How easy is it to get a office type job with no experience

Jude57

SadieO said:

There's a course called ECDL that teaches basic office IT skills like Word and Excel. My OH did it for free when he was on job seekers. Might be worth looking into? 

It's now called ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence) and, yes, if you're unemployed, you should be able to access the training for free. There are a number of free providers of such training, see here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-a-free-level-3-qualification/list-of-colleges-and-training-providers-able-to-offer-free-places-for-level-3-qualifications

But I'd recommend that someone who has never studied since leaving school would be best finding an 'in person' course rather than trying to do it online. Local Further Education colleges often have ICDL courses available as well as Key Skills and Life Skills courses. I'd recommend 'in person' training because it's helpful to have the tutor on hand to guide you, you can interact with others in a similar situation and get feedback which would help build confidence as well as knowledge.

Cloth_of_Gold

Jude57 said:

SadieO said:

There's a course called ECDL that teaches basic office IT skills like Word and Excel. My OH did it for free when he was on job seekers. Might be worth looking into? 

It's now called ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence) and, yes, if you're unemployed, you should be able to access the training for free. There are a number of free providers of such training, see here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-a-free-level-3-qualification/list-of-colleges-and-training-providers-able-to-offer-free-places-for-level-3-qualifications

But I'd recommend that someone who has never studied since leaving school would be best finding an 'in person' course rather than trying to do it online. Local Further Education colleges often have ICDL courses available as well as Key Skills and Life Skills courses. I'd recommend 'in person' training because it's helpful to have the tutor on hand to guide you, you can interact with others in a similar situation and get feedback which would help build confidence as well as knowledge.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I'm not a fan of online training and I have decent IT skills but if you don't have them I think it could be quit difficult and demoralising.

_Jem_

*Just a update*

I have been using Alison to do some courses. I'm finding it very hard to actually pass because I'm not very good at remembering things so when I get to the final part answering the questions to get the certificate I have forgotten most things. I'm more of a practical in house learning person.

I like the Alison site because you can keep on doing it until you pass, definitely wouldn't be a good idea to pay for a course to do. It has given me confidence on how to use windows and software such as Microsoft Word.

Cloth_of_Gold

Thanks for the update; I'm pleased it's proving helpful.

_Jem_

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Thanks for the update; I'm pleased it's proving helpful.

Yes it's become a helpful tool it's a shame you can't take a screen shot of the certificate would be great to add to a CV just to show I know my round Windows and Microsoft Word.

Cloth_of_Gold

_Jem_ said:

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Thanks for the update; I'm pleased it's proving helpful.

Yes it's become a helpful tool it's a shame you can't take a screen shot of the certificate would be great to add to a CV just to show I know my round Windows and Microsoft Word.

Why can't you take a screen shot?

I wouldn't worry about it though. Some companies will test people's IT and other skills, whatever they say about those skills themselves or whatever certificates they have. Have you don any of the online courses for Excel and PowerPoint? Most employers would, I think, expect you to have at least a working knowledge of those, especially Excel.

_Jem_

Cloth_of_Gold said:

_Jem_ said:

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Thanks for the update; I'm pleased it's proving helpful.

Yes it's become a helpful tool it's a shame you can't take a screen shot of the certificate would be great to add to a CV just to show I know my round Windows and Microsoft Word.

Why can't you take a screen shot?

I wouldn't worry about it though. Some companies will test people's IT and other skills, whatever they say about those skills themselves or whatever certificates they have. Have you don any of the online courses for Excel and PowerPoint? Most employers would, I think, expect you to have at least a working knowledge of those, especially Excel.

It doesn't show the actual certificate so nothing to screenshot. I have done Excel but not PowerPoint. It's obviously worth doing but it's not something I think I would want to be doing.

A couple of years ago I had a job interview for faulty goods just checking over mobile phones and now everything was done using computers so my thoughts was 😬😮 as I had never used computers for a job role. Now I would feel comfortable. 

Cloth_of_Gold

You, personally,  might not want to use PowerPoint (and for a lot of admin roles it wouldn't be necessary anyway) but they might expect that you had a working knowledge of it. You might, for example, be asked by a manager to put some slides together from info they give you, or to add some graphics to slides they had done. It would be good to have a basic idea of how it works and actually, of the three, (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) it's the most straightforward I would say; certainly to the level that most people use it.

The other thing I would say is, keep practicing your new IT skills. It's very easy to forget if you don't use them for a while, and you've already said that this is an issue for you.

What are your next steps?

_Jem_

I have the Disability advisor phone appointment in a couple of weeks she was saying about volunteering to get experience. But wanted to wait until I have spoken to the respiratory consultant to find out what their next step is. 

So in the mean time I will give PowerPoint a go👍

I wouldn't say I'm looking for a admin job role. 

Cloth_of_Gold

_Jem_ said:

I have the Disability advisor phone appointment in a couple of weeks she was saying about volunteering to get experience. But wanted to wait until I have spoken to the respiratory consultant to find out what their next step is. 

So in the mean time I will give PowerPoint a go👍

I wouldn't say I'm looking for a admin job role. 

I thought that that was the premise behind your thread. What are you looking to do now?