Excel Skills Every Fresh Graduate Should Have

The Excel skills for graduates that employers look for are practical rather than advanced: formulas that point to cells, SUM and IF, COUNTIF and SUMIF, VLOOKUP, pivot tables, sorting and filtering, and clean formatting. Together they cover most entry-level Excel tests and the first few months of an office job. This guide is for fresh graduates and final-year students who want a clear list of what to learn first, what can wait, and how to practise.

The Excel skills graduates need, in order#

Learn these in roughly this order, because each one builds on the last:

1. Formulas and cell references#

Every formula starts with =, and good formulas point to cells, not numbers. If C2 holds hours and D2 holds an hourly rate:

=C2*D2

Change C2 and the result updates by itself. Typing =32*45 gives the same answer today but never updates, and graders in Excel tests check for this.

Two more ideas complete the basics:

• Order of operations. Excel multiplies and divides before it adds and subtracts, so =2+3*4 is 14. Use brackets to change the order: =(2+3)*4 is 20.
• Absolute references. When you copy a formula, references move with it. Put $ signs in a reference, like $G$1, to keep it fixed, such as a tax rate every row uses. Press F4 (Mac: ⌘T) while editing to add them.

2. SUM, AVERAGE and the other basic functions#

A function is a ready-made calculation with a name. These five cover most everyday summaries:

Press Alt+= (Mac: ⌘⇧T) below a column of numbers for an instant SUM. The SUM function guide shows the other ways to use it.

3. IF: make Excel decide#

IF checks a condition and returns one value if it's true and another if it's false:

=IF(D2>=50000,"Above target","Below target")

Once IF is comfortable, learn AND and OR to check two conditions at once, such as a rating of 4 or more and a start date before a cut-off.

4. COUNTIF and SUMIF: count and total by a condition#

These two answer the most common workplace questions, such as "how many orders came from the North?" and "what was the total?":

=COUNTIF(B2:B50,"North")
=SUMIF(B2:B50,"North",D2:D50)

When you need two or more conditions, the plural versions, COUNTIFS and SUMIFS, work the same way with more pairs of range and criterion.

5. VLOOKUP: bring data from one table into another#

VLOOKUP finds a value in the first column of a table and returns a value from another column in the same row. With employee IDs in column A and departments in column C:

=VLOOKUP(F2,A2:C6,3,FALSE)

If F2 is 103, the result is the department in the 3rd column of that row. FALSE means exact match, which is what you want for IDs and names. The VLOOKUP function guide explains each argument, and the exercise on this page lets you try it. On Microsoft 365, Excel 2021 or Excel 2024, learn XLOOKUP next: it can look left and doesn't depend on a column number.

6. Pivot tables: summarize in seconds#

A pivot table turns a long table into a summary without formulas. Click inside your data, choose Insert > PivotTable, then drag a field such as Region to Rows and Sales to Values. You get a total per region with a grand total. Drag Month to Columns for a region-by-month grid.

Pivot tables appear in many entry-level tests because they show you can summarize data quickly. Remember to refresh a pivot (Data > Refresh All) when the source data changes.

7. Sort, filter, format and chart#

These skills make your work easy for others to read and check:

• Sort a list by one or more columns from Data > Sort.
• Filter to show only some rows with Ctrl+Shift+L (Mac: ⌘⇧F).
• Format numbers as currency, percentages and dates rather than typing symbols in by hand.
• Chart a summary with Insert > Recommended Charts. A column chart for comparisons and a line chart for trends cover most needs.
• Freeze the header row so it stays in view on long lists; see freeze panes in Excel.

What graduates can learn later#

You don't need everything on day one. These are valuable, but most entry-level roles don't expect them:

• Macros and VBA for automating repetitive tasks.
• Power Query for importing and reshaping data from many sources.
• Advanced modelling such as scenario analysis and complex financial models.
• Dynamic arrays such as FILTER and UNIQUE, which are worth learning soon if you use Microsoft 365.

Learn them when a job or project needs them. Our guide to how long it takes to learn Excel for a job helps you plan the time.

How to prepare for your first Excel test#

Many graduate schemes and entry-level roles include an Excel task. Practise the core skills on real data rather than watching videos, and time yourself. The guide to passing an Excel test for a job interview covers what these tests look like. If you're heading into a specific field, see the Excel skills for finance jobs, the Excel test for accountants, or, for admin and operations roles, the Excel data entry test.

On your CV, name the skills you can show, such as VLOOKUP, pivot tables and SUMIFS, rather than writing "advanced Excel". Our guide to showing Excel skills on your resume honestly has examples.

Practise it#

Start at the beginning with Your first formulas, where you write formulas that point to cells and see how they recalculate. Then practise VLOOKUP exact match with a product catalog, and build your first summary in Pivot tables 1. The exercise on this page is a first-week lookup task.