Top 5 Benefits of Microsoft Excel - Why YOU Should Learn It in 2023
Here are 5 reasons why you should learn Microsoft Excel skills.
Some of you may be wondering, what inspired me to choose this topic of Microsoft Excel when there are many other valuable skills I could be writing about. In the following video, I’ve made a very simple self-introduction. Check it out!
As you can see from the video, I decided to start a brand on this topic because I’ve used Excel and know for myself all the good things Excel can do. Learning and helping others through the Business Applications course at Brigham Young University-Idaho, I have come to recognize that especially as college students, there will be benefits that come from knowing how to use Microsoft Excel. I know that we will learn to appreciate having these skills gradually as we move forward to live our lives.
Here are the top 5 benefits of Microsoft Excel and why you should learn it in 2023.
Perform Calculations
Imagine you have a set of data with at least five hundred individual data, and you need to calculate the sum of all of them and also the sum of only specific data fulfilling certain criteria. How long do you think it will take for you to do them slowly, one by one?
Thankfully, one of the biggest benefits of Microsoft Excel is the wide variety of tools and features that helps us to perform complex mathematical, logical, and financial calculations faster and with accuracy. As long as you input your number and formula correctly, Excel will do the calculations for you within seconds and will never make a mistake—unless we made a mistake.
Thus, it is really beneficial to learn Microsoft Excel skills because other than calculating the sum of data, there are so many other calculations that Microsoft Excel can do, no matter what kind of specific conditions you need it to meet.
Easy Templates for Various Uses
Speaking of doing calculations, you can definitely use Microsoft Excel to manage your data such as creating a budget, creating a daily or monthly planner, and tracking goals and plans. There are many resources available online that have easy templates for each of these uses. It is made to be extremely easy to navigate, so you do not need to worry about formatting all of them when you don’t quite know all the complicated functionalities yet.
Some of the websites that offer free templates include Microsoft Excel Templates, Hubspot, Smartsheet, etc.
Data Visualization
In times when you have a large number of data to deal with, you will appreciate how Microsoft Excel is well-equipped with features to help you visualize data. With one click, you can create different kinds of charts to visualize your data. These charts can help you to present complex data in a simple-to-understand way.
Build Analytical Thinking Skills
Going along with the previous benefit, when dealing with a large number of data, you will have a chance to practice and sharpen your analytical thinking skill because Microsoft Excel has excellent tools to help you with data analysis and getting insights from it. You will need to learn to sort and filter data, so you know what are the most important figures that are needed to drive business or financial decisions. You will need to consider the many different ways to present them and analyze what will be the best way to do certain things.
According to the research “Beyond Excel: Software Tools and the Accounting Curriculum” (https://meridian.allenpress.com/aisej/article/13/1/44/110485/Beyond-Excel-Software-Tools-and-the-Accounting), practitioners in each of the different accounting areas and at all experience levels indicate data analytic skills and data visualization skills are important. Because Microsoft Excel can help people to perform data analysis and visualization, you should learn to use the software.
Land A Job
Last but not least, a very unique benefit that I would like to share with everyone is Microsoft Excel skills can help you to land a job. This is an important reason why you should learn it in 2023.
One of my business professors said he remembered going into an interview for a job with Union Pacific, the railroad company, and presenting his financial analysis with full of confidence because he studied the case study provided like crazy. After waiting excitingly for the notification for advancement to the second interview, he was devastated to hear that he did not pass the first interview. Confused, he asked what went wrong.
“Your presentation stunk,” the hiring manager said. “The way you presented the numbers was unprofessional.”
He was so shocked because he thought the numbers were the only things that mattered. Little did he know, there are a lot of skills that he has yet to grasp hold of which led to his failure in landing the job he desired to work for.
Because of this, I would reiterate that learning how to use Microsoft Excel effectively can help you land a job. You will be better able to present yourself and your data analysis to your future employer with accuracy and confidence. Just as Post University (https://post.edu/blog/top-10-business-benefits-of-advanced-microsoft-excel/) shared, you can be an asset to companies when you possess a valuable skill that can help save their time and resources by being more efficient, better educated, and better skilled in your job functions.
Conclusion
As I have shared the top 5 benefits of Microsoft Excel, I hope your desire to learn Microsoft Excel has increased. They are benefits not only applicable to me, but they truly can also be relevant to you as long as you are willing to invest some time in learning how to use Microsoft Excel. You can check out my last blog post here as I taught some of the important Microsoft Excel basics that people should acquire.
