Almost every entry-level role in business, operations, finance or analytics uses Excel. You don't need to be an expert, but these five skills cover most of what you will be asked to do.
1. Cleaning data
Removing duplicates, fixing text with TRIM and PROPER, and splitting or joining columns. Real data is messy, and cleaning it is half the job.
2. Lookups
Using XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP to pull information from one table into another. Interviewers often test this.
3. Pivot tables
Summarising thousands of rows into a clear table in seconds, for example sales by region and month.
4. Everyday formulas
SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and IF statements to answer simple business questions.
5. Clear charts
Choosing the right chart and labelling it properly, so someone else can understand it in five seconds.
Practise on a real dataset, not just tutorials. Build one small report from start to finish and you will have something concrete to talk about in your interview.