A survey by Capital One and Burning Glass Technologies found that Microsoft Excel is among the most in-demand digital skills in about 82% middle-skill positions.
Excel can also increase the chances of promotions and salary increments by 12%, according to Go Skills. Microsoft Excel is not only a must-have software for tax season, but an essential tool for daily tasks like accounting, scheduling, data preparation, and stock inventory.
While you may know the basic elements of MS Excel, it pays to understand the advanced features. Learning Excel’s advanced formulas, shortcuts, and how to troubleshoot errors can help you navigate toward a future career in data analytics or leverage your skills at work. Here are some advantages of advancing your Microsoft Excel Skills.
Increase Your Value in the Job Market
By improving your skills, you’ll master essential advanced Excel formulas, shortcuts, and formatting. As a result, you become a valuable asset in an organization because you can use your knowledge in many ways. For example, learning formulas like VLOOKUP, Choose, Index Match, and PMT and IPMT help you manage budgets and track revenue and expenses. You can also take inventory, prepare schedules, and create charts to represent data in visual formats.
Boost Efficiency
Using enhanced Excel functions can improve work efficiency because you can perform various tasks like calculations, scheduling, and data analysis with minimal effort. For instance, conditional formatting lets you format multiple cells by adding color, ticks, smiley faces, and data bars based on specified criteria. In doing so, you make data easier to understand.
When you advance your spreadsheet skills, you also become efficient in identifying and fixing errors like Excel opening up on startup, which often slows down your computer. For most people, resolving such a technical problem can be daunting. But when you have the expertise, it takes less time to fix and resume work.
Improve Work Quality
Creating dashboards, pivot charts, and other appealing visuals to present data on Excel enhances work quality. With the right skills, you can easily paste these elements in Word documents and PowerPoint presentations, or standard templates for enhanced formatting, positioning, and formula accuracy. That way, management, and team members can assess data and make informed business decisions.
Advancing your Excel skills prepares you for employment positions in the finance and business departments. Because you have the skills to track and analyze data, employers will likely offer high paying rates. You may also leverage your Excel knowledge to analyze trends, create budgets, and track expenses, for personal reasons.