jobs which need experience of powerpoint, excel, access etc

[zippitippitoes]

..surely it's not that hard to do? How long does it take to pick up or is it really necessary to do a course of some kind?

powerpoint quite easy to master (1 day tops) but Excel is a huge piece of software that is quite complex when using all its functions... depends on what they are looking for but to be competent in that could take a few weeks...

Access is the same... simple stuff can be learnt in hours but it can do quite complicated stuff which would require more investment of time...

mancmum is right. if they ask for experience then they'll expect you to know it really well.

I recommendation is to buy a 'for dummies' book for each. if the jobs your looking for ask this as a requirement, it might be best to keep a 'for dummies' book handy for each one. they are about 16.99 each but they will contain pretty much everything you need to know. if you read them and had a go yourself on your own PC then you could probably blag your way through at work.

Excel has good help files, however. Better off using these than a course, wihch will always be inconvenient as it doesn't go at your pace.

Do you have access to a computer with htis software?

You could 'practice' on someting like writing your own household budget programme, and challenge yourself to include: an equation, a logic function, a chart and a macro.

I'm always of the view that you can pick it up on the spot (in a way that is relevant to your job) - and when people say 'can you use Excel', they actually only have the basic funtctions in mind.

if you pick some knowledge up and go into a job interview and they ask if you know excel, say 'yes, but not up to macro level'. that pretty much implies you know some of the basic formula for excel.

thanks..I'm debating buying office in order to have a go, but no point if it is so hard that i won't be able to do it!

This job hunting is extremely hard work not to say expensive.

ouch. office is about £150 isn't it?

just to summarise:

Excel: not to bad going but requires a basic knowledge of some formula and a general idea of what the thing does.

powerpoint: easy peasy

access: quite a complicated chunky bit of software. i would be hesitant to try to blag your way to that one. requires a good deal of study at home or I did take a basic course on this one and found it very useful.

A few years ago my friend paid to do a 4 week course that covered Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Access. She has not been out of work since and each time she places her CV on the online jobsites, she has interviews within days. Knowledge of Excel and Access is highly sought after so if you can, it is worth doing the European Computer course (I think that is what it is) or CLAIT. Learn direct or adult education centre will be able to help.

have you got 'microsoft works' (the free one that probably came with your computer) because it's 'works spreadsheet' software is very very similar to excel just without some of the bells and whistles.

the european one is the one I did years and years ago and it was quite useful and free at the local college.

there is a national place that trains you on all of these zippi

worth doing imo. really good, useful knowledge.

pitmans but alot of software suppliers do actually give training on it aswell and run workshops. I went on one for sage when i was working in clerical 7 years ago and it was a couple of hundred but well worth it.#

Look at your local adult education aswell and college/uni as most of them offer these kind of courses

Agree with DaddyCool, excel and powerpoint can be blagged with a bit of familiarity with how they look and using the "help" button. Access however is a bit more complicated from what i can see (have tried to teach myself to use it before and just did not have a clue!)

I used excel aswell and its pretty straightforward

I looked at the clait and european driving license ones, which I can do locally..I have a strange mix of computer knowledge so looking at the syllabus I see stuff which seems totally obvious and other stuff which I don't know at all. I would ideally like a distance learning/online course but doesn't seem to exist..

actually i'd ideally like a job where they trained you in the gaps!

sounds like i should avoid access then for the time being! Or do a proper course in it.

I have used the works spreadsheet but not for anything much.. eg adding up!

Let's hope the home office are going to give me a job interviewing asylum seekers..

ICS do a correspondence course for the EDCL, here .

Agree with what everyone else has said: Word, Excel and Powerpoint are all quite easy to get to grips with, but Access is another matter i.e. a complex and powerful program that could go horribly wrong if you don't know what you're doing. If you're creating a simple database from scratch then it is pretty straightforward - there are wizards and templates which make it fairly easy - but if you are required to work with an existing database (and by "work with" I mean anything beyond simple data input) then you will need to understand something about the principles of databases and how to handle data in Access. You can do courses in this, and I would think that if using Access (beyond data input) is a job requirement then the employer will offer training. I don't know what skill level you're at with the other Office apps, but something like CLAIT would be a good foundation. You could whizz through the bits you already know about with confidence, but ime (as a former IT trainer) most people have learned to use Office in a fairly haphazard fashion, so even if you are already familiar with an application, some basic structured training is still useful for filling in any gaps in your knowledge.

One thing to remember: we're living in a man's world.

My recipe:

take your feelings about your competence
your confidence about being qualified to perform the job
your 'front' to expect a bit of time at the outset to get yourself up to speed with what is required)

and shift each measure up by about four notches. Then you'll have recalibrated yourself to how the average bloke would present himself, and think of himself, with the same set of skills.

Don't 'self-select' yourself out of jobs too quickly. Computers are somehting which are easiest learnt 'by doing it' - and presumably you're looking at 'meaningful longterm relationship' jobs which require a portfolio of skills, rather than going for short term contracts as an Access database troubleshooter.

I think you should be bold and confident.

I started whn I left college what seems like years ago and blagged it - I had some knowledge of word but that was about it and now can say I am proficient in most packages - to be honest if you have the basic grasp of the programme then you will learn as you go along or just ask someone when you get the job - I am sure no one would mind - just say you haven't used it for ages and you are having a total mind block - then log on to mumsnet and ask someone to help you!!!

kif has a very very good point. you got to go into these things as if you own the place, don't freely admit you don't know how to use something unless directly asked and fill in the knowledge gaps as you work and pretend you always knew them

and kif... note that down and send it off to 'humour in uniform'!

(if you don't get that, just ignore it . i'm a geek)

don't worry too much, these can be picked up easily. i was thrown into a temp job and had to do a major mailout using access. they didn't really care if i knew how to use it or not but managed to sort my way through it. i used to use pagemaker and wordperfect, they were a pain to learn! systems are much more user friendly now!

It might be worth checking your local library - mine is doing self-paced courses on office applications.