Then and Now

 When I was in high school, way back when, I was in the BusinesCourse Program of study.    This course taught you all that you needed to know about becoming a secretary.  This was a job that was considered to be well paid and the perfect job for a woman.  You learned how to type on typewriters that had keys that stuck and you dealt with 3 carbon copies of everything.  I must admit, by my junior year, we had progressed to electric typewriters which was almost magical.  The little ball whirled around and picked the letter you needed, no more jammed keys!  We also learned Gregg’s Shorthand.  This was handy when your boss was going to be dictating and you needed to keep up.  An average of 80 to 120 words a minute was considered excellent.  You then transcribed everything and typed it on the fancy typewriter.  How cool was that?

We also learned how to use calculators, adding machines and the zerox machine.  The computer class consisted of punching long cards, inserting them into a computer that took up an entire room.  I could never figure out why a company would use something like this.  Needless to say, I didn’t do very well in that course.

That was then and this is now.  Shorthand is a thing of the past as well as typewriters.  What you need to know now is computer literacy.  You need basic computer skills to navigate around on Windows and Mac.  You need to develop versatility as well as being able to adapt to the various operating systems.  Word processing is a must.  Most clerical jobs will require the basic knowledge of Microsoft Word.  Word has a lot of functions and capabilities but the most basic functions can be learned in a couple of hours.

Then there’s the internet.  A lot of jobs use the internet for a variety of tasks from research to everything in between.  When you web surf, you need to know how to use your browsers, like Microsoft Internet Explorer, to access the Web.   There are other browsers that can be used but if you can work one browser you can easily learn to use the other ones.  They are the gateway to the information that you need to do your job and do it correctly.

You may need to know how to use spreadsheets.  These are used to simulate paper worksheets and have different mathematical functions built right in.  Microsoft is used most commonly because Excel is an excellent program that has other business applications that can be used as well.

Last, but not least, the one thing that hasn’t changed is communication skills.  To be able to communicate effectively with your co-workers, employer and potential customers is a valued skill.  If you can’t talk to people, explain what you need and what is needed from them, then your value as an employee is lessened.  The way you present yourself, your point of view and how you relate to feedback, can either help you get promoted or hold you back. 

All in all, a lot of things have changed since I was in the Business Course in high school but some things haven’t.  Technology has improved greatly but you still need the human aspect…as least for now.

How have things changed in the workforce since you entered it?  I’d like to hear about it!