[HPFGU-OTChatter] Microsoft Office

[bettedavisgreen at aol.com]

Dans un e-mail daté du 05/09/2003 19:01:03 Paris, Madrid, 
kirst_inn at yahoo.co.uk a écrit :

> Oops. I've accidentally applied for a job which requires me to have 
> extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office. And I may have accidentally 
> mentioned on my enclosed letter that I was quite proficient in said 
> software manipulation. Now I come to think about it, it may have 
> popped up somewhere on my cv too. I might have also put something 
> about being "highly computer literate..."
> Ummm - I don't really know how to work Microsoft Office (although 
> I've done a bit of Power Point stuff)...does anyone on list? Would it 
> take me a long time to learn -i.e, more than three weeks? Should I 
> perhaps just kill myself now? I may die of embarrassment anyway. 
> Kirstini 
> (begging no-one to reply saying something like "Power Point isn't in 
> Microsoft Office", as I've already suffered heartache today when my 
> housemate pointed out that 58wpm really isn't that fast...)

Well...

I've just had to do a cv in French, where I've managed to erase all the gaps 
in my professional past (all in Portugal, how are they going to check I 
actually didn't spend all that time in each place? Anyways, it was just for the 
national employment agency, I'm not actually looking for a job...). But skills... 
that's tough...

I think you can learn Office in three weeks. If you work really hard. Anyway, 
if you've done PowerPoint (depending exactly what you've done: shows? typing? 
creating boxes? defining image properties?), it's less hard.

Now, I've never really had lessons, I just picked it up, started with (what 
version was it, the one for Windows 3.1?) and then tried them all, 95 to XP 
(aka 2002). I'm quite proficient these days, even if I'm learning stuff everyday. 
But I had time, I started (actually pretty late...) in 97. And it's the only 
thing I know, found Works too limited, and though I've heard great things 
about Star Office (the one used mostly with Linux, I believe?) I've never even 
installed it just to take a look.

The best thing you can do in these 3 weeks is: take hold of a nice, 
knowleadgeable friend and get working. Use Office's Help a LOT. There are great books 
out there, the for dummies series (tried it, found it great, especially if 
you're starting). Check out Microsoft's site, and their templates, explore loads 
of them (they're great to learn formatting) <A HREF="http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery/">
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery/</A>

But most of all, it takes practice. And the best is if you have someone you 
can be with that can show you, answer doubts, teach tricks...

You can do it. You just have to do it a full-time job for the limited time 
you have. And it's a great skill to have.

BTW, PowerPoint IS part of Office. Main ones are Word and Excel, then you 
have PowerPoint, then Access, then Publisher. Not quite sure whether Frontpage 
and  Project are considered part of Office though. I think you can say you're 
highly literate if you master Word pretty well (eg, actually create a brochure 
from scratch, with different formatting, sections, images, and actually be able 
to print it in coulour on the right sides of the page - that is quite a 
challenge... and get round their fax templates...), get around Excel (not really 
creating financial 5-year reports, but at least get your formulas right, create 
graphics, do a nice page setup - I tend to think I'm pretty advanced just 
because I can merge cells and do text orientation... but I've seen people who say 
they're great and can't even rename a worksheet...), and create a nice show in 
PowerPoint. And not mess up an Access database (I'm going into creating 
them!!! Hurrah for me!!!) And I think with work, motivation and congenital curio
sity it can be done in not a long time...

Cristina 


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