<p>There’s a website called ‘lynda’ which has all manner of software tutorials. I believe some are free and some you pay for.
Good luck!!</p>
<p>I went back last October after almost twenty years out of the full time work force. (Read the ReLaunch book and joined the Linked In group.) In my experience, volunteering kept my skills up enough. You will need to pick up the current versions of Word, Excel, Outlook (it would help to know how to schedule a meeting) and maybe PowerPoint (ask your kids!). But you have the basic skills and know how to ask questions. I know you do!</p>
<p>I am SOOOO much better at my job (program coordinator for a federal agency) than I would have been when i was 25 or 35. I have experience herding cats and getting things done and being nice (with spine of steel) at the same time! </p>
<p>Take advantage of the training you are offered. Buy black pants and cardigans and sensible but expensive shoes (I pretty much wear Eddie Bauer and J Jill). Enjoy being paid for what you do. Try to let the kids and the DH do more at home. </p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>Congrats! I am sure they understand that you are a bit rusty and will help out. What a great opportunity.</p>
<p>Congrats, amanda. I went back to work at age 50 after about 11 years at home. As an accountant I has used lotus spreadsheets when I left the workforce so I bought an excel package (with tutorial) for my computer at home and self taught enough to get by. I agree with the black pants and nice shoes advice above, Banana Republic is my go-to store for work clothes (business casual office).
Something I have not seen mentioned here - don’t be afraid to change jobs if the first one does not work out. I worked at one company for about 6 months and was not happy (bad fit), so I quit. I was able to find another position at a very good company and am still there 5 1/2 years later.
Good luck!</p>
<p>You’ll be fine. If you ever used excel before, you’ll be able to use it again, although they do keep making it more and more complex with layers and layers of menus. One of my great moments of satisfaction was a long time ago when I had to show an ostensibly smart 23 year old that you could, indeed, select non-contiguous cells in excel. </p>
<p>Exactly, you will be fine! Relax, think of things to catch up at home while you have more time. What is there to learn about outlook and such? You just click and read. These are NOT a rocket science. So, stop worrying, nothing you could do before you actually start. Done it 9 times and employers knew exactly who they hire and the set of skills. Once I was hired for position that I told them straight at interview that I do not even know what abbreviation stand for. Couple decades later, I am still doing it at another job, but again, completely different business, computer, software. I guess sometime people just looking for honesty. </p>
<p>I just figure, I have a month, why not learn a bit - would help being more confident going in and not give away how old I am! The other thing is this is just an internship - so it’s good, I get to try them out, they get to see how I do, but basically - I’ve got 10 wks to contribute. Trying to make that time as productive as possible and not get hung up over basic stuff like Outlook. Seems that is what they are using because when I launched it just now, my interviews popped up. I’m going to play around and watch some Microsoft videos to get the hang of it.</p>
<p>Congratulations, amanda - the opportunity sounds great, and what a terrific service the ReLaunch thing is! Even though the Microsoft Office applications change a lot between versions, there is much that stays the same so if you learn one version, you will be able to quickly get up to speed on another. It makes sense to pick this up in the month you have. There’s lots of online information if you need to quickly find out how to do something. </p>
<p>New clothes! You want to dress like the youngsters who will be your bosses. ;)</p>