Is your goal to have a career in the computer industry?
Even if it’s not, so you possess the basic IT skills to perform well in any modern field of work? Banks and accounting firms, for example, seek out candidates who have a solid understanding of computers and various common programs, like spreadsheets and office suites. Hopefully, you gained a deep understanding of these core skills during college. The downside is that many folks never use them in their first jobs and end up having to re-learn the skills when they switch employers.
If you’re one of the many working adults headed back to school after several years in the working world, it’s important to get up to speed on essential computer abilities. Returning students who take out loans to finance their education are in luck because most schools offer free catch up bootcamps for anyone who needs to sharpen their technical acumen. If you do take out a student loan, do a bit of online research to double check what loan proceeds can be used for. In most cases, borrowers can spend at least some of the money on brush-up coursework to get up to speed with technology, writing skills, and reading before formal classwork begins. What is the basic list of computer-related requirements for today’s workers? The following five areas cover most of the bases.
Presentations
It’s important to be conversant with at least one presentation app, PowerPoint being the most common. Fortunately, there are dozens of excellent, free tutorials online. With just a few hours of practice, it’s possible to get a grasp of the fundamentals of designing, assembling, and delivering full-scale business presentations.
Spreadsheets
Even if your future job won’t include anything accounting or finance related, you should be able to navigate a simple spreadsheet. Many are free to download, and at least one probably came with your computer. Expect to spend at least a few hours learning how to manipulate formulas, give names to categories, set up columnar formatting, and more.
Word Programs
Most of the office suites come with a presentation, spreadsheet, and word processing program. There are hundreds of varieties of word apps, but they share a lot of functions. Learn how to open new pages, add to old ones, enter text, manipulate text, and delete at will. Check out some of the tutorials on job-training websites and give several hours of your time to learning to work with word programs.
Social Media
Regardless of your line of work, chances are you’ll need to know how to post to your company’s social media accounts. Some businesses offer a special training module for new hires so everyone can learn the nuances of the company’s social media footprint. Don’t wait until you’re hired to learn these basic skills. Spend time with online tutorials so you know how to add, remove, and search for material on social media. That way, during an interview, you will be able to honestly answer ‘yes’ to the question, “are you adept at handling SM pages and entries?’. It’s better to go in prepared than to wait for an employer-provided training session.
