I have a phone screen with an HR person tomorrow for a corporate development role. The recruiter that hooked me up with interview told me that she said she specifically wants to discuss my excel skills. I am a heavy excel user in my current role and feel very confident in my skills, but I’m unsure about how to best convey that over the phone. Has anyone ever addressed this in an interview? Is it best to talk specifically about the things I have done/ can do in excel or should I just simply state that I’m a big excel user and am confident in my skills?
I would ask what she’d like to know. Answer all her questions and give examples that relate to the job. Overcome any objections and you’ll be fine.
Probably common sense but don’t just dump a bunch of facts she may not be interested or even understand.
Just say you use Excel every day to accomplish (various things that you do). If asked to quantify how good you are, give an example of the most complicated project you have ever done in Excel. If you use VBA, also mention that. She might ask some prepared question “if you want to accomplish X, then what would you do”, which hopefully, you can answer with little difficulty.
Talk about how you use Excel to solve problems. Not in a technical way, but conceptually…