Advanced Microsoft Office skills assessment: Full guide

Some jobs require candidates to have only a basic understanding of the Microsoft Office Suite. For roles that require collaboration between multiple teams or heavy data analysis, on the other hand, your ideal candidates need to know more than just the basics.

But, distinguishing between general and advanced Microsoft Office skills can be challenging, and assessing these skills is even more so. And failing to understand and assess advanced Microsoft Office skills accurately can result in steeper learning curves for new hires, less efficient teams, reduced productivity, and other challenges.

Fortunately, we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll explain what these advanced skills are, which skills to look for when hiring, and how to use an advanced Microsoft Office skills assessment to test candidates and inform your hiring decisions.

What are advanced Microsoft Office skills?

Advanced Microsoft Office skills go beyond the basic actions you can complete in the Microsoft Office suite. They require a deep understanding of and proficiency in using various features and tools within Microsoft Office applications. 

Microsoft Office includes popular tools like:

• PowerPoint, used to create presentations using slides

• Word, used to create text documents such as letters and reports

• Teams, used for workspace chats and video conferencing

• Excel, used to calculate, format, and organize data in spreadsheets

• Outlook, used for email communication within the Microsoft Exchange Server

• SharePoint, used to create websites

• Access, used to store and organize large amounts of data

Your candidates might use basic Microsoft Office skills to carry out everyday tasks and functions in their work, like creating, editing, and managing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and emails. These are the skills your candidates must know to begin learning advanced Microsoft Office skills.

For instance, advanced Microsoft users can create intricately designed presentations in PowerPoint, create automations in Outlook, and develop complex algorithms or data models in Excel.

Advanced Microsoft Office skills to look for

When assessing candidates for advanced Microsoft Office skills, look for the core abilities and specific tool proficiencies below. Candidates who master these skills can use the full potential of Office applications to handle complex tasks and improve your organization’s productivity and efficiency.

Advanced Excel Skills

• Auditing formulas and using functions like VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and INDEX-MATCH

• Using pivot tables and pivot charts to summarize and analyze data

• Implementing macros and automation to streamline repetitive actions

• Applying complex data analysis and modeling when using data

• Using data validation and conditional formatting

• Using array formulas and functions for multiple simultaneous calculations

• Transforming data using Power Query 

Advanced Word skills

• Using advanced formatting, such as styles and creating templates

• Personalizing communication using mail merge

• Using table of contents, footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies 

• Customizing page layouts

• Collaborating on documents using whiteboards and tracking changes

• Using cross-references and bookmarks

• Automating tables of figures and indexes

• Using fields to insert dynamic content, like dates, automatically 

• Creating interactive fields like dropdown menus and checkboxes

• Adding watermarks to documents

• Inserting files from other Office applications, such as an Excel spreadsheet

Advanced PowerPoint skills

• Creating interactive presentations with hyperlinks and buttons

• Creating and using animations and transitions

• Customizing slide masters

• Designing custom motion paths for objects in slides

• Embedding multimedia elements, like audio, video, and quizzes

• Using collaborative editing and comments

• Recording presentations with voiceover commentary 

Advanced Outlook skills

• Efficiently managing inboxes by creating advanced rules, filters, folders to organize emails by sender, subject, and other criteria

• Creating and using email templates

• Developing multiple email signatures for specific recipients and contexts

• Configuring out-of-office and automated responses

• Using Quick Steps to automate tasks, like email forwarding

• Effectively managing, sharing, and scheduling calendars

• Clearly organizing contacts and tasks

• Using advanced email search

• Creating conditional formatting for email fonts and signatures based on certain conditions

• Collaborating using shared calendars, setting custom access permissions for colleagues

Advanced Access skills

• Creating complex databases and tables using relational database design principles such as normalization

• Developing fields, expressions, and conditional logic for data gathering

• Designing and running advanced queries using SQL (Structured Query Language)

• Building relationships between tables

• Automating tasks with macros and triggering actions based on user inputs

• Creating forms for data input

• Designing custom reports and visualizations

• Building parameterized queries to collect user input

• Dividing databases into two parts: a front-end for forms or reports and a back-end for tables

Advanced OneNote skills

• Organizing notes using custom notebooks, sections, and pages

• Creating and using note templates

• Collaborating on and sharing notebooks

• Embedding files, images, and videos

• Tagging and categorizing notes

• Searching and indexing content

• Linking notes and creating to-do lists

• Using math tools to develop and edit equations 

Advanced SharePoint skills

• Creating and managing site structures, collections, and subsites, as well as document libraries and lists

• Developing custom site templates

• Designing forms using ​​Microsoft InfoPath and using them within SharePoint

• Using versioning and document sets to manage documents

• Setting up permissions and access controls

• Using SharePoint Designer to create custom workflows

• Integrating with other Office apps

• Creating and customizing web pages

• Collaborating on team sites and project management

Advanced Teams skills

• Using advanced meeting options like breakout rooms and virtual lobbies

• Implementing advanced settings like queues and attendants for inbound calls

• Pinning files and messages within Teams chat conversations

• Sharing images, code, and other multimedia and rich text formatting within Teams messages

• Using keyboard shortcuts to prompt certain actions

• Hosing large meetings or virtual events with audience management tools

• Creating and managing channels with user permissions, names, descriptions, and pinned posts

• Implementing Microsoft Bot Framework to create task automations within Teams

• Integrating with other Office apps

• Managing and integrating tasks with Microsoft Planner

Which roles require advanced Microsoft Office testing?

Thanks to its many useful functions, Microsoft Office is a tech staple across various job roles in countless industries. Some roles rely on different applications and features, and, as a result, many companies using the software benefit from employees with advanced Microsoft Office skills.

Here are some roles that require advanced Microsoft Office testing:

Customer service

Customer service workers typically need to be proficient in tools such as Excel and Access that enable them to communicate with customers and other departments.

Administrative roles

Roles that include data entry, scheduling, and other admin tasks require a keen understanding of Microsoft Office programs like Team, Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Using a pre-employment assessment, you can effectively test for word processing skills and other abilities.

Sales and marketing 

Sales and marketing teams measure successes in numbers. As a result, sales and marketing personnel should be well-versed in Word, Excel, or Access.  

Office employees

Office employees’ tasks usually involve presentations, data analysis, and reporting. To perform these tasks efficiently, they need solid PowerPoint and Excel skills. 

Finance positions

Much like sales and marketing, finances are all about the numbers. To create reports, measure success, and quantify progress and failures, finance and accounting roles typically require strong Microsoft Office skills, especially in Excel. 

Other roles

Jobs that involve data journalism, retail management, project management, and business analysis also benefit from using Microsoft Office apps. Tools such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access are very useful in these fields. 

How to test a candidate’s advanced Microsoft Office skills

While candidates may list many Office skills on their resume, this may not reflect their proficiency. Pre-employment screening, on the other hand, enables you to assess the extent of their Microsoft Office skills properly. 

In turn, this helps you identify candidates who can effectively use advanced Office features, enabling them to contribute to projects and tasks requiring proficiency in Microsoft Office applications. 

Here's how to effectively employ advanced Microsoft Office skills assessments:

Define your requirements

Before testing candidates, clearly outline the specific skills and tasks relevant to the role. Then, determine which Microsoft Office applications and functions are critical for the position. 

If you’re hiring for a newly created position and have yet to identify what Microsoft Office tools are needed for the role, examine the job’s description and identify the skills the employee needs to carry out their core functions.

For example, does this role require them to collect employee data for payroll and other documentation? Excel could be a valuable tool here. Will your employee need to host or participate in multiple virtual meetings and other forms of communication? Teams and Outlook offer many functions that seamlessly aid that communication. 

Select the right tests

Once you’ve identified the role’s skill requirements, choose the appropriate testing tools or platforms that provide comprehensive assessments for each Microsoft Office application. 

TestGorilla is an excellent choice. Our platform offers more than 300 expert-created, scientifically backed tests – including dedicated tests to assess advanced skills in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint. 

You can combine up to five tests to create custom assessments, making it easy to evaluate candidates across a handful of Office applications in a single go. You can also add custom questions to assessments, so you can be sure you’re getting the exact insight you’re after. 

Choose realistic scenarios

When creating custom questions for assessments, choose scenarios that simulate real-world tasks the candidate would encounter in the role. 

For instance, to test the Excel skills of a candidate applying for a position in data analytics, you could create questions involving chart creation, formula usage, and data analysis. They’ll need these skills to effectively model, illustrate, and gain insights from the data they collect. 

Mix different question types

Incorporate various question types, such as multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and open-ended questions that serve as practical assignments. This ensures a well-rounded assessment of your candidate's skills, as it helps you gather both qualitative (unmeasurable) and quantitative (measurable) data. 

Plus, varied question types enable you to evaluate candidates’ factual knowledge (through multiple choice questions) and their unique approaches to situations (by completing practical assignments). 

Assess advanced features

Of course, be sure your tests include questions that cover advanced features of each application – such as pivot tables in Excel, advanced formatting in Word, and intricate animations in PowerPoint. 

For example, you might task a marketing manager applicant with creating a campaign pitch presentation for a client using PowerPoint to test for advanced Microsoft PowerPoint skills. You could provide them with some data on the client in an Excel sheet, images, and any other relevant information they could use to create a pitch. A candidate with advanced PowerPoint skills would create a compelling presentation using charts created in Excel, SmartArt, and image editing.   

Test time management

Assign a reasonable time limit for each test. This measures not only the candidate's skills but also their ability to work under pressure. In addition, it ensures candidates don’t feel overwhelmed and can perform to the best of their ability.

For example, consider a customer service task that requires a candidate to create short reports for each call. In this scenario, your candidate manages approximately 35 calls per day, and each call typically lasts 10 minutes. You can test your candidate’s ability to complete updates to an existing Excel sheet for three of these calls in a set timeframe of about 30 minutes. 

Simulate collaboration

Some roles require collaborative work. Provide tasks where candidates must collaborate on a shared document using features like Track Changes or co-authoring. 

For example, you might test an HR candidate by tasking them with polishing up an internal policy in a Word document that one of your interns wrote using the co-authoring feature.

Evaluate for accuracy and efficiency

Assess both the correctness and efficiency of the candidate's work. Advanced users should demonstrate not only accurate results but also streamlined and effective approaches. 

For example, for an Excel exercise, provide your candidate with a list of inventory and their prices, then ask them to create tables and provide totals using formulas instead of manually calculating the figures.

After the assessment, review the candidate's performance. Does your candidate display strong application skills, creative problem-solving, and adaptability to various tasks? These traits are all crucial to efficiency on the job. 

Combine them with other assessments

Consider complementing Microsoft Office skills tests with other candidate skills assessments like personality tests and cognitive ability assessments. This provides a comprehensive evaluation of each candidate’s suitability for the role.

Provide feedback

Offer your candidates constructive feedback and share their test results with them. You can then help them better understand their strengths and weaknesses while showcasing your commitment to transparency.

Start assessing your candidates with TestGorilla  

Advanced Microsoft Office skills involve more than the ability to create basic documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Skilled Office users have in-depth knowledge and can use the suite of applications to its full potential to improve your business’s output and efficiency. 

To ensure you’re hiring truly skilled candidates, incorporate a comprehensive advanced Microsoft Office skills assessment into your recruitment process. With TestGorilla, this is a snap. Our platform offers more than 300 research-backed tests, including advanced tests for Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint. 

Take our quick product tour and sign up for your free TestGorilla plan today to start hiring top talent for your team.