Return to work: what advice would you give?

[rose.winter1980]

I have been approached by a friend who used to work as a PA years ago.  She trained at a very well-established College.  She has just landed an excellent post, but feels she needs to brush up her skills. 

If you were advising a "return to work" admin, what training would you recommend?  She has some knowledge of Office, but only what she has picked up on her own and learned through a couple of very brief half-day/day long courses.   My friend is prepared to invest her own funds in training, so although money isn't limitless, I know she is serious about it and willing to put in time and effort.  Would you recommend just technical training (i.e. Office suite) or business administration and maybe "soft" skills as well?  Would you recommend professional-level qualifications?

Thank you very much.  I look forward to your responses.

Best wishes,

Rose

[gee4]

Rose,

Has your friend negotiated any training plans with her new employer?  She may want to invest initially in some technical training if she has been out of the scene for some time, although her employer may be willing to contribute or provide some on-the-job training relevant to the post.

She could certainly get ahead of the game and enrol on an MS course to bring her up to speed, or purchase some books and study at home herself.  It really depends what she feels she needs to brush up on.  Does she feel technology has moved on too much for her to learn on-the-job?

Has she got anyone she could call upon for some desk-side coaching as regards MS Office?

As regards everything else, I think that will fall into place in time.  I have no doubt she will find her feet once she starts her new role.

[Cathy S]

Hello Rose

This is an interesting poser ... first up (and at no cost) I think your friend should join us on here ... as well as lots of ideas on the boards there are many videos looking at different software and soft skills areas.  If you think she would be interested there is an "invite" option on the menus at the top.

As to more formal training here is my take on the situation:

Your friend's priority in paying for training needs to be first the key skills she needs for the job - if she knows she will use Office (and she will need to know which version ideally) for a considerable amount of her working day then some Office training is probably a priority.  If at the moment she isn't sure how much time she will spend with which software then I would go down the line of a good training guide that she can familiarise herself with prior to starting and then keep discreetly at her desk - there is sufficient variation in the versions commonly used that having the relevant version guide is not really a problem.

Secondly, soft skills are always an asset, but it would be easy to go brush up on all the ones she doesn't need - also the company are more likely to offer this sort of training so I would suggest waiting on that area.

Finally - professional qualifications have a lot to recommend them if she wishes to resume a career and not just a new job or if she just likes the idea of study; but the first few months will be a settling in period and it is probably not the best time to start a formal qualification - I would plan to start one if she wanted to in the Autumn

hope this helps a little and hope we see her on here soon. 

Cathy

[rose.winter1980]

Thank you so much for your replies.  I will forward these to her.

Best wishes,

Rose