Cellwise Hire · For employers
Don't ask if they know VLOOKUP. Watch them do the job.
A hands-on Excel test for hiring. Candidates work in a real spreadsheet: clean up a pasted list, total a sales log, look up prices from a second table, fix a colleague's broken formula. A real formula engine checks every answer on data they never see, and you get their formulas, plain-English quality notes and a replay of every edit.
Create a free testSee how grading works
Free for your first 3 candidates. Team pricing on request.
How it works
- 1. Pick a role and a levelFour role presets, three levels and a time limit. Add a short knowledge check if you like. It takes about a minute.
- 2. Candidates do real workThey open your link and work in a live spreadsheet with a formula bar, fill-down and copy and paste. No account, no download.
- 3. Read what they didEach task solved or not, the formula they wrote, time spent, quality notes and a step-by-step replay.
Graded on data they never see
Here is one task, exactly as a candidate sees it, and three ways people answer it. Each answer is run by the Cellwise formula engine on the sheet the candidate sees and on two hidden versions: one with different numbers, and one with an extra row inserted into the data. Only an answer that is right on all three counts.
Sample task · Team expenses
Travel total. In G2, total the Travel expenses.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date | Person | Category | Amount | |||
| 2 | Nov 2, 2026 | Ava | Travel | 186 | Travel total | ||
| 3 | Nov 3, 2026 | Ben | Meals | 42.5 | |||
| 4 | Nov 4, 2026 | Ava | Software | 29 | |||
| 5 | Nov 6, 2026 | Cara | Travel | 254 | |||
| 6 | Nov 9, 2026 | Ben | Travel | 172 | |||
| 7 | Nov 10, 2026 | Cara | Meals | 38 |
| What the candidate entered in G2 | Sheet they see | Hidden: new numbers | Hidden: row inserted | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
=SUMIF(C2:C7,"Travel",D2:D7)A SUMIF on the Category column | 612 right | 610 right | 750 right | Solved |
=D2+D5+D6Clicking each Travel amount | 612 right | 228 (needs 610) wrong | 228 (needs 750) wrong | Not solvedRight on the visible data only |
612Adding it up by hand and typing the total | 612 right | 612 (needs 610) wrong | 612 (needs 750) wrong | Not solvedTyped the answer instead of a formula |
Show the two hidden sheets for this sample
New numbers
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date | Person | Category | Amount | |||
| 2 | Nov 2, 2026 | Dev | Meals | 51 | Travel total | ||
| 3 | Nov 3, 2026 | Ava | Travel | 310 | |||
| 4 | Nov 5, 2026 | Ben | Travel | 95 | |||
| 5 | Nov 6, 2026 | Dev | Software | 49 | |||
| 6 | Nov 8, 2026 | Cara | Travel | 128 | |||
| 7 | Nov 11, 2026 | Ava | Travel | 77 |
A row inserted at row 7
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date | Person | Category | Amount | |||
| 2 | Nov 2, 2026 | Dev | Meals | 51 | Travel total | ||
| 3 | Nov 3, 2026 | Ava | Travel | 310 | |||
| 4 | Nov 5, 2026 | Ben | Travel | 95 | |||
| 5 | Nov 6, 2026 | Dev | Software | 49 | |||
| 6 | Nov 8, 2026 | Cara | Travel | 128 | |||
| 7 | Nov 10, 2026 | Ben | Travel | 140 | |||
| 8 | Nov 11, 2026 | Ava | Travel | 77 |
Real tests keep their hidden sheets on our server. This sample is only for this page, so it is safe to show.
What the report shows
Task by task
An overall score, then each task: solved or not, on the visible data and on each hidden check.
The formula they wrote
Exactly what they typed, with the time they spent and how many tries it took, next to one correct answer.
Quality notes in plain words
"Typed the answer instead of a formula". "Breaks when a row is inserted". "Typed the number 0.04 into the formula instead of pointing to K1". "Used locked references ($) correctly".
A replay of every edit
Step through their work in order, with the sheet as it looked at each step. See where they got stuck and what they tried.
Real work, not trivia
Each test uses two small workbooks with four tasks each, at the level you pick. The data looks like what office teams handle every day.
- Sales logOctober orders: one row per order, with the rep, region, product, units and unit price.
- InvoicesInvoices sent to clients, with the date issued, payment terms in days, the amount and the date it was paid (blank if not yet).
- Orders and price listCustomer orders on the left, the price list on the right. The order lines only have a SKU code and a quantity.
- Pasted contact listContacts pasted in from a sign-up form export: inconsistent capitals, extra spaces and mixed phone formats.
- Rep bonus sheetA quarterly sales and bonus sheet a colleague built. Several of its formulas are broken: find what is wrong and fix them.
Choose the role preset that fits the job:
- Office and adminPasted contact list + Sales log
- Finance and accountingInvoices + Rep bonus sheet
- Sales and operationsSales log + Orders and price list
- Data and reportingOrders and price list + Rep bonus sheet
Why you can trust the result
- A real formula engine checks every answerThe same engine that powers the Cellwise app. Every expected result is calculated by it, and a task is never published if the engine disagrees with its answer key.
- Any correct formula countsGrading is by result, so a candidate who knows SUMPRODUCT is not marked wrong for skipping SUMIFS. A typed-in answer, or a formula that only fits the visible numbers, fails the hidden checks.
- The answers stay on the serverThe candidate's browser gets the visible sheet and the tasks, nothing else. Grading runs on our server after they submit, so there is nothing in the page to inspect.
- The clock is kept by the serverIt starts when the candidate starts and keeps running if they reload. Work saves automatically, and nothing changed after the time limit counts.
Optional: a quick knowledge check
Want a few questions too? Add 8 multiple-choice questions at the same level, from the same engine-checked question bank as the free Excel practice test. They are scored separately from the hands-on tasks.
Pricing
Free for your first 3 candidates. Team pricing on request.
FAQ
What is a hands-on Excel test?
Instead of multiple-choice questions about Excel, the candidate works in a real spreadsheet in the browser: they write formulas to clean up data, total and look things up, and fix formulas that are broken. Cellwise Hire checks each answer by what it calculates, on the sheet they saw and on hidden versions of it.
How is it graded?
By result, not by matching one "correct" formula. The Cellwise formula engine runs the candidate's formula on the visible sheet, on a hidden copy with different numbers, and on that copy with an extra row inserted into the data. Any formula that gives the right answer on all three passes, so SUMIF, SUMIFS and SUMPRODUCT can all be right. A typed-in number, or a formula that only fits the visible numbers, does not pass.
What does the report show?
An overall score, then each task: solved or not, the exact formula the candidate wrote, how long they spent on it and how many tries it took, plain-English notes such as "Typed the answer instead of a formula" or "Used locked references ($) correctly", and a replay of every edit they made, in order, with the sheet as it looked at each step.
How much does it cost?
Free for your first 3 candidates. Team pricing on request: use the form on this page and tell us roughly how many candidates you test.
Which level should I choose?
Basic covers totals, averages, COUNTIF, simple IF, lookups and fill-down with the right references. Intermediate adds SUMIFS with criteria in cells, IFERROR, text cleanup and date arithmetic. Advanced adds approximate-match lookups, running totals, aging buckets, SUMPRODUCT, dynamic arrays and fixing subtle formula bugs. Each test has 8 tasks across two workbooks.
How long should I give candidates?
You choose, from 5 to 120 minutes. As a starting point: 20 minutes for Basic, 30 for Intermediate and 40 for Advanced. Add about 8 minutes if you include the 8 quick knowledge-check questions.
Can candidates cheat?
The answers, the hidden data and the grading never reach the candidate's browser: grading happens on our server after they submit. The clock runs on the server and each email address can take a test once. Like any unsupervised online test, nothing stops someone getting help, so treat the result as one signal. The replay helps here: you can see whether a formula was built up step by step or pasted in whole.
Do candidates need an account or Excel?
No. They open your link, type their name and email, agree to share their results with you, and start. The spreadsheet runs in the browser. It works on a phone, but a computer with a keyboard is much more comfortable, and the intro screen says so.
What data do you store?
For each candidate: the name and email they type, the cells they filled in, a log of their edits, their answers, the result and the server times they started and finished. Only you can see your candidates' results. Your account is the same email sign-in as the Cellwise app.
Looking to learn Excel yourself? Start the free Cellwise course.