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I'm thinking about getting certified in Microsoft Office 2010 at Rutgers University. This program will cost $2,173 and will be completely web-based/online. I don't have experience utilizing Microsoft Office in a workplace, will this help me be competitive when applying for administrative/office positions? are there administrative trainings I should look towards?
I just want to make sure I spend my money wisely so advise is welcomed
That seems ridiculously expensive for a certification a lot of places haven't even heard of. You can take classes at a community college and take the test on your own for much less. No one will care that you studied online at Rutgers.
I'm a certified Office Specialist and no one have ever cared. That being said, you need to learn the software, so I recommend the least expensive option available.
I'm thinking about getting certified in Microsoft Office 2010 at Rutgers University. This program will cost $2,173 and will be completely web-based/online. I don't have experience utilizing Microsoft Office in a workplace, will this help me be competitive when applying for administrative/office positions? are there administrative trainings I should look towards?
I just want to make sure I spend my money wisely so advise is welcomed
I'd say you're wasting your money. This cert is not 'intended' for general office/administrative positions. You'd most likely have no need to create anything complex. And therefore that skill-set is of no practical use for most that are trying to fill that position.
How competitive you are is relative to the job requirements and other candidates. If you're a technical writer, editor, or even an IT instructor, and most jobs you are applying to states that they'd like you to be a MOS - Then I can see a justification to getting the cert (and I'm just saying you may want to look into getting the cert, but whether you should be paying $2173 for it is a whole different discussion). In general, can it make you stand out? Sure, it may. If you are the final two candidates in the running, all else is equal, and you have a MOS and the other does not - they may go with you. But that seems to be a high premium to cover yourself for a very specific scenario.
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I agree that most employers will not care. Here, in fact, Sharepoint is now required for all employees and more than basic skills for Admins, but they rarely use Excel for more than simple spreadsheets. For that kind of position we ask people in the interview to rate themselves on the various Office products, and may ask follow-up questions to test their answer.
OP, you might study the job position ads for your field, plus talk with higher ups in your field. Here is where joining your professional organization helps because you can email members and get better data than we can give you. If you are still a student, join now while you can get student rates.
I think $2,173 is too expensive. If you didn't want to do the free tutorials, the MOS book is something like $60 (or was last time I priced it). And their online practice tests were something like $20 and you got to take several of them for that.
I did some job coaching when I lived in Columbus, Ohio. The only two organizations I knew of that valued the MOS were 1) a for-profit school (certain instructors were required to have it) and 2) ONE of the companies that supplied temp office workers. Please note there were several other companies in town that didn't care that much - typing speed and accuracy were more important.
The Excel master certification would be used for a report developer or some type of finance/accounting analyst. The Ms Access master certification would be useful for a entry level Access developer getting their feet wet.
The certification is overpriced. You can find a much cheaper course. The subject matter would likely far exceed most admin assistant's tasks.
If you need admin skills, I would just get a cheap book and play with MS Office at home. Since you are student, you could probably get the MS Office for free. If not for free, you could pick it up for less than $50 with a student discount at Microsoft's online store.
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