsoft Excel skills during the hiring process. These assessments measure abilities like data entry, formatting, formulas, functions, pivot tables, and other Excel tools through practical exercises.

If there’s one business tool that remains indispensable despite the emergence of new technologies, it’s Microsoft Excel. Unfortunately, finding employees who have the right Excel skills for your business needs can be more challenging than it seems.

According to a recent study by Forbes, 70% of workers lie on resumes. This troubling statistic proves why Excel proficiency tests should be an integral part of your hiring process. Excel assessments offer numerous advantages that go beyond simply identifying skilled candidates.

What are Excel Proficiency Tests?

Excel proficiency tests are pre-employment assessments designed to measure an individual’s ability to use Microsoft Excel, a widely used spreadsheet software program.

These tests evaluate a candidate’s skills in navigating the Excel interface, performing data analysis, creating formulas and charts, and managing large datasets.

Excel proficiency tests are commonly used by employers to assess the Excel skills of potential hires, as the software is a crucial tool in many industries.  There are several types of Excel proficiency tests available, ranging from basic to advanced levels.

Some tests focus on specific Excel features and functions, while others provide a comprehensive assessment of a candidate’s overall Excel skills.

What Excel Proficiency Tests Can Show You

Excel is a surprisingly powerful and complex tool, and users with different skill levels can get different usability out of it. That’s why it’s useful to have different Excel tests to assess which level an employee can use Excel and for which job role they could best be suited.

Basic Excel Skills

These skills include common tasks such as using cell references, styles, and ranges with data. A person with basic Excel skills should also know how to zoom in or out and show formulas and spreadsheet formatting.

A basic Excel proficiency test for employment will test how well the candidate can read and interpret the spreadsheets and the data seen in Excel.

Intermediate Excel Skills

Intermediate Excel skills include more sophisticated tools the program offers. They are, among others, functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, and SUMPRODUCT. Those with this level of Excel knowledge should also know how to make charts.

Advanced Excel Skills

Advanced skills that can be tested by Excel assessment during the job interview include formulas, pivot tables, programming, and data analytics and simulation.

This advanced assessment evaluates candidates’ proficiency in utilizing Excel for complex tasks. It serves as a reliable evaluation tool for positions including finance professionals, marketers, salespeople, executives, data scientists, and similar roles that demand a high level of Excel proficiency.

Benefits of Using Excel Proficiency Tests in Hiring

Let’s explore the benefits of using Excel proficiency tests and how they can help you find the right candidate for the job.

Accurate Skills Assessment

Excel proficiency tests provide an objective and standardized way to measure candidates’ skills and knowledge of Excel functions, formulas, and features. These tests help recruiters identify candidates with the ability to handle complex spreadsheets and data analysis tasks effectively.

Time Efficiency

By incorporating Excel proficiency tests into the hiring process, companies can save valuable time and resources. These tests allow recruiters to quickly screen candidates and focus their efforts on those who have Excel proficiency.

Identification of High-Potential Candidates

Excel proficiency tests can help identify candidates with strong analytical and problem-solving abilities. These individuals are often highly adaptable and can handle complex data sets, making them valuable assets to the organization.

Streamlined Onboarding and Training

Hiring candidates with demonstrated Excel proficiency reduces the need for extensive training. This saves time and allows new employees to become productive members of the team more quickly, contributing to the company’s bottom line.

What Excel Functions Should You Be Looking for When Hiring?

When hiring for a position requiring proficiency in Excel, it’s important to test for certain functions commonly used in the workplace. 

VLOOKUP

VLOOKUP (vertical lookup) is a powerful tool that enables users to extract data from specific columns in an Excel sheet. It is often used for tasks such as generating interest rates in debt schedules, tracking sales figures, and calculating sales team bonuses.

As you assess candidates’ proficiency in using VLOOKUP, you can gauge their ability to merge and analyze data effectively.

Index Match

Index Match combines the functionalities of the “index” and “match” tools, allowing users to retrieve cell values based on their position within a list or return the position of a cell within a row or column. It offers greater flexibility compared to VLOOKUP. 

Testing candidates’ understanding of Index Match can provide insights into their skills in creating detailed financial summaries, managing purchase orders with price lists, and conducting targeted searches for specific data.

Advanced Control Formatting 

Advanced control formatting is a tool used to visually represent data and provide information at a glance. The most common ways of doing that are “heat map” and “Harvey bubbles”.

Heat maps utilize a warm-to-cool color spectrum to highlight higher values and patterns within data, while Harvey bubbles indicate whether data meets specific criteria. 

As you test candidates for advanced control formatting, consider the following common use cases – flagging specific data, showing duplicates in a set of data, and highlighting certain rows within a range.

Pivot Tables and Reporting

A pivot table is a powerful tool for creating reports based on large data sets. It allows you to look at the same data from different perspectives and see how different variables relate to each other. Pivot tables are commonly used for building employee databases, product databases, and project sales records.

As yo test candidates for pivot table skills, focus on their ability to:

• Create pivot tables from scratch

• Add and remove fields from pivot tables

• Group data in pivot tables

• Calculate and summarize data in pivot tables

• Format pivot tables for readability

Macros and VBA

A macro is a small computer program that automates tasks in Excel. Macros are written using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language that is built into Excel. Macros can be used to format data quickly, list data on sheets, and automate other repetitive tasks.

When testing candidates for macro skills, focus on their ability to:

• Record and edit macros
• Use variables and loops in macros
• Call functions and subroutines in macros
• Handle errors in macros

How to Use Excel Tests in Your Recruitment Process

The most effective way to test a large group of potential candidates is to combine the screening questions and a test for the Microsoft Excel assessment. That will provide the best return on your time investment, with the goal of gaining a well-rounded understanding of the candidates’ skills.

A few questions that you can ask include:

• How many years have you been using Excel professionally?
• What’s the most difficult Excel project you’ve been working on?
• Take us through the process that has led you to complete that task.
• When is Index match better than VLOOKUP?

It’s also possible to use YES/NO questions to eliminate candidates who embellish their resumes. For instance, good questions that can do this are:

• Are VLOOKUP and Index Match the same?
• Are VBA macros used to automate data processing?

After you’ve determined what kind of skills you’re looking for and the screening questions, you can start with the actual Excel skills assessment. You can choose from a variety of tests specifically designed for different positions and skill sets.

One approach is to administer the test after the screening questions and before the interview. Purchasing tests from a test vendor with great reviews is a better option than using those tests that can be found for free online. Purchased tests can also be more statistically reliable than those created internally in your organization.

Summing Things Up

As you start using Excel proficiency tests, you will be able to confidently select candidates who actually have the right skills for the jobs you’re hiring for. Don’t leave an Excel skills assessment to guesswork. Supercharge your hiring process by using expertly developed, thoroughly researched, and validated pre-employment tests.

Try a free test sample today and experience firsthand how pre-employment assessments can help you identify top talent and build a team of Excel experts.