I have posted a couple of questions concerning looking up an Employee ID and
then a pay increase date, Bob Phillips supplied this formula :
=INDEX($C$1:$C$21,MATCH(MAX(IF(($A$1:$A$21="764753 M")*$B$1:$B$21<E1),$B$1:$B$21)),$B$1:$B$21,0)).

My problem is with the employee ID column (A) which is a mixture of numeric
and alpha-numeric, you can get 765132 and 765132B.

My question is, how do I sort this column, should I convert the numerics to
text, or split column into two A & B with A holding the numerica nad B the
Alpha characters.

If the latter, how must the formula be changed to look for the Employee ID
split into two?