Microsoft Excel Expert created MS Excel for data keeping, calculations, graphics, tables and more. It is a tool with vast potential. MS Excel spreadsheet is an extremely helpful tool for people dealing with data and calculations on a daily basis. However, when it comes to hiring a Microsoft Excel expert, the level of expertise needed for the job depends on the specific requirements.
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Microsoft Excel Skills Required at Various Job Levels
For an administrative entry-level job, Microsoft Excel skills that a recruiter looks at are very basic. This kind of job role demands a lot of data handling and sorting, record keeping, formatting etc. Hence, the basic set of expertise that is looked for in an entry-level Microsoft Excel expert is sound knowledge in using shortcut keys, sorting data, filtering data, validating data, creating pivot tables, formatting cells, drawing charts, making analyses and managing page layout.
These skills, as understood, are at a different level of expertise when compared to the MS Excel know-how of a person who works on Excel to maintain basic data. Jobs that require such a basic level of Excel expertise are profiles like personal assistants, office administrators, data entry operators, entry-level business development executives among others.
MS Excel Expertise for Microsoft Excel Experts at Mid-Level
The scope of MS Excel is vast. Optimization of this tool, unfortunately, occurs only at the hands of an MS Excel expert. As job profiles become more laden with responsibilities and data-related work increases, the need to hire a dedicated Microsoft Excel expert becomes all the more vital. The demand for this level of expertise in MS Excel becomes more stringent when job profiles involve mid-level positions like that of accountants, auditors, business analysts, etc.
Here is what a human resource recruiter would look for in a mid-level profile: Microsoft Excel skills in pivot tables, go to special, conditional formatting, text to a column and quick analysis tool.
Preferred Microsoft Excel Skills at Senior Levels
At a senior level, where a professional is required to take up responsibilities as office manager, senior business analyst, accountant or project manager, certain advanced Microsoft Excel skills are expected to be a part of his or her skill set. Some of these skills are efficiency in advanced Excel sheets, data tables, power queries, VLOOKUP, toolbars, functions, power pivot, visual basic for applications and macros, SUM, advanced carting, formulae, conditional formatting, tables and reporting in pivot.
Why Hire a Dedicated Microsoft Excel Expert?
Not every profile will need all the aforementioned skill sets together. However, a major deciding factor for recruiters when looking for a particular skill set in a candidate is the profile requirement. Recruiters also have to keep in mind the level for which they are hiring. So, what determines the need to hire a Microsoft Excel expert?
Here are some reasons for the same:
As a business expands and its daily transactions increase in volume, everything must be tracked. This is a basic data entry requirement that can get repetitive. Yet, to ensure that all the data is sorted, tracked, and kept in line, a Microsoft Excel expert becomes a must.
Complicated calculations and representation of data in the form of graphs and analysis is another major reason. For instance, a business analyst deals with a massive amount of data. A tool like MS Excel is the lifeline for professionals like data analysts, accountants and business analysts, who play with data all the time. Their core job requirement revolves around the conclusions drawn based on the various data they decipher. These are compiled into an analysis or a study. A Microsoft Excel expert will be responsible for providing that needed data to experts for analysis.
Microsoft Excel experts are needed in the retail industry as well. Maintenance of customer data, maintenance of sales records, procurement of material data, tracking of employees’ salary, vacation or leaves are usually done on excel sheets. This compiled data is then collated to form reports for analysis.
The world of finance cannot do without a spreadsheet or hiring a Microsoft Excel expert either. Financial experts are all about crunching numbers for business, revenues and calculations. They are extremely well-versed with Microsoft Excel and usually render services as certified Microsoft Excel experts.
Expertise in Microsoft Excel is a must for professionals involved in project management as well. This kind of work involves financial information, reports, data generated due to every day operations etc. Although excellence in Excel is a core competency of project managers, firms that specialize in project management often outsource a part of the data management to Microsoft Excel experts.
Hiring a Microsoft Excel expert provides an organization with the objectivity they need to understand how a firm has been optimizing on MS Excel. In general, organizations deal with various kinds of data that are huge in numbers and volume. While data-centric organizations will need to hire a dedicated Microsoft Excel expert for their needs, external expertise can help in streamlining a lot of work related to data management.
