Excel Challenge (prize - she keeps her job!)

"Peo Sjoblom" wrote in message ...
Who were the Excel experts?
Just a thought, if she is an admin, then a test like that is really
ridiculous unless they used
it just to get rid of her, in which case it would be crooked to say the
least.


--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

Thanks for the comments, Peo. By 'experts' I mean the people in this
newsgroup and another Excel bulletin board that kindly took the time
to have a go at the question. Without mentioning any names, many have
many years experience at professional level. This is in comparison to
her, who has only minimal experience. I have produced an updated grid
at the bottom of this posting showing the results from 24 replies.

In relation to your other comments, we think you have hit the nail on
the head. Some people have asked why would she want to carry on
working there - well she has been there for 15 years, loves her job
(she works in a college and supplies an admin service to disabled and
disadvantaged students), is prepared to be trained (in fact she
specifically asked for spreadsheet training) and is not going to let a
new upstart manager use these tricks against her.

Results of 24 replies to original posting showing time taken to
produce spreadsheet, the number of years experience and the answers to
the 2 questions:

Time Yrs No. No.
(mins) exp. stdnts hours

10 8 412 53892
10 10 412 3726
10 447 1091
13 14 412 3726
13 452 3176
17 3 412 53892
20 10 395 931410
20 1 412 3726
20 3 412 3726
20 8 412 53892
20 15 412 3726
28 12 412 2994
30 15 98 60372
50 7 98 53892
50 7 412 53892
13 20 412 53892
30 10 412 3726
9 412 93474
30 412 23436
17 3 412 53892
40 6 412 2406
15 8 412 3726
15 7 412 3726
412 3726

Analysis of answers to number of students

Answer Frq Percent
412 19 79.2%
98 2 8.3%
447 1 4.2%
452 1 4.2%
395 1 4.2%

Analysis of answers to number of learning hours

Answer Frq Percent
3726 9 37.5%
53892 7 29.2%
1091 1 4.2%
3176 1 4.2%
2994 1 4.2%
60372 1 4.2%
93474 1 4.2%
23436 1 4.2%
2406 1 4.2%

Average time taken to produce spreadsheet - 21.7 minutes (range 9 - 50
minutes)
Average years experience of respondants - 8.8 years (range 1 to 20
years)

Many thanks to everybody that replied - all this information is very
helpful.

...My wife has just lost
her job because she didn't satisfactorily complete an Excel task in
the allotted time....

Personally, I wouldn't even try to get a job back under these circumstances.
At best she'll somehow force them to rehire her and will end up in a hostile
environment where her co-workers see her as unfit to pass the same test they
did pass (presumably). At worst a lot of effort and heartache will go into a
quixotic quest that fails anyhow.

There must be other places....?

Bill -- (Remove KILLSPAM from my address to use it)