Kenya: Computer Skills Are a Must-Have While in College

Nairobi — A computer is now an essential tool that all workers must be familiar with in order to complete their daily tasks. Basic computer software skills are paramount in getting through college, finding work and becoming a productive professional in society.
skills skills

During your time in college, you need to acquire computer skills before you graduate.

By acting now to gain such crucial skills, you will save the time and expense involved in returning to college to acquire skills you could have learnt before you graduated.

Put it simply, these computer skills could be the difference between you or another job candidate being chosen.

Graduating students are expected to have sufficient knowledge and practice on a variety of computer hardware, software and peripherals to complete the necessary tasks to live, work and be a productive member of society.

Digital activities

Computer literacy includes digital activities such as word processing, emailing and working with databases and spreadsheets.

The use of the Internet is one extremely important computer skill one should definitely have mastered ahead of launching a job-seeking plan.

Computers and Internet today are almost one and the same thing and usually one isn’t mentioned without the other tagging along.

One will need to be familiar with the Internet in all types of work – whether it is for research on any topic or surfing for information to support your ideas ahead of an important meeting with clients or colleagues.

For this purpose, you will need to know what a search engine is and how it works, what a keyword is and how it works, how to open a browser and how to use a link and so on.

You can even go further and understand basics on how to update a website since as a communications person; you may be tasked with regularly publishing on your organisation’s website

In this age, it would be almost a crime not to have an email address as most corporate and individual social and work related communication are done via email.

If you don’t have a personal email address, get one today. They’re free at Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, and other platforms on the Internet.

All signs indicate that the future of the web is based in social activity and communication.

Learn how to utilise popular social networks for communicating effectively with a wide variety of connections.

Take the time to familiarise yourself with blogging.

WordPress is a particularly popular blogging programme. Microsoft Office Word is the software used most often by business for word processing.

It’s today’s typewriter. By learning the software thoroughly, you’ll create cleaner, more professional papers and reports for college, and give yourself a leg up when you look for a job.

Work with numbers

Not everyone will use Microsoft Excel, but if you work with numbers, Excel is your best friend.

Understanding how it works will save you a ton of time because it calculates for you.

Set up a spreadsheet, tell Excel how you want it to calculate, fill in your figures, and voila! Can’t beat it.

PowerPoint is the software people use to create slide presentations. When you need to make a presentation, this is the tool that will help you present your information in a professional way.

Play around with it. The most important thing to remember when making a PowerPoint presentation is that less is more.

People tend to put way too much information on every slide. Spread it out. Keep it simple. Use large type.

If you’ve found a job, use your knowledge of technology to improve your work and expand your roles in your new position.

If you are still job hunting, supplement your resume with new skills that will help you land the perfect job.

allafrica.com