To ask what office skills i need to work after being SAHM for too long

[MeetMeAtTheMuseum]

Been a SAHM for 18 years.

Please let's not debate the rights and wrongs of being a SAHM - it wasn't entirely my decision. Life happens and it's led to many years of depression and loss of confidence.

Anyway, I'm late 50s now and need to return to work- for money and my sanity.

Please could you advise what basic office/IT skills are needed for an admin job. The NHS is quite a big employer round here but am happy to take anything.

TIA

Perhaps try for a teaching assistant job where your previous experience is relevant?

Im currently doing a free Vision2Learn course on Word/Excel/Powerpoint.

@Redburnett

Perhaps try for a teaching assistant job where your previous experience is relevant?

OP said earlier that she didn't want to be in education (she is an ex Primary school teacher)

@MrsColinRobinson

Have you considered becoming a doctor's receptionist? You won't need much additional training

👍🤣

@Iyland

3mice

From someone from an HR background you are openly admitting that you will discriminate based on multiple factors. Pretty poor from someone recruiting.

She can be honest here on an anonymous forum and I imagine OP wouldn’t pass the first sift.

OP should get a job as a CV chucker who doesn’t abide by equality and diversity law or any normal employee selection process.

Loads of posters on AIBU have that job, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding one.

It depends on the office job. Admin covers a huge area. You will need all of the IT skills others have mentioned but you also need experience. Is there anyone you know who could give you some unpaid work perhaps? Just so you can get an idea of what’s required and get a reference?

@Iyland

3mice

From someone from an HR background you are openly admitting that you will discriminate based on multiple factors. Pretty poor from someone recruiting.

I thought discrimination was about protected characteristics? Is it considered discrimination to refuse to consider a candidate without current experience? Not being snarky, genuine question. Thanks!

I would suggest looking at job descriptions on Reed or Indeed first not all office jobs need you to have excel or PowerPoint knowledge but they will need you to use Microsoft word and with that diary knowledge. To help, the open university do free on-line short courses when you complete them you get an electronic pass that you can attach to your CV or LinkedIn profile. Lastly it’s good to start in a temporary role but check out the salary some of these pay less than working for Morrison’s, Tesco etc.

European computer driving licence using Microsoft suite, web skills an advantage. Local job centre can help advise on courses

But I would volunteer in an admin role because courses mean nothing without up to date experience

Toilenstripes

Its not discrimination. No one has a right to an interview. If the person did get an interview and they were refused the job on the basis of age/disability/gender/race/sexuality and they could prove it or a job offer was withdrawn based on these factors then that would be discrimination.

‘I thought discrimination was about protected characteristics? Is it considered discrimination to refuse to consider a candidate without current experience? Not being snarky, genuine question. Thanks!’

It would be indirect discrimination to not consider people with a large gap in their career- potentially against age, sex or disability, because a gap doesn’t have any real relationship to any competency framework for a role. Recent relevant experience could potentially relate to a competency framework so requiring it wouldn’t necessarily break the law.

Discrimination can relate to any part of the recruitment process, including the job advert, application and person specification.

I employ admin staff. This is what I'd be looking for

• recent experience of Microsoft office (take a course online, even if you're familiar at home, a course can be evidenced)
• organisation skills
• communication
• teamwork

I think the main barrier you will have is competency based interviews. These are the standard format at my workplace and are very common in most places now. Example 'tell me about a time you used computer software to improve an admin process'

You will likely need work experience to be able to answer these sufficiently in STAR format. As PP suggested, I would look into a few months volunteer work. Charities are a good place to look, anywhere that could use some extra admin support. This will give you something to discuss at interview which is recent and relevant experience.

Good luck OP!

Toilenstripes,and Ladydayblues1

3mice said
"You are late fifties, so in terms of flexibility I have no reference for how quickly you can adapt to new technologies or your willingness to embrace constant change"
as one of the reasons they would be doubtful about the OP.

This is age discrimination, very illegal, and an example of conscious bias. An assumption that older employees may not be able to adapt/learn/change as well as younger ones is indefensible.

Those of us in our 50s were the first computer users, we grew up with them, and the early ones were a lot harder to use than modern ones (no WYSISYG, just little blue IBM screens with lines of code). We've learned so many new technologies and software as it's been constant progression and change, and I certainly don't find it the slightest bit difficult to change/adapt/learn new software, tools, ways of working.
That attitude is extremely offensive. We are not 90 year olds who don't know how to use the internet. Although saying that, my Dad (who would have been 87 now) was the computer specialist in his workplace until he retired, and kept up with normal home IT and computing until he developed dementia a few years ago, perfectly happily. So you shouldn't even assume a 90 year old can't do this stuff.

@3mice you need to go on some sort of training course yourself. Absolutely fine not to get someone through to interview due to lack of relevant experience.

Not on and actually illegal to discriminate on the grounds on age. Which is basically what you allude to

Microsoft Office - Word, Excel, Powerpoint very useful. Teams, Zoom and Sway easy to pick up if you’re already proficient on Office. Would suggest ECDL if your skills need brushing up then try some temp work if you’re having no luck getting a permanent job.

OP
do-it.org/ is a national database of volunteering opportunities. Currently there are 199 opportunities within the NHS, (usually not many admin but some customer service/greeters/helpers/reception type).

Just a quick look at opportunities within 10 miles of me brings up admin roles, volunteer coordinator roles, and the Red Cross seem to be looking for communications and marketing volunteers all over the country with no previous experience required.

@PermanentTemporary

Our team admin in the NHS is in her sixties and an absolute star compared to the graduates we used to have. She's fast, responsive, incredibly accurate and doesn't think her job is her identity, so doesn't weep if something goes wrong. She's also stuck around for longer than a year.

I think for you op I would look for opportunities where you can call a contact before interview. Chat to the person involved and find out what is key in that particular job. In ours, Excel is huge because we have a big group who aren't very good at it so the administrator does most of it and we collect a lot of data. PowerPoint is hardly needed because everyone does their own. Minute taking is very important. We also need people who can deal with learning new systems because the NHS patient systems are multiple and specialised. Accuracy and confidentiality are vital at least in theory.

This is exactly what I was going to say, so much so that I'm wondering now if we work in the same place! We have a few excellent colleagues in their sixties, including the fantastic team lead. And as someone mentioned up thread, important qualities are having common sense, discretion, and being able to communicate with people at all levels.

I thought discrimination was about protected characteristics? Is it considered discrimination to refuse to consider a candidate without current experience? Not being snarky, genuine question. Thanks!

Age is a protected characteristic and likely whatever assumptions drawn on reason for career break ie having children, mental health, physical health, which are some of the main reasons for career breaks, could in many cases fall into that bracket.

Whilst of course she can share her method in recruitment sifting the method she uses is illegal and for good reason too.

Unfortunately many employers/potential employers do discriminate and it's really shitty.

Op there are some interesting jobs going in research administration at the moment on jobs.nhs.uk.

the Red Cross seem to be looking for communications and marketing volunteers all over the country with no previous experience required

This could be an interesting lever, especially if you followed it up by doing some free online learning on marketing analytics (Google has a great course) and tried it out on a few projects. Demand for data and analytics skills exceeds supply in most areas.

The trouble is just about everyone has basic office admin skills. My school kids are proficient in MS Office.

In my region, the places most likely to be open to more mature candidates are, NHS, University, Water Company, Council, Charities. From experience the best way into these is taking a temporary contract. The NHS and University often have their own temporary employment/bank service.

I have found the Work section here very, very useful in securing my latest role.

Attitude is everything and treating people with respect, regardless of their level speaks volumes.

I would suggest volunteer work to get some recent experience, it has worked for me in the past. I'd also try the NHS bank, I've heard it helps to have the relevant experience when applying for NHS roles.

Take some online courses to brush up your skills: Office 365, Teams, Outlook etc. There are quite a few free courses and training videos on YouTube.

I don't think people are trying to be negative, I'm returning after a couple of years out and finding it hard to find a similar role and I'm having to apply for lower paid jobs. It will be tough at the moment, but it's important to keep trying. Things like upgrading your skills, temp work or NHS bank and volunteering do make a big difference. Good luck!

@Hollyhocksarenotmessy Great suggestion, thank you!

@bunglebee Demand for data and analytics skills exceeds supply in most areas. . In this case, learning Tableau and PowerBI (maybe Python if you became advanced in those) would be worth a try.