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10 Excel interview questions you should be ready for
3 November 2026 ยท 2 min read
The Excel questions that come up again and again in job interviews and tests, with the answers and the formulas behind them.
Most jobs that mention Excel test it the same way: a short practical task or a few quick questions in the interview. The good news is that the same handful of skills come up again and again. Here are ten, with what the interviewer is really checking.
1. "How would you find a value in another table?"
They want a lookup. Mention XLOOKUP if the company uses Microsoft 365, and INDEX and MATCH or VLOOKUP for older versions.
=XLOOKUP(E2, A2:A100, C2:C100, "Not found")
Bonus points for saying what happens when nothing matches, and how you handle it.
2. "What is the difference between a relative and an absolute reference?"
A relative reference such as A1 moves when you copy the formula. An absolute reference such as $A$1 stays fixed. Give an example: a tax rate in one cell that every row multiplies by. Our guide to absolute references shows it step by step.
3. "How would you total sales for one region?"
=SUMIF(B2:B100, "East", D2:D100) for one condition, or SUMIFS for several, such as a region and a date range.
4. "How many orders were over 500?"
=COUNTIF(D2:D100, ">500"). Interviewers like to see that you put the comparison in quotes.
5. "How do you handle errors such as #N/A?"
Wrap the formula in IFERROR, or IFNA for lookups, and explain that you only hide errors you expect. Hiding every error can hide real mistakes.
6. "What is a PivotTable for?"
Summarising a long list in seconds: totals, counts or averages by group, without writing formulas. Say which fields you would put in Rows and Values for their data.
7. "How would you clean up messy text?"
TRIM for extra spaces, PROPER or UPPER for capitals, SUBSTITUTE to remove characters, and VALUE to turn numbers stored as text back into numbers.
8. "How do you split a full name into first and last name?"
=TEXTBEFORE(A2, " ") and =TEXTAFTER(A2, " ", -1) in Microsoft 365, or LEFT and FIND in older versions.
9. "How do you work out the number of days between two dates?"
Subtract them: =B2-A2. For working days, use NETWORKDAYS. For age in years, use =DATEDIF(A2, TODAY(), "y").
10. "Which shortcuts do you use most?"
Have three ready: Ctrl + Arrow to jump to the edge of the data, Ctrl + Shift + L for filters, and F4 to lock a reference.
How to prepare
Reading answers is not enough: interviewers can tell who has actually typed these formulas. Practise each one in a real sheet until you can write it without looking. Our interview practice lessons are built for exactly that.
Practise it: Interview practice: lookups
Type the formulas yourself in a real spreadsheet, with instant feedback on every answer. Your first five lessons are free.