Where do employers expect candidates to learn advanced Excel skills?

Some places seem to expect you to already have those advanced Excel skills kinda ready to go. I remember joining a startup where they threw me into reports with pivots and macros without much training, which was stressful. But then at another company, they gave a brief intro session on their templates, though that wasn’t really formal training. Not sure if this is the norm across industries or just luck of the draw—do you know what kind of companies you're targeting?

Companies mostly want you to show up already knowing advanced Excel stuff—pivot tables, formulas, macros—all that jazz. Some will toss a quick walkthrough of their own templates or specific workflows, but proper training? Not so common outside bigger firms with formal training programs. Lots of folks end up seelf-teaching through online videos or courses before even applying. Maybe ask if they offer learning resources once you're in? Could be different depending on the role too

Most places I applied 2 wanted me 2 already know advanced Excel stuff like pivot tables and macros. I think they expect you to learn it beforehand because they rarely have formal training once you're hired. One job gave a quick refresher, but the heavy lifting was on me. I used online courses—Udemy helped me level up with about 20 hours of content before starting. So yeah, better come prepared if you want 2 avoid scrambling later

Most employers expect you to handle the core skills before you start; they usually train you on their files, rules, and reporting process, not on Excel itself. “Advanced Excel” also varies by job. A finance analyst may need pivots, XLOOKUP, error handling, and Power Query, while an operations role may rarely use macros.

Ask for the actual tasks, not whether training exists. Then:

1. Match your practice to those tasks.
2. Build one small workbook that shows clean formulas, checks, and documentation.
3. In interviews, explain how you’d verify a result and maintain the file.
4. Expect to learn company-specific templates after joining.

A useful test: can you complete a similar task without copying a tutorial step by step? The main exception is graduate or apprenticeship roles, where structured Excel training is more common.