A List of Intermediate Skills in Excel to Include in Your Resume

Updated August 28, 2023

Having intermediate Excel skills provides candidates with the opportunity to manage and organize data into comprehensive sheets. Intermediate Excel users can efficiently and represent data with charts and graphs to make it easier to understand and explain to colleagues. In this article, we discuss Excel skills, how to incorporate intermediate excel skills into your resume, and frequently asked questions about Excel skills.

What are Excel skills?

Excel skills allow employees to manage, input, and analyze data that allows them to complete projects or keep track of information. Excel is part of the Microsoft Office Suite used in most corporate offices and academic institutions. Knowledge of Excel is valuable because of the various formulas it offers to compute data efficiently. Here are some tasks that Excel allows you to do:

Improve or achieve a company's goals by analyzing data
Calculate the budget for companies, departments, and projects
Record data by inputting entries and organizing them appropriately
Manage employee schedules depending on availabilities and dates
Manage project details by inputting dates and project progress

Which Excel skills should I include on my resume?

If you're writing your resume and are wondering which skills to include, here is a list:

Managing data and information

Several companies use Excel spreadsheets to manage, track, and organize their data. Candidates can take data from files and word documents and import them into Excel sheets. It's also possible to input the data manually.

Because you can use Excel to navigate a company's financial information, you can also develop a financial strategy. While creating the financial strategy, you can create labels and helpful visuals, like charts and graphs. Finally, you can manage data and information by transferring schedules from external files and importing or replicating them in Excel.

Related:How to Write a Resume

Creating visual representations of data

You can use Excel to create charts, graphs, and bars that provide visual interpretations of data. These representations of data are later used to present information to your team members, employees, or superiors. The data presented can help to identify trends and lead business decisions or help you change project trajectories. It will also be essential to learn how to communicate your findings to both your superiors and other departments.

Filtering information

Having intermediate skills in Excel allows you to sort previous data from newer data. Doing so will allow you to determine whether the information on your spreadsheet remains relevant. You can use your intermediate skills to find the data you want to create reports about and, later, organize the data into sequences. Filtering information in Excel allows you to make sense of previously complex or confusing data. An excellent method for those looking to create more manageable data is to organize your data into either ascending or descending order.

Managing pivot tables

Pivot tables are essential tools to use in Excel. You can use pivot tables to organize data and to reorder entries into more manageable ones. Pivot tables allow you to organize data into different number sets. You can then list this data in a way that's more manageable, which then allows you to find data more easily.

A list of functions and formulas to interpret data

Excel works with several formulas and functions to record data more efficiently. By using Excel formulas, you can make it easier to monitor and input data:

SUMIF

SUMIF is a function that adds the data in two or more cells. It then provides a final solution depending on various pre-defined criteria. SUMIF allows you to input numbers into specific cells and creates results in the final cell. With SUMIF, you can use both text and numbers, which also means you can include dates.

COUNTIF

COUNTIF allows you to count cells that have been preprogrammed. This function is useful when filtering information from long documents or files. For example, you can find all vacation days taken in a given month by using COUNTIF. You can also narrow it down to particular employees.

VLookup

VLookup allows you to find randomly scattered data in an Excel sheet and later transfer it to a new sheet. Here are some functions to use with VLookup:

lookup_value: This function allows you to narrow down the value you're trying to find, look up, or organize
table_array: You can use this function to find the location of existing data
(col_index_num): This function serves to identify where the data is within the table

How to improve your intermediate Excel skills

There are a few ways you can improve your Excel skills:

Research. By conducting research about Excel skills, you can find new functions and formulas to increase your efficiency and manage data with ease.
Take certifications and classes. By receiving training, you can show that you have formal training with the software on resumes and when in an interview.
Practice. To improve your Excel skills, you need to practice at home. In doing so, you can improve your existing skills and learn how to use them easier.

Using your intermediate Excel skills in your resume and cover letter

Here are some tips and tricks for those looking to use their Excel skills on their resume:

Describe your skills

Detail your Excel skills in your resume with specific, concise examples. Use these skills as keywords on your resume, including your responsibilities in previous jobs. You should also mention which functions you can use with these skills.

Example: "Ability to organize data using SUMIF, COUNTIF, and VLookup."

Detail your intermediate Excel skills with examples

When writing your cover letter, list your skills with examples of when you've used them in the past. Your cover letter should include information about how you these skills have helped you in previous job positions and how you plan to apply them in future positions.

Example: "In previous job positions, I used Excel to manage and analyze reports and budgets. I created several complex pivot tables that categorized various budgeting components into manageable data."

Show your qualifications

If you've taken any certifications or workshops in Excel, consider detailing these in a resume or cover letter. That's because doing so provides you with more authority and shows the hiring manager or recruiter that you've received training in Excel.

Frequently asked questions about intermediate skills in Excel

Here is a list of common questions asked about Excel:

What is the difference between beginner, intermediate, and advanced Excel skills?

The primary difference between these levels of Excel skills is that beginner Excel users can manage simple functions. At the beginner level, you know how to use formulas to find the SUM, AVERAGE, and do other basic calculations.

At the intermediate level, users begin to use more complex formulas. You're considered intermediate when you're familiar with how to use pivot tables, VLookup, and date functions among other more. Advanced Excel users need to know how to manage and organize large amounts of data. You must be able to make comprehensive graphs, tables, and record a macro to automate common tasks.

Which intermediate Excel skills are most important?

There are a few intermediate Excel skills that employers find especially valuable. Among these skills are Pivot tables and VLookup, as well as:

Macros basics: You don't need to know how to record a macro function. However, a basic understanding of macros is an advantage. These save time on repetitive functions or cells.
IF function: These functions allow you to compare data and find "true" or "false" results.
Data validation: You can use data validation to present the best data in a sheet. This is essential because everyone presents their data in different ways. By using data validation, spreadsheets are easily understood by anyone you share them with.

What should intermediate Excel users know?

Intermediate users know the purpose behind Excel functions. Candidates who exhibit this skill level also understand how cells function when being copied and pasted from one spreadsheet to another. Intermediate Excel users understand the difference between a function and a formula.

Functions are programs that are used to input data and receive an output. Functions serve as the foundation for Excel formulas. A formula is a cell entry that contains a function. Formulas can contain more than one function. With the formula tab, users can insert functions, review formulas, and create name ranges.

As an intermediate user, you need to understand introductory Excel tools and have a general understanding of relative referencing.

Please note that none of the companies mentioned in this article are affiliated with Indeed.