School admin job

[Henrieta2]

Help ! I want to apply for the role
I’ve got 17 admin experience and feel I had suitable personality resilience and overall experience for the role !
I am however worried about the practical
I read on a thread about mail merge I have never done before
In my current role we use a crm to bulk email
Mail merge is not a feature on my
Outlook so I can’t even practice 🤦🏻‍♀️ I I’ll this be make pre break for the role of I have no experience with that .

I like to prepare and practice for the interview I am confident with questions etc and will research about the school and safeguarding/ equality and diversity etc

It’s more the practical element I am nervous about ! Help please

Mailmerge is on Word. There are online tutorials available. How are your excel and database skills - sorting, filtering, lookup? Knowledge of Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity policies?

Doe anyone actually use mailmerge anymore?

Any letters we get are generic 'dear parent / carer / guardian' and it all comes through parent mail anyway.

I think I panicked lol I’ve never used mail merge before . Thanks for the messages I am not sure I will apply for it now as I have seen some threads and basically it all sounds rather stressful ! Thanks everyone

If you really want to do any training then Microsoft have short, free courses available for all the different applications support.microsoft.com/en-us/training

Most schools will have an automatic emailing system. Maybe when they talk about mail merge they actually mean this type of thing.

You tube is your friend for it training, more effective than just reading Web pages

Thank you

First off, fear of failure is no reason not to try.

Get your application in.

For each essential criteria they are looking for, give examples from your work history to show you meet the criteria.

You have done mail merge before, just differently. When you get the job, they will show you how they'd like it done - just like the first time you did it in your old / current job.

Do your DC attend this school? If so, you'll know how often, what format communication is sent to parents. For Governors, members of the PTA etc it might be different but you will LEARN.

The MN hive are behind you to get this job. Pull those big girl pants up and have some self belief! You have YEARS of experience.

1st question:
When is the deadline to apply?

Oh that’s so lovely and kind of you to say !
The deadline date is quite short not my DD goes to another school . I think it’s nearly the right job wrong time if I am honest and I am just not sure I can prepare in time for the interview !
I know it’s defeatist but it’s the wrong reasons to find a job at the moment . I’ve got anxiety and stress at work and I wanted to find a job that would fit around school run etc but I don’t think this job would be any less stress than what I have on my plate at the moment tbh !

If I am being honest , I have also lost confidence . I’ve got a lot of admin experience under my belt and I am very sociable but I have been struggling lately and looking for a new career but I want to ensure it’s for the right reason and if I am applying for jobs I need to feel confident it just doesn’t feel right : I have always wanted to work in a school but Just feeling unsure

My schools don’t use mail merge and haven’t for years.
They use Seesaw mainly, and DoJo, and School Comms.
You’ll get training so don’t worry.

Safeguarding is your main thing.
Also ordering, possibly school funds (so basic excel), dealing with people and prioritising.

All the best

Don't worry about mail merge - if you need it you can Google it.

Main things for school admin - dealing with busy environments, competing deadlines, prioritisation, dealing with members of the public. Safeguarding (basically if in doubt about anything you've seen or heard, report to DSL. If a child speaks to you about a serious issue, don't promise confidentiality, don't ask leading questions, be reassuring and report). Confidentiality (be careful giving out personal info over the phone - always verify who they are, don't leave documents lying around where people can see, lock information away).
IT skills - anything you don't know you can pick up. But they will want Word experience and maybe some familiarity with Excel, and email/calendar tools like outlook. A school MIS is basically a less complex CRM, if you can learn a system you can find your way round it.

Good luck.

If you don't get it, or decide it's not for you, it's interview PRACTICE for the next one.

Completing this application will ensure your CV is up-to-date for the next one.

You are not going to get it if you don't apply. That's the first step.

You CAN do this.

Mail merge is sooooo easy. I didn't think anywhere would still use it though as it's quite old...

You've got nothing to lose by going for the interview, if you don't get the job, don't worry! Something else will come along for you.