You need to know more than Microsoft Office to land a job this year. Here are 5 others

It’s no secret that millions of people are still looking for jobs.

Whether they lost their job during the heart of the pandemic or their business shut down in recent months, there are many more people competing for the same job than ever before.

What does this mean for you?

You have to stand out, and by stand out, we mean to show your expertise. Give companies a reason to hire you. Your personality, experience, and knowledge may speak for themselves, but employers look at your software knowledge today more than ever.

At the very least, get familiar with these software programs before you look for a new job.

Microsoft Office

Familiarize yourself with all Microsoft Office programs, not just Microsoft Word. But speaking of Word, make sure you can do more than type a letter and use spell check. Familiarize yourself with merging, formatting, and modifying macro scripts to really stand out.

Beyond Word, make sure you have a solid understanding of Excel, its formulas, and conditional formatting options, as well as PowerPoint. Whether you’ll be hosting business meetings for executives or just putting together a slide show for your team, PowerPoint knowledge is essential.

If you’re going for an information-heavy job, Microsoft Access is a key skill too, but not too many applicants will have this skill as it’s not as widely known.

Google Suite

Today more than ever, most companies work in the cloud. If you don’t have familiarity with the suite of Google products, you’ll be left in the dust by your competitors.

It has all the same features as Microsoft products but as a Google product. Even if you know Microsoft inside and out, some nuances may be different with Google.

Get to know Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Calendar, and Sites well enough so you can talk your way through an interview and sound knowledgeable.

Slack, Trello, and Asana

Speaking of working in the cloud, companies need a way to keep everyone on the same page, which is why most companies use a project management system like Slack, Trello, and Asana.

You don’t have to know all of them, but get to know which platform a company uses that you want to work for and then get to know it well. The more you can talk about the platform they use, the bigger the edge you have over your competitors.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a secure and straightforward way for companies to store important data.

Anyone with access can have the data with real-time changes, as will everyone on the team with access. It’s a safer and more effective way for companies to share information rather than dealing with missed or lost emails. 

Canva

Today everything is about graphics.

Even if you aren’t a graphic designer, get a basic understanding of Canva so you can help create presentations, website graphics, business cards, and flyers.

The sky’s the limit with Canva, and if you overlook it, a company may overlook you.

Zoom

The pandemic made Zoom one of the most well-known business tools available today.

Even non-business professionals are familiar with it, but as a potential employee, get to know how it works and the different ways you can manipulate it. Your interview may even be over Zoom, so knowing how it works right away works in your favor.

If you’re trying to land a job, you want as many good characteristics as possible. Companies will pass up even the most experienced person in favor of someone who has the technical experience they need. It’s a lot more time-consuming to teach software than it is a company’s ways.