Microsoft Office Qualifications

shopbot

I'm currently job hunting. I would class myself as an intermediate Office user however I have no way to quantify that against others skills or to a future employer.

I've been looking at online courses. So far I've seen Microsoft Office Specialist, European Computer Driving Licence and Learn Direct Courses.

Is there one that is more commonly recognised than the others? Does anyone on the forum have any experience of recruiting people who need these skills...what do you look for?

Many Thanks
SB

DKLS

MOS is the one to go for, ECDL is pretty much redundant.

asajj

Which Office product we are talking about here? You wouldn't need anything for Excel or Word etc. Some employers will test your level of knowledge during interview.

shopbot

asajj wrote: »

Which Office product we are talking about here? You wouldn't need anything for Excel or Word etc. Some employers will test your level of knowledge during interview.

Excel and Word.

I would like to be able to benchmark myself before declaring myself as Intermediate/Advanced etc.

In regards to the job search, I've been looking for perm work but now may register for temp work to help my finances. I thought that getting a qualification would help with this (as I don't have any traditional office experience on my CV)

asajj

I'd say it depends on the work - I work in finance, use excel and I can also call myself intermediate to advance. However I don't hold any qualifications. For my line of business, while it is important, it is not vital to perform my job and employers look at other things - like my degree and job experiences.
If a job definitely requires certain things, such as advance knowledge of Access database, I wouldn't be able to do that. Most job ads will specify what is needed. However, I also wouldn't be able to get advance skills in Access just by taking a course and usually they will also ask how many years you have worked with Access even if you have a qualification. (Access is just an example here).

It depends whether if you are willing to pay for it however I haven't seen anyone in finance was chosen over someone else just because their Excel or Word skills/qualifications. Could it happen? Surely but I doubt it is common. Obviously I don't know your industry so this is my personal experience.

There are some free online sources too - like Coursera. You can also pay to get a certificate.

https://www.coursera.org/courses/?query=microsoft%20excel

Hope this helps.

skintpaul

Not heard of MOS - ECDL has been updated I think, and now called the ITQ 'ECDL Extra', though only with Word, Excel, & PowerPoint?

I've done both, and the original also had Access databases, and Using the Internet..

shopbot

asajj wrote: »

Obviously I don't know your industry so this is my personal experience.

Thanks for your helpful advice. I'm not looking to necessarily get into my previous field (Retail Management) but trying to make myself as employable as possible. As I have no traditional office experience I thought this might be a good way of addressing this.

SB

shopbot

skintpaul wrote: »

Not heard of MOS - ECDL has been updated I think, and now called the ITQ 'ECDL Extra', though only with Word, Excel, & PowerPoint?

I've done both, and the original also had Access databases, and Using the Internet..

Thanks - MOS is the qualification from Microsoft themselves.

Do you feel you got any benefit from doing the courses?

SB

ohreally

How often do you find employers looking for office quals in their recruitment ads?

skintpaul

ECDL was good, at the time, got support from tutor..

ITQ nice as a refresher, with up to date version of the programs. Self study, within a training agency (pitman).

WobblyDog

I don't know about Microsoft's MOS exams, but their developer exams (for MCSD) are quite demanding. If the MOS exams are similar, then studying for and passing them would probably be worthwhile.