Want to pull data from multiple sheets by lookup (I think...)

Question

Hello All,
I have been tasked with determining benefits which some employees are entitled to receive, however, the eligibility data comes from different sheets. I'd like to request help in automate data collection from several sheets within the spreadsheet to create a final top level data sheet. Here are the steps I'm trying to automate in some fashion:
Each employee has an employee number. On the top sheet, each employee is listed by number. I need to search each employee's number on a lower sheet which lists their number and 2011 earnings in a row. Rinse and repeat for 2012 earnings, which are on a third sheet in a row. Rinse and repeat for address data on yet another sheet in a row.
I am no spreadhseet wizard, hardly even a novice. Is there a tutorial or explanation which will help me to automate searching for a cell with the employee number and retrieving data from other cells within that row?
If this were a couple of hundred employees, I would probably slog it out and cut and paste until my fingers bleed. But this time it is 4000 people, so I really could use a hand trying to automate this clunker a bit. Otherwise, I will never see daylight again, being chained to my desk in a windowless room (and missing the deadline, too.)
Thanks in advance for your expertise and assistance-
Air

Answer 1

It was actually simple, though finding the information was difficult because I lacked the correct terminology.
Essentially, the [LOOKUP] function allows you to select a field and one sheet, search for it on another sheet, and when it finds a match, you can select which cell within the row from which to pull data. So, in my case, I had employee numbers on each sheet. Select the employee number, then head to the sheet you're searching and select a column to look within, then select the data you want when there is a match. Easy peasy!
There are tons of free videos on the subject, so I won't bore everyone with my exact method and cell references- just search for "lookup function in numbers (or excel)" and you'll receive far better instruction than I can provide.
Best to all,
Air