Evaluate candidates for MS Office proficiency with Mercer

Inside this Microsoft Office Assessment

The Microsoft Office Test by Mercer | Mettl has been designed to help recruiters make unbiased hiring decisions and find the most suitable candidates for specific positions. The MS Office Test is not industry-specific and can help recruiters hire candidates who are well-versed with the applications of the MS Office suite for diverse functions. Utilizing the Microsoft Office Skills Assessment as a screening tool in the initial stages of recruitment can help remove unsuitable applications without wasting any time.

As a pre-employment screening tool, the Microsoft Office Test can significantly cut down the number of applications for the job role by identifying those who lack the required skills. Furthermore, the test also provides information about the extent of the candidate’s knowledge of different MS Office applications, allowing recruiters to make objective hiring decisions. The MS Office Test is the perfect screening tool for hiring employees with adequate skills in using the suite’s applications, which can also help improve the company’s overall productivity.

Overview

Microsoft Office is a suite of applications, including MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, etc. It is used extensively by businesses worldwide, so proficiency in MS Office is considered among the most essential skills that candidates should have. Many candidates may have a lot of experience with the primary uses of popular MS Office applications, like PowerPoint, Word, or Outlook, which may be good skills to have in general. Still, when it comes to business purposes, most job roles require candidates to have a much higher level of proficiency.

That is why integrating an MS Office Skills Assessment into pre-employment screening can prove very beneficial. The pre-employment MS Office Test will give recruiters a clear picture of the candidates' skill levels so unsuitable candidates can be weeded out. The Microsoft Office Test can help recruiters gauge applicants' MS Office proficiency and evaluate existing employees' skills. The insights offered by the Microsoft Office Test can help identify gaps in training or knowledge for creating development and training programs customized for employees to address the areas needing improvement. Subsequently, another Microsoft Office Skills Assessment can be conducted to check the efficacy of the training programs.

Microsoft Office Test competency framework

Get a detailed look inside the test

Microsoft Office Test competencies under scanner

MS Office

Competencies:

Backstage view

This part of the Microsoft Office Test is a PowerPoint-based assessment that evaluates the candidates' ability to use the ‘Backstage View’ feature of MS PowerPoint for creating and saving files, managing them, and accessing vital information about a file, like its hidden metadata.

MS Excel

This segment of the Microsoft Office Test is designed to evaluate how proficient candidates are at using MS Excel. In this part of the test, candidates must demonstrate their ability to use MS Excel to enter, format, filter, and sort data. They will also be required to show their ability to use pivot tables, hyperlinks, password protection, keyboard shortcuts, and other functions in Excel for sorting, finding, and presenting data.

MS PowerPoint

The Microsoft Office Test also assesses the candidates' ability to apply designs and layouts to slides and add shapes, pictures, SmartArt, WordArt, and tables to elucidate the information conveyed through the presentation. The candidates should also ensure easy navigation through the slides for a coherent presentation.

MS Word

In this section, candidates must demonstrate their ability to perform standard MS Word functions, like editing, formatting, previewing, printing, and adding elements like pictures and tables to create high-quality reports and documents.