Online Skill Scores, Job Profiles and Accrediation

Years ago, I worked as the Office Administrator of a large church in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the early 90's Microsoft Office was in use. Instead there was a popular word processing program that most people used and although I was self taught and fairly knowledgeable, I wanted to be able to do more with the fields merges and other advanced options as well as the Pastor of the church wanting these skills. Before internet, before easy communication, this meant classes so the church paid 'big bucks' for an expert in the field to come to my office and spend 4 days testing and 'training' me to help me gain advanced knowledge of the program and in the end, improve my job skills.

Now of course, it's simple. Communication by internet has made our world smaller and response time almost instantaneous. It's also cut down on the cost required to get accreditation in your field, acquiring new skills or developing the skills you already have.

Today I signed up with Learn.com to check out their personal edition platform offering 5,000 courses from software to sales, from nursing to networking as well as job profiles to help you pinpoint your position, focus your skills and search for courses to help in promotions to the next level of your career. Giving you a Skill score if you take all the courses for a specific job profile, it also gives employers a way to evaluate you and your position and gives you an idea of what you may want to improve on your road to promotablility. This is gauged by a 'Skill Score' which rates your Job skills after completing the courses for a specific job profile.

Because I work at a non-profit office I wear a lot of hats. Skimming through the job profiles I selected; First-Line Supervisors/Managers of Office and Administrative Support Workers: Entry Level as 'Office Manager' and 'Administrative Assistant' are two of the caps I don when I walk through the door and looking over the courses included found they offered the best fit for my current interests.

1 Business Ethics I
2 Communication: Active Listening I
3 Communication: Presentation I
4 Computer Use
5 Customer Service: Identifying Expectations
6 Microsoft Office: Entry
7 Self Management I
8 Sexual Harassment I
9 Team Building I

What I wanted to do was gain insight into my skills with all the Office products from Excel to Power Point and find improvement and new capabilities I didn't realize the programs had in order to advance my own career by being proficient in them. I had a few quirks getting the programs to run correctly on my computer so I wasn't able to finish the courses and obtain a skill score but I loved the set up and found the courses relevant so I could still recommend the site and courses to employers and employee's alike.

For about $50 you can purchase the beginner course and for just $20 more obtain the license for the more advanced courses. Lastly, the site allows you to create your own courses and receive a percentage of profits the courses generate by other users. An interesting concept.

Certainly a 'budget friendly' option for those not able or willing to hand over $500 for a course!