Bombed an Excel test in an interview… even though I use Excel every day

Our take

It’s natural to feel overwhelmed during high-stakes interviews, even when you're proficient in a skill like Excel. Many professionals, including those with years of experience, have experienced a moment of panic that can lead to blanking on tasks they know well. You’re not alone in this—nerves can impact performance unexpectedly. Reflecting on this experience can help you identify strategies to manage stress in future technical interviews. Sharing your story might also spark valuable insights from others who have faced similar challenges.

I feel embarrassed even posting this, but I’m curious if this has happened to anyone else.

I’ve been working in finance for about 4 years. I use Excel all the time at work, building pivot tables, trackers, dashboards, and even using Power Query to clean data. I’m not an expert, but I’m definitely comfortable and get the job done.

Recently, I had an interview that was going really well… until they asked about Excel. I told them I had experience, and then they pulled out an advanced Excel test and asked me to share my screen.

As soon as it started, I completely froze.

I couldn’t do things I know how to do. Something as simple as returning a manager’s name using an ID and using an xlooup formula for it, I blanked. Ranking products by revenue, I blanked. Even splitting the text into first and last name, I couldn’t think straight.

It was like my brain just shut off.

They ended the interview due to time constraints, and right after they left, I went back to the file and was able to finish everything… XLOOKUPs, ranking, and a few more, except the text functions cuz I am genuinely not good at it, and I rarely even use that at work.

That honestly made it worse. I felt like I just sabotaged myself over nerves.

Has this happened to anyone else? How do you deal with freezing like that during technical interviews?

submitted by /u/Fancy-Security7244
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