What are office skills?

If you want to pursue a career that involves working in an office environment, there are a number of skills you will need to possess before you can be accepted for a position.

Some required skills, like communication skills, can be inherent. Other skills, like typing or bookkeeping skills, need to be learnt. The more office skills you gain, the more job opportunities you will have available to you.

Areas in Office Skills

By learning a broad range of office skills, you’ll be in a good position to apply for a variety of administration and office roles.

Skill areas that are important in office-based work include the following:

• Filing Skills: You’ll need excellent filing, sorting and paper management skills. That means you must also be highly organised.
• Typing Skills: To work in any office-based role, you’ll need to know how to type efficiently. Although many positions don’t denote a required typing speed, you’ll generally be expected to type around fifty words per minute with complete accuracy.
• Customer Service Skills: You will often act as a bridge between clients and your team. You therefore need to have a pleasant and professional demeanour, as well as excellent communication skills.
• Research Skills: Most office-based jobs require you to have special talents in data analysis and research, as you’ll often need to collect information and compile reports.
• Technology Skills: You’ll need to know how to operate a number of technological tools, such as computer software programmes, scanners, printers and faxes.

Why study an office skills course?

You can learn specific office skills through cpd training courses, college courses, university courses, private training providers and online courses.

Job centres also offer some office skills training courses for free for unemployed people. If you’re serious about pursuing a career in an administration or office role, the more specialised skills you gain, the more job opportunities will be available to you.

Career Outcomes from an Office Skills Course

Having specialised office skills under your belt allows you to pursue a broad range of jobs. Career outcomes from an office skills course include the following.

Office Administrative Assistant

In this role, you would typically work in a secretarial role for a manager or a team of managers.

Your duties and responsibilities would include sending emails, typing documents, transcribing letters, making travel arrangements and preparing reports and budgets.

Database Administrator

As a database administrator, you would be responsible for maintaining and updating information on computer systems and in archives.

You would need to make sure the data is accurate and readable. The information you enter could be numerical or text-based.

Companies in all kinds of career sectors need database administrators, so you’ll have various options regarding which industry you work in.

Human Resources Administrator

This position involves a combination of human resources and administration tasks. You would be the first point of contact concerning all human resources enquiries within the company you work for.

You would also perform tasks like administering contracts, assisting in recruitment, setting up interviews and ensuring databases are up-to-date and accurate.