The millennial's might be tech savvy but that does not mean we all have the tech skills required for most office roles. Here’s an overview of 5 essential skills you need to master for office jobs.

Emailing

This is likely to be the most vital form of communication between yourself and clients. The ability to write and format a well-written email is therefore essential. Learning how to use the email system correctly is particularly important. Whether this is Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, learn how to use navigate around the system. This will avoid accidentally sending draft emails or forwarding previous emails you have with colleagues.

Touch typing

To some people, touch typing can seem daunting. However, once you master this skill it will enable you to be more productive throughout the working day. For example, less time spent on writing emails or creating reports. There are some great sites that allow you to practice your touch typing skills. Typing Club offers you lessons to practice and eventually be a touch typing wizard. Give it a go and you will soon realise you touch type without giving it a second thought.

Spreadsheeting

Unless your role requires advanced knowledge of spreadsheets, then knowing the basics is more than enough. Spreadsheet applications such as Excel have preformatted formulas and functions. Getting to grips with how to use formulas and functions are particularly important if your role will require you to regularly use spreadsheets, therefore take some time to learn how to use them even if you do not remember them all off by heart.

Word processing

A majority of business documents created use a word processing application, the most commonly used is Microsoft Word. If you’re a beginner, take time to learn how to create documents, as well as spellcheck, formatting options, for example, bold, italics, underline, aligning text, alongside inserting images that may be required within documents. Many applications such as Word, come with ‘Help’ tab, therefore if you are unsure how to complete a particular task refer to this section.

Social media savviness

We all know how important social media has become. Not only your personal account should be kept private, or only show appropriate content if on public, but businesses are increasingly asking employees to use social media as part of their role. Learning to use the basics around LinkedIn (a professional network all employees should use) and Twitter will show you have social media savviness, limiting the training required by your employers. Furthermore, this skill will look good on your CV. Look at how other brands employees use social media and take note of the differences compared to your personal social media accounts.