How I learned that nobody really knows what “Excel skills” means
By Hiran de Silva
How good are you at Excel?
It sounds like a simple question.
But after 30 years working with Excel in real businesses, I’ve come to believe it may be one of the most misunderstood questions in the modern workplace.
Let me explain why.
The Claim That Started Me Thinking
Some years ago a white paper circulated with a bold headline:
“Most Excel users are below average.“
Pause for a moment.
Most people cannot be below average.
Half must be below. Half must be above.
So immediately the critical question isn’t about Excel.
It’s about how “skill” was defined.
When I traced the claim back, it came from a LinkedIn poll asking people to rate themselves:
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Expert
Most people chose the middle categories.
Which tells us something fascinating — not about Excel, but about human psychology.
Ask people anything at all and they will describe themselves as average.
Average feels safe.
Average feels normal.
But that still leaves the real question unanswered:
👉 What do we actually mean by Excel skill?
The GTA / Travelport Story
Many years ago I was introduced to a systems accountant called Roger Waters Duke at GTA (later Travelport).
Roger had built an Excel reporting model used by corporate finance to manage results from 50 offices worldwide.
The ERP system produced the numbers.
But the real work — analysis, adjustments, communication with regions, preparing board-ready accounts — happened in Excel.
His model transformed that process.
Then year-end arrived.
The model had to be rolled forward to the next financial year.
HR recruitment kicked in.
The job description required:
Advanced Excel skills — to Macro Level.
Sounds impressive, right?
The Problem
Candidates arrived.
They ticked every box.
One was hired.
And very quickly Roger realised:
The candidate couldn’t understand the model at all.
Not slightly.
Not partially.
At all.
So Roger designed a test before interviewing anyone else.
The Test (Which Nobody Passed)
The task was ridiculously simple.
Three fruits.
Quantity.
Price.
Two instructions:
- Calculate Value = Quantity × Price
- Sort by Value
Ten candidates were sent by the recruitment agency.
All ten failed.
Every single one.
Why?
Because they all did the same thing:
- Turned on the Macro Recorder
- Performed the steps manually
- Stopped recording
- Declared success
The answers looked correct.
But they had misunderstood the question completely.
Roger wasn’t testing arithmetic.
He was testing thinking.
Macro Recorder ≠ Programming
Recording actions proves you can automate keystrokes.
It does not prove you understand Excel as a programmable system.
The real requirement was obvious to anyone thinking structurally:
If the list grows from 3 rows to 300 rows, the solution must still work.
That means:
- start at row one
- loop through the data
- stop correctly at the end
In other words:
logic, not recording.
When I Took the Test
Through a recruiter I was introduced to Roger.
He handed me the same assessment.
Within a few minutes I said across the table:
I’ve finished the first part. Moving onto the second.
He walked over immediately.
Looked at the screen.
And said something I still remember:
You even made it stop.
Of course it stops.
Otherwise it runs forever.
That tiny detail told him everything he needed to know.
The interview effectively ended there.
What Happened Next Still Surprises Me
Roger went upstairs to speak to his boss.
He came back down and said:
They had agreed to quadruple the project budget.
Why?
Because for weeks they had been searching for “advanced Excel skills”.
And this was the first time they had actually seen them.
The Real Lesson
Here’s what that experience taught me.
The phrase Advanced Excel to Macro Level doesn’t describe skill.
It describes a misunderstanding.
Most people believe Excel mastery means:
- knowing features
- knowing buttons
- recording macros
- learning the newest function
But organisations don’t actually need feature experts.
They need people who can:
✅ understand systems
✅ model processes
✅ think logically
✅ design scalable solutions
Excel skill is not about spreadsheets.
It’s about problem solving architecture.
Why This Matters Today
I still see job descriptions today asking for:
Advanced Excel
Power User
Automation Expert
Data Specialist
Yet the definitions remain vague.
Candidates self-assess.
Recruiters tick boxes.
Managers hope for the best.
And everyone is often talking about different things while using the same words.
Coming Next in This Series
In the next part I’ll describe a completely opposite situation — the WSP budgeting project.
There, the organisation believed only low Excel skill was required.
The outcome was just as revealing.
Because sometimes the biggest Excel problems appear when skill is underestimated, not overestimated.
A question for you:
When someone says they are good at Excel…
What do you think that actually means?
I’m genuinely interested in your answer.
👇 Let’s discuss.
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