Why you should include Excel competency tests in your retail manager hiring campaign

Retail managers are so much more than just people managers. They’re data analysts, skilled merchandisers, inventory wizards, and financial strategists all rolled into one. Microsoft Excel is the perfect tool to help your retail manager thrive in their role. 

This is why it’s important for your candidates to have strong Excel skills. They should be able to use this spreadsheet program to measure profit margins, pricing strategies, and forecasting trends. Without these skills, they may struggle to identify areas for improvement, adapt quickly to industry changes, or effectively allocate resources – resulting in decreased profit margins and an ineffective store.

In this article, we explain why adding an Excel test to your retail manager recruitment process can help you find a true retail wizard. 

What is an Excel competency test?

An Excel competency test is a test employers can use to measure a candidate’s skills and proficiency using the popular spreadsheet software Excel. More basic tests might include knowledge of simple formulas, data entry, and analysis. More complex tests might include knowledge of pivot tables, conditional formatting, advanced functions like VLOOKUP, and even macro creation. 

You can often customize these tests to include practical exercises or scenarios that simulate real-world situations a retail manager might encounter – for example, analyzing employee sales data, creating budgets, or forecasting sales.

Why are Excel skills important for retail managers?

Excel skills can be the difference between an adequate retail manager and a business-focused, highly organized retail manager. 

• Data analysis. Excel enables retail managers to allocate resources, analyze sales data, and make data-driven decisions. This supports them in manipulating data, identifying trends, and addressing issues promptly.

• Reporting. Retail managers should be able to use Excel to generate custom reports, monitor progress against targets using formulas, and deep-dive into key performance indicators (KPIs). They can also use the chart creation tool to communicate complex information visually. 

• Forecasting and planning. Excel enables retail managers to use formulas and functions to analyze historical data and trends, create predictive forecasts using the fill handle, and form strategic plans to drive business growth.

• Merchandising analysis. With Excel, retail managers can track sales performance by category, store location, or SKU. This gives them deeper insight into merchandising strategies and enables them to optimize product location, tailor pricing strategies, and manage promotional activities to maximize sales and margins. 

• Workforce planning. Retail managers can use Excel to track employee hours, calculate budgets, and optimize staffing levels based on sales. They can also use it to create schedules. 

• Inventory management. Your retail manager can use Excel to track inventory levels, monitor stock turnover rates, identify slow-selling stock, and forecast demand. Conditional formatting also enables managers to identify reorder points and highlight low-stock items. 

The benefits of using Excel competency tests when hiring retail managers

Excel skills are underrated but essential skills for first-class retail managers. Check out how using Excel competency tests can enhance the search for your next hire.

1. Truly understand your retail candidates

Excel competency tests enable you to understand the skills and capabilities of your retail candidates. You’ll gain insight into their current strengths, proficiency levels, and any Excel training they’ll need to get up to speed. This information can help you confidently choose whether to move forward with individual candidates.

2. Find a data-driven professional 

Although retail managers technically work for the company, they need to treat their store as their own personal business to ensure success. Excel competency tests can help identify candidates who possess a data-driven and business-minded approach to retail management. 

By testing for Excel proficiency, you can ensure you bring on a manager who understands the bigger picture, can interpret data to make decisions, and knows how to drive long-term success. The test also measures skills like business know-how, resource management, and informed decision-making – all which contribute to the store's profitability. 

3. Improved audit trails

Tracking sales, KPIs, and hours worked in a spreadsheet ensures transparency and accountability in store operations. These detailed audit trails will demonstrate compliance with company policies and simplify the steps you need to take if you’re ever audited. Plus, they offer peace of mind to retail business owners who know their manager is doing their best for the business. 

Excel competency tests will help you find candidates who can effectively use Excel to keep detailed records, accurately track sales, and use conditional formatting to ensure compliance with various company or store policies. For example, you can ensure your candidate knows how to use the program to highlight when an employee has hit an absence trigger or when missing stock goes above a specified percentage. 

4. Improved decision-making

Testing for Excel skills in retail managers ensures you hire a manager with the skills to make data-driven decisions and drive strategic initiatives. Excel competency tests assess a candidate's ability to analyze data, create reports, and derive actionable insights – which are invaluable for making informed decisions in retail management. For example, they might analyze customer purchase data, identify customer preference trends, and make stocking decisions accordingly. 

5. Efficient scheduling 

Aside from inventory, people costs are one of your business's biggest expenses, so the ability to streamline and minimize wage costs is crucial for maintaining profitability. Excel competency tests can help identify retail managers who possess the skills to create efficient employee schedules that balance staffing needs with budgetary constraints. 

Managers proficient in Excel can use features such as pivot tables, macros, and advanced formulas to analyze historical sales data and identify peak shopping hours, days, and seasons. They can use their analysis to forecast future staffing requirements and optimize employee schedules accordingly. 

Assess Excel skills with TestGorilla

TestGorilla is a talent assessment platform with various tests you can use to assess your candidates efficiently and fairly. 

Our platform enables you to confidently evaluate your retail manager candidates' proficiency in Excel, helping you find the perfect fit for your position. Psychometric, psychological, and data science testing experts create our tests, so you can feel assured you're getting accurate and reliable results. 

The general Excel Skills test measures a candidate’s ability to manipulate tables, manage data in worksheets, and use formulas. It covers all the fundamentals of Excel knowledge and enables you to measure their competence in crucial retail tasks.

The Advanced Excel Skills test measures a candidate’s ability to organize data, create custom reports, and use advanced formulas. It also tests whether a candidate can use advanced features of Excel, like macros or pivot tables. 

You can modify these tests to include your own custom role-specific Excel questions or scenarios to meet your company’s needs. For example, you can include simulated scenarios relevant to your retail store, which can help you understand your candidate’s decision-making process and how they handle the daily hiccups of retail life. 

Consider pairing the Excel skills tests with our basic Excel interview questions or advanced Excel interview questions. You can include these questions in the tests or save them for the interview stage. 

This multifaceted approach can help you ensure your candidates have a thorough knowledge of Excel’s tools and data analysis.

Find your next retail wizard with TestGorilla

Retail managers must be skilled in data analysis, people management, merchandising, financial strategy, and more. Possessing Excel skills can help them streamline all their daily tasks. 

Measuring your candidate’s Excel skills is much more than testing their knowledge of common formulas. Macros, pivot tables, and conditional formatting can be game changers when it comes to stock control, so you should identify candidates from your pool who possess these skills.

TestGorilla can help. Not only do we offer the two Excel tests mentioned above – we offer various tests you can use to assess your candidates. These include job-specific tests like our Retail Sales test and Store First-Line Management test – plus other tests, including cognitive ability and personality tests. You can create custom, role-specific talent assessments by merging up to five of these tests. 

Schedule a free live demo or sign up for a free TestGorilla account today to learn all about how we can help you find the perfect retail manager.