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Gaining a functional grasp of excel in a very, very short period of time
JamesKeenan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm interviewing for a job I have a very good, realistic chance of getting if I can just demonstrate that I have a "basic to advanced" level of Excel understanding. I know Excel can handle some pretty complex data management, all the way to being able to program games.
But this is going to be working front desk at a Hotel, so I'm not expecting that much.
I have a very basic understanding of creating very basic spreadsheets, and I'm 24 with the same wide, general grasp of computers of most people my age. Maybe a little more. I know computer generals. I've even built my own. I just don't specifically know Excel beyond shit like =SUM(B2:B7). Does anyone know of any quality resources, or even, like, a "Down and Dirty with Excel in 24 hours" kind of book?
Or is the basic functionality so simple I might as well just apply and rely on the help section?
But this is going to be working front desk at a Hotel, so I'm not expecting that much.
I have a very basic understanding of creating very basic spreadsheets, and I'm 24 with the same wide, general grasp of computers of most people my age. Maybe a little more. I know computer generals. I've even built my own. I just don't specifically know Excel beyond shit like =SUM(B2:B7). Does anyone know of any quality resources, or even, like, a "Down and Dirty with Excel in 24 hours" kind of book?
Or is the basic functionality so simple I might as well just apply and rely on the help section?
JamesKeenan on
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http://www.officelabs.com/projects/ribbonhero2/Pages/default.aspx
Well this should be interesting... I will give it a try. Still welcoming anything else people have. Times like these I wish I had the Matrix brain-dump tech. Actually, I always wish I had that.
That said, Ribbon Hero looks pretty awesome.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
What are you doing to actually be asked to do? Data entry and basic macros in excel are pretty simple (sounds like you already have a handle on this), and a lot of slightly-more-complex stuff can be figured out in a couple minutes using google.
My approach would be to take some spreadsheets you've already made to the interview (if you don't have any, make one of your monthly budget or similar.) Even if you don't know how to do everything, having something in hand and being able to explain how you made it work is persuasive.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Yeah, and part of me is thinking that is the most I will need for just working front desk at a hotel. But... There is a lot more to Excel. Maybe I am worrying too much, but I am unfamiliar enough with the program that I feel intimidated by most of the Data tab.
I realize a lot of the functions in the Ribbon are just GUI elements to do things I can do manually. But again, I don't know how much I don't know. Maybe I'm just fretting. Fret fret fret.
I remember once showing a coworker how to merge two columns in excel and looking like a fucking savior/genius because I saved her three hours of manual data entry
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
it mostly just organizes data into new formats. This is important for making reports or w/e for a specific purpose, but at the grunt level you probably won't use it much (or if you do you will have specific instructions.)
seriously anything you want to know, just type "how to [do whatever] in excel" into google. Somebody has always had your question before and frequently there's already a knowledgebase about it somewhere.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Also googling stuff, which has been mentioned. That's also quite helpful.
Oh, well yeah. I know that. I know that I will never have a problem I can't solve with Google. But I don't know if I will be permitted that resource at work. And I can't bust out my smartphone during the interview to say, "Merging Array tables? Yeah I can know how to do that, gimme a sec."
(I don't even have a smartphone)
ed: whoops, early post. I mean, assuming this is relatively entry-level, what the interviewer is going to be most interested in is how able you are to follow direction, ask good questions and figure stuff out. Which is why (imo) bringing stuff you've actually created is important; being able to say "this is a thing I made for this purpose and here is how it works" is a lot more interesting than being able to answer rote questions about what the data tab does.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I think that is a good idea, and I thank you for giving it to me.
Yeah, what Feral just said is very true.
I recently interviewed for a job. I was talking about programming in VBA and like 20 minutes later they ask me "how are you on Excel formulas, though?"
I was like... "Um..."
(If you know how to apply VBA to an Excel spreadsheet/application, it would be very strange if you didn't know how to apply sheet formulas as well. Same principles.)
Like, if you have a table of:
FIRST | LAST
Mary | Jane
Tom | Collins
Jack | Daniels
and you want to combine into one Name column, you add a spacer column in B, like ' ', then in a new column, you Concatenate A + B + C.
You can also just use "=A1&B1&C1"
Really, the good thing to know about Excel aside from specific formulas are shortcuts. How to fill a column quickly, how to properly paste formulas, etc.
And VLOOKUP. VLOOKUP is a good one.
And if you can wrap your head about pivottables.
I'd say if you can learn how to write a VLOOKUP and can manage the creation and interpretation of a pivottable, you'll be ahead of 90% of everyone else out there with regard to Excel. Hell, a lot of accountants I know can't even create a pivottable.
And concatenation is an important skill for complex VLOOKUPs (and even pivots) because depending on the data, it may enable you to create a unique key for each row to sort/filter/pivot/VLOOKUP by. You'll know what that means once you start getting into it.
So basically, I would look into three things:
- The CONCATENATE formula and/or the & operator
- The VLOOKUP formula.
- Pivot tables.
A1&A2 does the same as the function
It's easy to impress with Excel because people who think they are experts are likely not. I shown people that and LOOKUP functions. It was like I am doing magic or something.
Ta-da! You now have advanced knowledge of Excel as far as 99% of people are concerned!
ribbon hero looks like it will be useful. at least as a start.
i love you guys so much.
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That's probably all that anyone will expect of you.
"An error occurred and this feature is no longer working properly."
No fucking shit!
As it's the hotel sector, I can imagine it'll be largely processing customer data or expenditures in order to produce reports for management/vendors/clients - so aside from what's already been mentioned, getting to grips with charts is a must, as managers/clients usually don't have a lot of time to look at tables of data, they just want to analyse the results. So it's key to use the right chart for the right task - for example, using a pie chart for anything over 10 items is just confusing, when a column/bar chart will present it far clearer. As for charts in general, the basic rule of thumb is to stick to column/line/pie and bar charts, maybe scatter (if you know it's required) and leave the rest well alone.
One final thing, is that if it involves dealing with customer data, you may want to learn how to password-protect and hide worksheets - you may also want to pre-empt them on it too, as it shows you value the security of data, etc.
Pivot tables in particular are a must.
Also learning shortcuts will save you a lot of time. F2 edits the active cell, F4 locks in the active cell in a formula (i.e., adds $s), control moves you to the end of lists (control shift selects the entire list). There are hundreds more to learn. After awhile you'll just stop using a mouse altogether.
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Other helpful tips - Ctrl+arrow goes to the end of a data series or blank area (in the direction you press, and you can use shift in conjunction with that.
Oh, also master the "print preview", as you'll often meet people who print your stuff out, and you don't want it to look like shit.
But it seems I was beaten to the punch, so I'll just agree with what others have said. If you can demonstrate or even mention those three things it will show you have a lot of knowledge of Excel.
This is a good list (minus HLOOKUP. seriously, who the fuck uses that?). I'd put heavy emphasis on filters, anchors ($) and vlookups. If you can also do pivot tables you're head and shoulders above what most people that write "I know excel" on their resume can do.
Anyways, I'm waiting on confirmation from her own superiors, but the impression that I got was that it was a great interview. Thank you everyone, everyone who helped.