Would like to return to office work but need to brush up on my skills, can anyone recommend an online course?

[Picklemeyellow]

In the new year I would like to start looking for a wft/hybrid job, preferably something similar to the admin jobs I have had in the past (worked for the NHS as an admin officer for 15 years).

Before doing this I really need to brush up on my Microsoft Office skills as I have been working as a PA for disabled people for some time and this obviously does not involve working on computers.

I have looked online but it’s a bit of a minefield, some courses are very cheap whilst others seem very expensive. Ideally, I would like to do the ECDL but it is too expensive for me right now and would take too long.

Has anyone completed a Microsoft Office course recently? Can anyone recommend a reasonable priced one?

Looks like Microsoft have some free training videos on their website, if you're looking to brush up on your skills rather than take an accredited course.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/training

Udemy probably have some decent courses at a reasonable price, especially if you wait for one of their sales (which are usually every five minutes). There's a star rating and often a preview so you can get a feel for whether it's a decent quality course or not.

LinkedIn offer learning programs if you reckon you'll get enough use from them (there's a month-long free trial, followed by a monthly or annual fee). Never tried these myself though.

There are also some decent how to videos on YouTube but obviously they are unlikely to be as structured as a proper course.

I wouldn't recommend going for anything expensive (unless it's a proper qualification like the ECDL). I'm enrolled on one that supposedly costs £180 at full price (I got it for £20). It's been fine, but I wouldn't have been happy with the quality if I'd paid full whack for it.

How much do you actually need to brush up though? Things haven't changed drastically so if you were competent before you could get back up to speed again quickly.

Thank you this is very helpful.

Bumping for more information as I am in the same boat.

In my volunteer job, the thing that has changed is that everybody uses Microsoft Teams and then word and excel and outlook are all integrated into it. However, word and excel work pretty much exactly the way that they always did. The only thing that is new is teams. You could probably get a demo of teams and fiddle about with it until you know what's going on. Or get some volunteer work with an organisation that uses teams and word and excel inside of teams. That might be a good free way to learn.

Try Alison.com

alison.com/

Don't bother paying for their diplomas, just use the courses as a skills brush up.

The National Careers Service has some useful links to courses.
nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course/where-to-find-free-online-learning

You could do a Business Admin course to give yourself an up to date qualification.

www.reed.co.uk/courses/level-2-certificate-in-principles-of-business-administration/279090?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyeWrBhDDARIsAGP1mWSc63R9pq38191Tl9Y0fwq4pJW_27ScVQ9EnI3hcKKXjO5L5s3jpcQaAm6vEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Good luck!

Thanks everyone.
I will take a look at Teams, thanks KeepingTrying

Fab, thank you Thejackrussellsrule