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

@3mice gave a very good account of someone I’d want recruiting for me actually. A lot of applicants look at what the job offers them. For some people it is occupational therapy and validation.

Employers need someone who is good at the job and choose on that basis. As @3mice said it is very costly to recruit badly. Whether people like it or not there are certain flags that indicate applicants might be a problem.

If you recognise the weakness in your application you can argue your case enough to overcome it. If you naively assume that the equality act can be held over recruiters heads and force your way into a job you’ll be disappointed.

My best employee is 60, disabled and has had mental health issues. Her motivation and work ethic is astounding. Her attitude and team adhesion is what has made me fight to keep her in her role despite issues caused by disability. It’s not always as obvious as you think and @3mice gave a helpful post

Did you get involved in any fundraising or heped out at PTA events? Could you add this to your CV?

TBH I'm surprised at the number of posters suggesting that Powerpoint is essential. I never use Powerpoint, and rarely use Word. I work mostly on spreadsheets and bespoke software. Unless the job requires giving presentations I wouldn't have thought that Powerpoint was necessary.

I also use WeTransfer a lot for downloading and sending large files, and Teams and Outlook of course.

Good luck. I hope you find something.

TBH I'm surprised at the number of posters suggesting that Powerpoint is essential. I never use Powerpoint, and rarely use Word.

I use Powerpoint all the time; it's the standard format for reports, strategy documents, business plans etc in a lot of businesses. I'd consider it a standard admin skill at least to be adept at cleaning up and formatting other people's slides, yes.

I use Powerpoint all the time; it's the standard format for reports, strategy documents, business plans etc in a lot of businesses. I'd consider it a standard admin skill at least to be adept at cleaning up and formatting other people's slides, yes.

I would have thought that someone starting at the bottom of the career ladder isn't expected to do presentations on strategy documents, business plans etc. The nature of my job doesn't include any of that - I work on data sourcing and website content. Where I work it tends to be the senior managers who have the need to use Powerpoint rather than the "lower orders".

This is one step further on, but it might be helpful. In the past we have done mini work tasks as part of the interview process. The people who fail at these have been without exception so nervous and so flustered they haven't listened to a word we said, were unable to follow the most basic instructions (ie click on the blue bar) so we just couldn't take the risk. We could see they were nervous but that should have been them bringing their A game. So my advice would be always take a deep breath and properly listen to the other party, concentrate on what they're saying, answer the questions they've asked.

I would have thought that someone starting at the bottom of the career ladder isn't expected to do presentations on strategy documents, business plans etc.

Not making their own. Tidying up/formatting/standardising other people's is a common admin task IME.

@bunglebee

I would have thought that someone starting at the bottom of the career ladder isn't expected to do presentations on strategy documents, business plans etc.

Not making their own. Tidying up/formatting/standardising other people's is a common admin task IME.

Not where I work. All the managers do their own presentations and don't delegate this kind of thing.

@bunglebee

I would have thought that someone starting at the bottom of the career ladder isn't expected to do presentations on strategy documents, business plans etc.

Not making their own. Tidying up/formatting/standardising other people's is a common admin task IME.

This is very common in admin and support roles.

Microsoft office skills are an absolute must.

As are things like Zoom / Teams Hangouts which are increasingly used as more people are working from home / flexibly post lockdown.

Also a positive, collaborative attitude. Soft skills can be the deciding factor if you get an interview. I know you'll take that as a jibe based on your previous replies but it's really true.

Yes to teamwork. IMO it is even more important when working remotely.

OP, people aren't being negative, they're being realistic. It's a tough market out there.

Consider getting good some booking skills as well, I've seen loads of admin jobs in small companies that want proficiency in Sage or similar as they admin person also does accounts:billing/payroll in a small company.

The other thing is widen then search, I found my first few temp positions after not working for 12 years on gumtree - they were cheapskates and didn't want to pay the cost of an employment website. Not the nicest places to work at, and they had a high turnover but they gave me real world experience that I was able to build on.

Would you consider retraining? Even part time? With your teaching background you could be good in HR but would need at least a graduate certificate to get a foot in the door I would think.

Call centre work? They want educated people, and it's a foot in the door with promotion potential, particularly if it's a large organisation.

I don't have anything to add but just wanted to wish you luck, OP, and say that I hope you find something.

@RampantIvy agreed, I don’t use PowerPoint at all in my admin job - but I expect I could blag it if I had to , none of this is rocket science 😂

[quote TweeterandtheMonkeyman]@RampantIvy agreed, I don’t use PowerPoint at all in my admin job - but I expect I could blag it if I had to , none of this is rocket science 😂[/quote]
No but doing it well could set a candidate apart from others if asked to do something PowerPoint related in the interview process.

The landscape for admin and office jobs has changed a lot. As opposed to twenty years ago there are comparatively very few jobs and lots of candidates. Competition is fierce and you will be up against people with lots of experience and/or bright shiny graduates. It has been tough out there for a few years and now it is off the scale.

In your shoes I would seriously be considering other avenues.

As others have said, basic admin is a tough market and some additional skills to help you stand out would be very valuable.

Data analysis and CRM skills are in high demand, such as SQL, Python etc, and knowledge of SalesForce and MS Dynamics.

By taking out a subscription to LinkedIn Premium (about £250pa), you get access to LOADS of courses and you can then publish your 'certification' to your profile.

[quote TweeterandtheMonkeyman]@RampantIvy agreed, I don’t use PowerPoint at all in my admin job - but I expect I could blag it if I had to , none of this is rocket science 😂[/quote]
Technically I suppose you could, but if I asked you to put a presentation together in a couple of hours, as is expected of our junior consultants and admin support staff, and you struggled with it or took longer than expected, I'd be pretty annoyed and would start wondering about your honesty in applying.

I'd expect someone who was a competent user in MS Office products to be able to get to grips with PowerPoint pretty quickly even if they didn't use it often.

In fact, that would probably be a criteria for my (hypothetical) admin person - that they were able to pick up new software products with a minimum of training.

[quote TweeterandtheMonkeyman]@RampantIvy agreed, I don’t use PowerPoint at all in my admin job - but I expect I could blag it if I had to , none of this is rocket science 😂[/quote]
Pretty much anyone can put a PP together but it's usually pretty obvious when someone has blagged it.

If I was recruiting I’d want to know what you’ve done in your 18 years. You mentioned volunteering but how often and for how long? There are some amazing sahms on our pta who make the school tick. They’d have something quite substantial to talk about despite not working. I’d be more wary about someone who hadn’t done very much in that length of time. I’d also be wanting a good explanation as to why as a teacher you didn’t go back, pick up supply work or tutoring etc and why you’d want an admin role instead.

If you haven’t done a huge amount of volunteering I’d seriously consider doing one of the hospital volunteer schemes if you’re looking at the NHS. At our hospital there are lots of people who meet and greet for example and it would be a good way of building up confidence and knowledge.

I think you will need to learn to be less rude,

Just logged on to see some more helpful messages - thank you

Sad to see a few having a dig but sadly that's the unpleasant side of Mumsnet and those people aren't the ones I'll be taking life or employment advice from. Be better.

Hiding thread now so I can get on with following leads you've suggested. You have no idea how much you've helped me focus positively

Be better.

😂😂😂

How long have you been out of the workplace? What did you previously do. Experience counts for a lot. There were 800 applications for my role, whittled down to interview 19, then whittled down to 4 for second interviews. I got it due to my recent and relevant experience.

@BashfulClam 800 applicants!! Surely they didn't read all those applications? I'm intrigued as to what your job is now!