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Has anyone had to take an Excel test during the interview to test their knowledge on excel? I have to take one for an interview in 6 days from now. All they said is that I should brush up on pivot tables. What should I expect on this? Are these tests common? Will it be difficult?
Whether it will be difficult depends on your level of experience with Excel. Pivot tables are easy, if you've worked with them before. If you haven't, I would guess there are YouTube videos out there.
As for the common frequency of the test, it depends on the type of job you applied to get. As an analyst, I often see this.
Best wishes on that test and the interview. I believe that you have enough time to get proficient, if you put yourself to the effort.
What kind of analyst positions are you applying for that have these excel tests?
business analyst, data analyst
OP you strike me as someone new to the job market. You can almost always be sure that if they require you to know those programs, that they are going to test you on them to make sure. Why is it you question this practice? I don't understand!
OP you strike me as someone new to the job market. You can almost always be sure that if they require you to know those programs, that they are going to test you on them to make sure. Why is it you question this practice? I don't understand!
I'm applying for an analyst position so I was curious what kind usually ask these.
Yes I'm relatively new to the market. I don't question this practice, I just need to know if these tests are hard or not. I'm decent with excel but I need to know if I have to learn advanced functions for this test.
I'm applying for an analyst position so I was curious what kind usually ask these.
Yes I'm relatively new to the market. I don't question this practice, I just need to know if these tests are hard or not. I'm decent with excel but I need to know if I have to learn advanced functions for this test.
Basically any job with required programs will test you on those programs, if you admit knowing them. A temp agency or other recruiter usually has a program that runs through the test; smaller companies may not have that and its possible some may take your word for it if they aren't prepared to run a test. It's about as basic as a typing test for a data entry position, actually.
For a data analyst position, you should know how to build a formula, pivot tables and graphs. It's been a long time since I had to take a test so I may have left something out.
ive online heard of such nonsense for temporary agencies or recruiters i.e. apple one, robert half, .... just take a refresher course on microsoft.com
Why is it nonsense for an employer to test someone on their skills? The employer stated this is a required skill and the employee needs to pass a test on the skill before hiring...where is the nonsense in this?
I'm applying for an analyst position so I was curious what kind usually ask these.
Yes I'm relatively new to the market. I don't question this practice, I just need to know if these tests are hard or not. I'm decent with excel but I need to know if I have to learn advanced functions for this test.
Two functions I would recommend learning, if you're not already familiar, are Vlookup and SumIf. These are probably the most commonly used functions by analysts (aside from very basic ones)
Has anyone had to take an Excel test during the interview to test their knowledge on excel? I have to take one for an interview in 6 days from now. All they said is that I should brush up on pivot tables. What should I expect on this? Are these tests common? Will it be difficult?
Very common. If you are proficient in EXCEL you'll be fine! I've taken tests from Outlook, to Powerpoint, to writing a letter sample for a company.
Took a couple of these. Very easy. They tell you to brush up on pivot tables because casual users generally don't use them and so trip up, but if you're sufficiently familiar with the rest of Excel you can learn 'em in an hour. Two max.
One caution is some tests (in my experience for less competently HR staffed companies, but that's neither here nor there) test you on software that replicates Excel, rather than the real thing, and the formula drop-down you usually get isn't available. So spend a couple hours memorizing the input order of the basics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by manderly6
Why exactly do you think this is nonsense?
Quote:
Originally Posted by thebunny
Why is it nonsense for an employer to test someone on their skills? The employer stated this is a required skill and the employee needs to pass a test on the skill before hiring...where is the nonsense in this?
It's nonsense because with the exception of VBA you can learn the basics of Excel in a few days, and the more advanced stuff (best practices, optimizing calculation run-time, macros, etc.) is never tested. I can see why temp-companies use them (you need someone who can show up and do the work within the minute, and it's cheaper and easier to administer an out-of-the-box exam than to actually do a thorough interview and background check), but I don't see the value-add for a permanent analyst position; either they can learn anything they don't know easily and quickly or you wouldn't want to hire them regardless of their Excel skills.
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