[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

I’m scheduled for an interview tomorrow afternoon via help from a temp agency. They made me do an Excel assessment test which I originally have intermediate skills. This 25 question assessment was difficult…..basically I looked up the answers to more than half the questions. I only got a few wrong which made me appear I have strong Excel skills.

The recruiter told me I was selected by the client primarily because of my Excel skills. The client doesn’t want to spend too much time going over Excel with the temp hire. I don’t have time to go over any Excel tutorials today so tomorrow morning is my only chance.

Should I go over the tutorials tomorrow morning or call the temp agency and “confess” that my assessment results is a fraud?

[D]

You've got yourself in quite the pickle. If I were you I would go through as many tutorials as you can – if you really want/need this job then that would be your best bet. IF you end up getting selected for it, then you'll just have to use Google as your BFF for figuring out how to do the complex tasks they ask you to do.

Personally I feel excel is really easy to learn and user friendly – so at least you have that in your favor!

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[acamp]

Fake it till you make it! Haha

I would consider what you couldn't answer on your own and how that impacted the test results. If the test asked for tricky formulas, and you were able to google the answers and understand the results, you're probably fine. I google new formulas all the time for work.

If on the other hand, you were googling answers to complicated VBA/macro writing which you know nothing about and is a key requirement of the job, you might want to come clean to avoid wasting everyone's time.

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[Missy]

Level with the agency asap, just let them know you looked up the answers. They may send you anyway but its on them to decide.

If they send you to a job, you get an offer and after 2 weeks are let go because you're not what they thought you were you've burned a bridge not only with the employer but with the agency too. The temp agency might just tell you specifically to study up on pivot tables or something tonight and you can easily pull that off.

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

The position is regarding sales forecasts and projections. Not a position I highly desire (looking for more accounting or audit based) and the recruiter said while my educational background was great, it was more for my Excel skills.

What functions of Excel does sales forecasting/projecting require?

[Stilgoin]

I would study until the interview and go for it. Don’t call them up and tell them you are a fraud. That is you assuming you can’t do something before you even know what is involved and will make you look over-dramatic. Looking up the answers could actually be part of the test and there is no way to know until you go for the interview. I would think anyone would assume you used resources to find correct answers or they would have given you a paper test in person. Did you agree to not using any resources for the test?

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[Anonymous]

ALWAYS. GO. TO. THE. INTERVIEW!

“Because you have good Excel skills” is extremely subjective. The last person may have spent time adding up the numbers in a column because they didn't know how to get Excel to do that. I kid you not I also worked with someone who didn't understand how filters worked, she thought the data would disappear if she filtered.

Go to the interview and see what “good” means to them. Trust me if they need advanced dashboards and VBA scripting they usually would specify that. More than likely they want someone who just knows what they are doing.

[Anonymous]

99.9% sure there was wording in the disclaimer before I took the assessment that I wouldn't use other resources. I also took the assessment from home.

[hasy]

I looked up answers for my excel assessment as well. While I know the disclaimers say that you shouldn't, I'm pretty sure recruiters know the risk that candidates can look up the answers as part of their assessment.

I would say fake it until you make it. It does not HURT you going to the interview, but definitely start studying. The job may not be in the field that you want, but it doesn't hurt to try.

I would still focus on trying to find audit jobs though. Recruiting season is upon us.

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[Anonymous]

…and the morale of the story is, don't lie when you're job-seeking. Then you're never in this situation. If you agreed not to use outside resources, then don't. If it's open-book, then use outside resources and own up to it.

You do know that if you're hired, they can later fire you simply because you were deceptive in your application information (which would include this assessment), right? Not a risk that is safe to take. :-\

[mselaineous]

You're putting yourself and the temp agency in a very awkward position. If you get the position and you aren't able to show the excel skills you said you had, you'll be fired, especially as a temp. Not only will you look bad, untrustworthy and potentially unethical, but the temp agency will look bad as well and you'll burn multiple bridges in the process. It's really not worth it. As someone else said, come clean with the temp agency. Have a chat with them and outline the strengths you have in excel (use specific examples) and where you are probably a little light (again, use specific examples) and then leave it up to them if they want to send you on the interview.

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[monikernc]

it really wasn't an excel skills test. it was a professional integrity test.
this is a teachable moment. do the right thing.

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[Anonymous]

CantStopWontStop,

Do yourself a favor and ignore all the comments in this thread. A temp agency's Excel test has absolutely no relation to reality.

[Missy]

Calvin op was asking for input. Got input.

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Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

I don't want to beat a dead horse but it sounds like this job is nothing special to you but you're willing to cheat to get the interview.

Anyhow, as others have said, advanced Excel skills is very subjective. I know places where pivot tables are advanced. On my team, pivot tables, vlookups, sumifs, etc. are considered intermediate level. We expect applicants to be familiar with these and other functions we use weekly, if not on a daily basis.

What functions of Excel does sales forecasting/projecting require? That depends on the industry and the specific company. It could be as simple as pivot tables to aggregate and summarize data, up to higher level analytical tools to allow commercial managers to do what-if analysis to project sales and margin based on marketing campaigns, promotions, etc. that target differnent segments. Some teams may build models in VBA, while others only do simple trend line analysis.

[Anonymous]

mia11692,

I was tired, so I apologize if I came off as snarky. But I still maintain these Excel tests are a joke, and the OP should have no problem using Excel on a need-to-know basis lol. Especially given their google-fu skills lol.

[Author]

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