I’ve been looking for a job, and every interesting one I see has “proficient with Microsoft Office” as one of the requirements.
Way back in ancient times, I was working as an administrative assistant when they pushed aside our typewriters and plonked computers on our desks, equipped with this fancy “word processing” that we were expected to figure out and use. And I did! I became the expert in the office and taught everyone else. But that was a loooong time ago. And now, we’ve been a Mac household forever.
So, what’s the best way to learn this? I looked at the two community colleges near me. One has a month of Saturday day-long class for each facet of Office. It’s not until June, though. Another has an online course that will go through it all in a month, and it starts in May. But would I need a non-Mac to do that at home? And is online a good way to learn this? I looked at some commercial courses, but they’re rather expensive.
You need to have access to Microsoft Office to learn to use it - if you don’t have it, you’d have to purchase it. You may be able to learn at your library. They should have learn-to Office books, and you can use their computers to learn.
Excel is easy except when it’s not. You will need to have practice problems/situations so you can learn to use formulas, copy formulas, use v-lookups and pivot tables … that is where a learn-to book can come in handy (the kind of books they use in class to teach the concepts).
You might try “open office” which is similar/compatible with MS office and free. You can noodle around with that and get most of the basics down. Don’t know if they have a mac version.
And then there’s Google , which has somehow managed to make a free version that is so very much like Office that I can’t believe Microsoft can’t stop them. Once you learn Power-Point , Google slides is easy, etc.
No faking it. Take the class that starts in June. If your new company tests you can’t get by without a basis. Take the class and get hold of a PC to practice (computer lab on campus). You’ll be glad you did.
Do you really need in-depth knowledge of all programs? Can you get a firm grasp of one and learn the basics of the others? Because MS Office proficiency can sometimes mean mastery of one of the programs and basic knowledge of the others. For example, we have office assistants who can convert any handwritten, scanned PDF into a beautifully formatted Word document… but they would not be able to whip up a simple graph in Excel. We have Excel pros who need help formatting their Word documents and PowerPoints…
Also take a look at edx.org and Microsoft’s site as both have free courses that you can go through to learn pretty much any Microsoft software. For a nominal fee, some of the classes offer certificates that you can list on your resume if you think it might help.
Having worked in a corporate environment my whole career, I’d be really annoyed if I knew more Microsoft Office than my administrative assistant did. I agree that you should take the course. It will teach you how to do things that you didn’t even know were possible.
I did a class at the 2 year college in the next town over. They basically had a workbook you worked through. The teacher didn’t really teach much - just sat there while we worked through the book but was available for questions. I wonder if a work book would be available to use on your own.
I don’t think Excel is something you can fake so I would definitely take a class or buy a workbook. I’ve ended up being pretty good with Excel (if I do say so myself ) and I use it a lot at work and a lot of co-workers come to me for help on it. You can do so much with it. Once you have the basics you can Google for help but do get comfortable with the basics. (I one had a particular thing I wanted to do on a project for a client with multiple oil Wells and couldn’t figure out how even with Google - a trip to a book store and leafing through Excel for dummies was a great help)
I’m always more than happy to help employees with it but I would be annoyed if a new hire had said they knew how to use it and didn’t have at least the basics.
You might try “open office” which is similar/compatible with MS office and free. You can noodle around with that and get most of the basics down. Don’t know if they have a mac version.
Have you been using the Mac office suite or Google Docs/Sheets/etc.? If so, then your learning curve won’t be hideously steep. If you haven’t done anything with documents since the original Word Perfect, then yes, it will be interesting.
I’ve never taken a class but over the years have taught myself a good bit. If one is looking to be hired, I’d get a workbook or two and the program and learn until I was comfortably proficient. If you learn in a class, that’s another option. Learning on the job with short deadlines would be very stress-inducing and unfair to you and employer. .
The “classes” I’ve attended have been pretty useless IMO. What I would do is go down to Best Buy and get the cheapest laptop that comes with Microsoft Office (about $150) and a very good workbook. Then just self study. It really takes hands-on practice to get comfortable with it. I imagine you’ll be proficient in no time.
You can then gift the laptop to the youngest member of your family or keep it around to shop online and play solitaire.
My comment about digging in into one while skimming the others still stands. What would the job otherwise require? Data analysis? Word processing and document editing? In some companies, there is specialization. Our assistants do not use Excel because it is simply not required from them. Illustration, OTOH, can do magic with that program (although Excel is not as great for graphical data presentation as Prism or Tableu). We don’t use PowerPoint other than for vanilla presentations, but I am sure our marketing folks are PPT gurus and can whip up elaborate custom templates.
Two thoughts. I used WorfPerfect all my working life (and still do.) I think it’s more elegant than Word. But it has almost become a niche product.
Second, I was surprised to find that my new tablet came loaded with Microsoft Office. Didn’t pay extra, don’t even want it, but there it is. How would you even build a spreadsheet on a touch screen?
) and I use it a lot at work and a lot of co-workers come to me for help on it. You can do so much with it. Once you have the basics you can Google for help but do get comfortable with the basics. (I one had a particular thing I wanted to do on a project for a client with multiple oil Wells and couldn’t figure out how even with Google - a trip to a book store and leafing through Excel for dummies was a great help)