IT skills are more like administration and business skills, in that employers assume staff are already skilled in these areas. In reality people have different levels of knowledge, understanding and their experience of IT in the world of business. This experience is hard to measure both as a candidate and as a potential employer.
To increase your employability, up-skill yourself at work and at home. You will then be able to increase your current value to your employer. Highlight your new skills during appraisal interviews, using your new skills to support pay and promotion opportunities. If you are looking to change jobs or change careers, plan ahead and get learning to get earning. There are many great training providers in Worcestershire.
If you are into Microsoft Office, look at the Microsoft Office Specialist qualification. This is great if you are a Word and Excel ninja. If you spend a lot of your professional time producing reports and views for your employer, then this qualification is a worthy investment of your time. For specialist training in finance systems, I would recommend Sage, Xero, Kashflow or Quickbooks training. These are all recognised by employers, and you can cross-train relatively easily to the particular system your new employer uses.
If you are a digital creative, look at WordPress, Joomla and Adobe PhotoShop. Again, familiarity and experience with these packages will improve your chances of promotion or getting that exciting new role.
One absolutely essential business IT skill is just plain old typing. Although the typewriter went out in the 1980’s, we should all be much better at typing than we actually are. I am an advocate for what Pitman call their ‘Typing accuracy’ training course. Imagine how much quicker you could create reports, presentations, emails and documents. With the time you save it could mean that your get home on time!