7 Excel Skills That Elevate Your Resume

Did you know that a lot of employers are looking for job seekers who know how to use Excel? In fact, they specify Excel rather than simply saying that they want someone who knows how to use MS Office. This is because understanding how to use Excel takes more skills than learning how to use Word. There’s dedication and time that has to be spent on mastering the program and all it can do.

Want some good news?! Of course, you do!

You don’t have to have advanced Excel skills on your resume to land a job that requires proficiency in Excel. Possessing any level of Excel skills can be a game-changer when it comes to standing out from the crowd – it all depends on how you write the information on your resume.

So, let’s take a look at 7 Excel skills on your resume that will elevate your candidacy and explore how to write about what you know how to do in a way that will land you some interviews.

Describing Excel skills on your resume

Since your resume is the first chance you get to make a lasting impression on hiring managers, the importance of showcasing the skills they want can’t be understated. Not only that, but your resume has to get through the company’s applicant tracking system, or ATS. This makes outlining the right skills in your resume doubly important.

Just because the job description uses something like “proficiency in Excel required” doesn’t mean that’s all you should say on your resume. You have to be strategic with the language you choose. Pick wording that proves you are proficient with Excel.

Be specific: Describe tasks and functions from your career history that point to your abilities in using the program. Are you good at using formulas? Can you analyze data using pivot tables? Can you make charts and graphs?
Use action verbs: This means you can’t just say, “Responsible for compiling data into an Excel sheet.” Rather, you should use a power verb at the beginning of your sentence that says what you actually did. Example: “Analyzed Excel data to make forecasts about customer buying behaviors.”
Add numbers to your text: In the spirit of proving your skills, you should add numbers every chance you get. It doesn’t matter whether you talk about the size of the datasets you’ve handled or the number of reports you generated; there’s almost always a way to quantify your Excel talents.

The 7 Excel skills that elevate your resume

When you effectively portray your Excel skills on your resume, you demonstrate that you have what it takes to organize information, analyze data, make informed decisions, and improve productivity. So, what are the seven Excel skills that you need to know about to ensure you make the cut?

You may notice that some of the seven skills we’re about to cover really have nothing to do with the functionality of Excel itself. For example, continuous learning and adaptability are soft skills that highlight your capacity for advancing your abilities and overcoming challenges, which, as you learn more and more about using Excel, you’ll find are incredibly crucial.

1. Basic Excel skills on your resume

The expert at anything was once a beginner. Remember that as you start to describe your basic Excel skills. Just because you can’t use VLOOKUP and pivot tables – yet – what you have to offer is still of value to employers. Companies seeking to fill sales, marketing, project management, human resources, research, and data entry positions rely on candidates with basic Excel skills.

Basic Excel skills examples:

Data entry and formatting
Basic formulas (SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, and IF statements)
Cell formatting
Sorting and filtering

These basic Excel skills allow you to handle data and perform calculations that can inform decisions. Of course, you’ll want to tailor the language you use on your resume to demonstrate these skills based on what the job description says, but here are some example bullets you can use:

Crafted and formatted spreadsheets, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and integrity of database containing over 500 customer records.
Sorted and filtered data to identify trends related to customer conversions and sales.
Generated charts and graphs to visualize and communicate inventory information to senior leaders, reducing stockouts by 15%.

2. Advanced Excel skills on your resume

Today’s workforce is a data-driven environment that relies on people who can manage and manipulate complex datasets. When you possess advanced Excel skills, you gain a competitive edge that opens a world of opportunities.

Advanced Excel skills examples:

Advanced functions (INDEX-MATCH, VLOOKUP, AND SUMIF statements)
Pivot tables, scenario analysis, and regression analysis
Macros and automation

You can demonstrate the unique value you bring to a job by leveraging your advanced Excel skills through quantified bullets on your resume. Here are some examples:

Created complex financial model in Excel to analyze investment opportunities, increasing ROI by 20%.
Used pivot tables to identify cost-saving opportunities, reducing operational expenses by 10%.
Streamlined monthly reporting processes by automating data extraction, saving 3 hours per day in manual report generation time.

3. Analytical thinking and problem-solving Excel skills on your resume

One of the major benefits of using Excel at work is the ability to analyze data and solve problems with the information contained in the spreadsheet. By manipulating and interpreting the data correctly, you can help company leaders solve the most complex problems no matter what industry you’re in.

Analytical thinking and problem-solving Excel skills examples:

Identify trends and correlations within datasets
Streamline processes
Improve efficiency
Save money and time
Troubleshoot data discrepancies and fix errors

When learn to properly utilize Excel to solve problems and analyze situations, you have the ability to affect decision-making on an organizational level. Here are some examples of how you can demonstrate this on your resume:

Increased customer satisfaction by 20% by analyzing feedback information in Excel and identifying areas for improvement.
Implemented data-driven pricing strategies using Excel to bring about a 15% increase in profit margins within 6 months.
Improved on-time delivery rates by 30% by implementing an Excel-based project tracking tool.

4. Data management and organization Excel skills on your resume

Since the company you want to work for probably values accuracy and efficiency, talking about your ability to manage data in an organized way can propel your candidacy for the position above other job seekers. By emphasizing your data management and organization skills in Excel, you demonstrate your ability to handle and manipulate data effectively, ensuring its accuracy, accessibility, and reliability.

Data management and organization Excel skills examples:

Organize data based on specific criteria
Data consolidation
Data analysis using power query
Conditional formatting
Data validation rules
Data cleansing

Validating the data in Excel and checking that it’s error-free are critical aspects of ensuring that the right decisions are made at the right time. You can prove your abilities in managing data in an organized way by using quantifiable bullet points on your resume like these:

Led a team of 4 to consolidate and clean 50+ datasets.
Designed comprehensive data validation process that reduced inconsistencies by 25%.
Implemented a new data management system in Excel that corrected data errors and improved accuracy by 30%.

5. Data analysis and visualization Excel skills on your resume

Almost every industry on the planet needs people who can analyze and apply visualization techniques to datasets to help identify patterns and trends and make informed decisions that not only increase profitability but can also help with market expansion. When you’re good at data visualization, you make it easier for stakeholders to understand what’s going on with their business.

Data analysis and visualization Excel skills examples:

Analyze large datasets from multiple perspectives
Provide comprehensive overview of data
Communicate key insights to both technical and non-technical audiences

Data-driven decision-making is one of those qualifications that you’re likely to come across on a job description. When you can demonstrate that you know how to make decisions based on complex data, combined with the ability to extract that data from Excel, you present a valuable skill set no matter your career target. Here are some examples of how to highlight these skills on your resume:

Created visually appealing dashboards using Tableau.
Grew revenue by 10% within 1 year by using Excel to analyze sales data and identify market trends.
Increased customer engagement by 20% by creating data-driven marketing strategies based on customer segmentation analysis.

6. Collaboration and communication Excel skills on your resume

You already know that being able to effectively communicate with your colleagues, leaders, and customers is critical to the success of business. Did you know that Excel can be qualified as a collaborative tool? The “Share” button allows multiple users to work in Excel at the same time, which is great for simultaneous editing and co-authoring.

Collaboration and communication Excel skills examples:

Track changes
Collaborate with multiple users – across the building or on the other side of the world
Utilize Excel comments and notes features
Share workbooks
Establish data entry and validation guidelines

Cross-functional communication and teamwork are helpful whether you want a brick-and-mortar job or a work-from-home job. When you emphasize your ability to work together to contribute to a project or share information, you allow your team to share ideas and make sure that everyone is on the same page. It’s easy to demonstrate these particular soft skills on your resume. Here’s how:

Worked with a geographically dispersed team of 10 to successfully implement a new project management system using Excel.
Reduced project delays by 20% by organizing weekly status meetings and utilizing the Notes feature of Excel for instant project communication.
Authored data entry and validation guidelines to shorten the learning curve of new hires and reduce the number of errors in Excel data.

7. Continuous learning and adaptability Excel skills on your resume

If there’s one constant in life and work, it’s that things will change. Hiring managers are constantly on the lookout for people who embrace the concepts of continuous learning and adaptability. This is especially true when they need someone who will be working with Excel a lot because new features and functionalities get rolled out all the time.

Continuous learning and adaptability Excel skills examples:

Excel shortcuts
Emerging technology advancements
New tools and functionalities
Certifications and professional development courses for Excel

By demonstrating a willingness to learn and keep up with the times, you can really make your resume stand out from the crowd. Here are some sample bullets you can use to prove you are a dynamic individual:

Completed 2 Excel courses on advanced formulas, data analysis, and visualization techniques.
Learned about a new Excel tool that could reduce data analysis time by 20% and implemented it within 3 months.
Researched Excel add-ins and plugins (e.g., Power Map and Solver) to expand data visualization efforts and increase efficiency by 15%.

Use Excel skills on your resume to win interviews

Excel is one of those tools that’s quickly dismissed as something everyone knows how to use. The fact is, it isn’t. Highlight your Excel skills on your resume to stand out from the crowd and wow the socks off prospective employers.

Invest in your career and your future by working with one of our professional resume writers to incorporate your Excel skills into your resume properly.