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The Excel Help Thread

isn't access for when you're merging database information? i thought it kind of needed two things to pull from to be most effective, otherwise excel is your best bet.


...?

i guess if you're organizing info by Event, Access could be useful.
 
Are you over the limit:

The error can occur if you exceed certain Excel 2010 limits, such as running too many calculations in the workbook. Some of these limits are as follows:

The maximum worksheet size limit is 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns.
The total number of characters that a cell can contain is 32,767 characters.
The maximum selected range in a calculation is 2,048.
The maximum nested level of functions in a calculation is 64.

For a full list of Excel 2010 specifications and limitations, read the information in this Office Online article:
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what version of excel are you using? if you're using excel 2007 or above, you aren't saving it as an .xls, are you? if you are, convert it to .xlsx or .xlsm.
 
If excel.exe is running in your task manager (ctrl alt delete) then be sure to delete it.

Otherwise try saving it in all the excel formats (.xls/.xlsx etc).

If that doesn't work it might be an Excel 2010 issue...was this recently installed?
 
Thanks guys & lbe. I think I got it. I completely reset the file in a brand new document. My file size went down to 122 kb :) and it is no longer not letting me save. I've got to re-enter all of the data I have worked on today, but hopefully that will resolve it.

I had received this file from someone else and was modifying it. I'm wondering if the original set up is what was causing issue.
 
WakeGal said:
Thanks guys & lbe. I think I got it. I completely reset the file in a brand new document. My file size went down to 122 kb :) and it is no longer not letting me save. I've got to re-enter all of the data I have worked on today, but hopefully that will resolve it.

I had received this file from someone else and was modifying it. I'm wondering if the original set up is what was causing issue.
Click to expand...


though i don't know how, that probably was your issue. glad it's resolved!
 
Excel Evaluation

Has anyone ever done an excel test/evaluation for a job interview? What are they usually like.

The company I am interviewing for is sending me mine today and I get 24 hours to finish it.
 
Deac2010 said:
Has anyone ever done an excel test/evaluation for a job interview? What are they usually like.

The company I am interviewing for is sending me mine today and I get 24 hours to finish it.
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wait, you do it at home?

i had to do one once. they basically just asked me to do very basic excel things (vlookup, etc), but unlike real excel, it wouldn't prompt you for things (like the little box that pops up when you start entering a formula). so if it's not something you do on a daily basis, it could probably be a headache. the one i did also timed your response time. you had as much time as you needed, but it was counting how long it took so it could know if you were sure of yourself or not.

but i was actually in an office when i did it. not at home. no idea how they keep you from cheating if you're at home.
 
Never had to do this for a job, but now I'm curious. Will you post the test after you get it?
 
DeacHoops said:
wait, you do it at home?

i had to do one once. they basically just asked me to do very basic excel things (vlookup, etc), but unlike real excel, it wouldn't prompt you for things (like the little box that pops up when you start entering a formula). so if it's not something you do on a daily basis, it could probably be a headache. the one i did also timed your response time. you had as much time as you needed, but it was counting how long it took so it could know if you were sure of yourself or not.

but i was actually in an office when i did it. not at home. no idea how they keep you from cheating if you're at home.
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Thats the response I'm getting from a few people - saying that its weird I get to do it at home and get 24 hours. I am hoping they dont feel necessary to test me on vlookup

leftcoastdeac said:
Never had to do this for a job, but now I'm curious. Will you post the test after you get it?
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depends on if i get the job or not :)
 
I've had case studies that required a heavy amount of Excel work. I imagine most test your ability to work with and extract relevant info from large sets of raw data.
 
Always thought Excel tests in interviews were a lazy ploy of a weak interviewer. Its not like you're engrained in the company data, so unless its something fairly common (baseball stats, for example), you're automatically putting your candidate at a disadvantage. There are more effective ways to determine a candidate's analytical abilities if you just put some effort into it.

That said, I'm sure they'll throw a pivot table exercise at you. If they don't, they're stupid in addition to being lazy.
 
Pivot tables and vlookups will probably be on the test. Also they may have you analyze graphs and create graphs from data. I've had a few similar to DeacHoops' experience (timed vlookups and pivot tables), and another was an impromptu test where someone came in with a computer and wanted to see if I could do certain tasks (create queries, if statements).
 
PhilliesDeacs said:
Always thought Excel tests in interviews were a lazy ploy of a weak interviewer. Its not like you're engrained in the company data, so unless its something fairly common (baseball stats, for example), you're automatically putting your candidate at a disadvantage. There are more effective ways to determine a candidate's analytical abilities if you just put some effort into it.

That said, I'm sure they'll throw a pivot table exercise at you. If they don't, they're stupid in addition to being lazy.
Click to expand...

I agree to a certain extent. Just curious but what do you think are better ways (in an interview setting)? It's pretty easy to BS a response to "Name a time when you used analytical abilities on a work task."
 
PhilliesDeacs said:
Always thought Excel tests in interviews were a lazy ploy of a weak interviewer. Its not like you're engrained in the company data, so unless its something fairly common (baseball stats, for example), you're automatically putting your candidate at a disadvantage. There are more effective ways to determine a candidate's analytical abilities if you just put some effort into it.

That said, I'm sure they'll throw a pivot table exercise at you. If they don't, they're stupid in addition to being lazy.
Click to expand...

if you want to know if someone can use Excel what is more effective than asking them to use Excel?
 
I had one about 10 years ago as part of an interview process. It kinda sucked because I got dinged for not using the shortcuts or using shortcuts etc. Also, I did a sumif which yielded the correct response, but it was set up as a vlookup and so I missed it. Saving grace was that the interviewer knew enough about excel to just ask me what I did and I got the job (but did not take it).
 
i had to do one for my first temp job out of college. it was at home and a joke.
 
I had to do one on site, was a combo between excel evaluation and a case study. Lots of excess data thrown into tables and wanted me to sift through it, provide recommendations and ground any assumptions where data was missing/lacking.

Then spent a half hour with a VP digging into our work and recommendations through discussion/Q&A.
 
Yea, this is for a pretty good position too - I'll let you guys know what I find out
 
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