4 Job Posting Requiring MS Office Skills

It is common these days for employers to require applicants to be skilled or at least familiar with the MS Office suite, and these are some of them:


A job posting put out by St. Charles Health System in Bend, OR lists Word, Excel, and Powerpoint as  necessary experience for a Recruiting Coordinator position. 

As well as the previous posting from St. Charles Health System, another listing for an Institute for Healthcare Improvement Coordinator requires knowledge of the MS Office suite.

Nosler, Inc. is looking for a Payroll/Benefits Administrator, requiring applicants to have extensive knowledge of MS Office software, including Word, Excel, and Access. 

An Administrative Assistant is needed for the Sisters Quilt show, with Microsoft Office skills being necessary, including Access. 

4 Online Tools That Make Work Easier

I don't actually spend a lot of time exploring the internet but when I do go online I have a few tools I like to use: 

While I do see myself as a creative individual, sometimes I need a little inspiration and Pinterest has helped me out immensely. From fashion tips to recipes this "visual discovery tool" has it all. I tend to use this site the most for cooking when I'm in the mood for a new recipe, but I have also used it for interior decorating and craft project ideas. 

Youtube is another reference site I use a lot, lately as a learning tool for fly tying and other fly fishing related videos. I also use it a lot for school and listening to music on occasion. For this class, especially, this site has been a valuable tool for learning the ins and outs of certain computer programs like excel and powerpoint.    

I have never used STUDYBLUE but I ran across this online tool and found that it could come in very handy for school. This site provides study tools and allows you to create customized flashcards. In a few terms I will be begin taking Anatomy and Physiology classes for my program and I know I will be using this tool alot.

Khan Academy is another study tool that provides tutorials and lessons for a variety of subjects for all grades and a variety of topics. When I was in school a few years ago working on a different degree I used this site a lot to supplement my math and chemistry classes when I needed a different perspective from what my instructor was providing. I highly recommend this site for any student! I even plan on using this tool during winter term to brush up on my math skills while taking a chemistry class. I took the prerequisite for this class several years ago so instead of retaking the class I am hoping this tool will serve as a good refresher course. 

4 Web Sites I Visit Most Often

Here are 4 sites that I use on either a daily basis or quite frequently...

I love to learn so I tend to look things up a lot. For that reason, I pretty much use Google on a daily basis. Google Scholar is a great source for peer reviewed information that I use a lot at work, Google Maps helps me out because I am fairly directionally challenged, and regular ol' Google search helps me answer the many curiosities I tend to come up with every day. I tend to refer to this site as The Oracle.  


In my attempt to start cooking more, I have had to rely heavily on the internet to guide me through the process. To make things more interesting I have to eat gluten-free, so I have spent much time browsing the internet for recipes that are almost as good those containing that lovely gluten. About a year ago I ran across the site Gluten free on a shoestring and it has saved me life! They have a lot of really great recipes ranging from doughnuts to salad dressing. And if you have ever tried to cook gluten-free, you quickly find out that it is not cheap, so this sites focuses heavily on affordable recipes. I do not tend to visit this site daily, but several times a week.



Blackboard is no doubt one site that I will be using on a daily basis for the next few years as I work my way through school. While taking an online class, this site is my virtual classroom, but from past experience I expect even my classroom based classes will be using this site a lot as an additional resource. 



Along with my Googling skills, accompanied by that tends to be Wikipedia. Though this site is not known for their high standards in credibility and accuracy, it is a great starting point for fast information. When doing research I tend to start here for basic information and then branch out in to more credible resources from there. 

3 Powerful PowerPoint Presentations at TED

While exploring the TED archives I found 4 talks that used great visual aids to more effectively explain the topic of discussion:

In the talk The coming crisis in antibiotics, the topic of antibiotic resistant bacteria is discussed, explaining the dangers of antibiotic resistance in hopes of gaining awareness and how it could potentially be avoided. While making his point, the presenter uses various visual aids to first talk about the importance of antibiotics, but then show the dangers of relying on them too much. One of the most grabbing visual aids used was of an animated map of the U.S., showing the presence of antibiotic resistance across the country over time. In doing this, the presenter made his topic of discussion more visual, something that allows the discussion to make a bigger impact.

Depressed dogs, cats with OCD - what animal madness means for us humans talks about the topic of mental anxieties in animals. In this discussion, the presenter talks about a variety of mental anxieties in animals, ones very familiar to humans, and uses visual aids to show what these disorders look like in animals. With non-human animals, talking is not generally an option so it is hard to gauge whether an animal is just performing some random act or a troublesome ritual related to the creature's mental state. In playing videos of these behaviors, it allows the audience to see the behavior instead of just hearing about it, such as the difference between a sun bear playing with a stick and carrying out its obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Much like the topic of this entire post, How animations can help scientists test a hypothesis talks about the importance of visual representations and how their use in biology greatly affect how processes are understood. Specifically, the presenter discusses the importance of animation in biological research, and how a moving image is much more effective in forming a hypothesis than simple drawings that aren't able to portray an entire process. To effectively explain this to the audience, the presenter shows a 2-D representation of a cellular process where you are able to see only the end result of each step. Then an animation of the same process is played, which shows how each step takes place to lead to the end result of the process.

Led by a mechanical engineer interested in the medial field, A tool to fix one of the most dangerous moments in surgery uses visual aids to show the function of a newly designed device could reduce mortality on the operating room table. This engineer is interested in a tool used in laproscopic surgery called a trocar, where accidental puncturing of organs is not an uncommon occurrence. To avoid such a situation in a very routine type of surgery, this same engineer has come up with a design for a spring loaded device to perform the same function, and provides videos to the audience allowing them to see just out the new device would work.

3 Tutorials Explaining Excel Financial Functions

I found 3 websites with great resources for explaining Excel financial functions...


Excel Easy has easy to understand instructions for solving the most basic of financial functions in Excel, including NPer, rate, PMT, PV, and FV. Although only basic functions, they do a great job at laying the groundwork for other, more involved financial functions. 

For a more in-depth look at financial functions within Excel, GCF LearnFree provides instruction for more advanced functions including what-if analysis. As with all other aspects of the Microsoft suite, I liked this site for explaining financial functions because they are easy to understand and the site provides more than just an explanation, but examples and video tutorials, as well.          

Excel Functions.net has a variety of tutorials for a wide range of financial functions, from the most basic to ones like YIELD and FVSCHEDULE. They start out by explaining what the function is, and what all parts of it mean. They then go on to provide an example for the function. What I found particularly helpful with this site as opposed to others I have found is that they explain common errors you might run into when performing various functions and what you can do to correct those errors.

3 News Articles/Reports Utilizing Data Tables and Charts

There a a variety of sites out there featuring data tables and charts but I found three particularly interesting...


NASA's page on global climate change has some pretty interesting up-to-date information on world carbon dioxide levels. The charts on this page are used to show direct measurements taken between 2005 and September 2014, indicating that carbon dioxide levels have been steadily increasing. Another chart features indirect CO2 measurements from ice cores, showing fluctuations in carbon dioxide levels as far back as 400,000 years, with a drastic increase starting around 1950. I found these charts to be very easy to read and gave me pertinent information about how carbon dioxide levels have been changing over the years. 

The Huffington Post shared an article about the recent Ebola outbreak, including interactive charts containing the number of outbreaks in the countries with the highest number of cases (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) as of mid-October. A second line on each chart plots a forecast for future cases if current conditions persist. In terms of wanting to know specifics about how many cases have been reported in these countries I found this article quite helpful, but while interesting, the predictions must be taken with a grain of salt as accurate forecasting is a difficult task. 

The US Geological Survey has a great page featuring their Earthquake Hazards Program, riddled with data tables on world earthquake statistics. These tables include information regarding earthquake magnitude, frequency, and location. Other pages related to the program provide graphs and other graphics related to such data, providing the public with up to date worldwide earthquake information. I liked this website as it provided simple and informative visual information about the research USGS has been conducting over the years. 

4 Sites with Examples of Nice Resumes

I found 4 good websites for help with writing a resume...

• As with learning how to do anything these days, I found WikiHow to be a good resume building resource. They have free templates that can be exported to Word or PDF, sample resumes, and tips on how to format a resume. This site was great because it was straight and to the point and provided a great array of resources. 

• Business Insider put out a great article in their career section last year about how to write a great resume called "19 Reasons Why This Is An Excellent Resume". In this article they posted a resume and explained specifically why this is a good resume and what jobseekers are looking for. The site also provides tips about what not to include in your resume, just as equally important information. I really liked this resource because of how much it focused on the jobseeker and what they are looking for, not just the type of information that should be included. There is even a link off to the side of the page for a free template download. 

•  Microsoft Office allows you to download templates directly from their website, with various types of resumes from general entry-level to those as specific as for a computer programmer. While the site does not give specific examples of resumes, such as one that someone may have written up for their own purposes, I like this resource because it is directly compatible with Word and provides a wide variety of template options for various career categories albeit generic information about what to include. 

• I liked Career Perfect as another resume building website. While a variety of their career advancement services are not free, they do have various free sample resumes for download for various job fields including healthcare, banking, and sales management; they even have a section for recent graduates and students. Another feature I found particularly interesting about this site was that they also had cover letter examples, another document jobseekers commonly ask for along with a resume. 

4 Free Online Resources for Learning Office

I have found 4 sites with great tutorials for learning the ins and outs of Microsoft Office:

In Pictures

If you are a visual learner like me, In Pictures is a great site that gives tutorials based on what you are seeing on your screen, not just a bunch of words that send you on a wild goose chase trying to figure out what a site is attempting to instruct you to do. The site provides tutorials for Office 2007-2013 from basic to even the more advanced tasks associated with each program. 

GCF

GCF learnfree.org is a very comprehensive, beginner friendly site with tutorials for all versions of Microsoft Office. With videos, pictures, quizzes, and regular ol' text based learning, I found this site very helpful for understanding how to operate even a program that I had never used before, such as Publisher. They even have a mobile app!

Going to the source

Who better to learn from than the people who made the product? The Microsoft Office website has a variety of tutorials and training courses on how to use their product from intermediate to advanced levels. The courses can either be downloaded or watched online. While this is a good go-to, I did however find slightly more in depth training from other sites. 

Free Training Tutorial

This is another good site that covers all the basics with step by step video instruction for performing various functions in all Office programs. This site is geared more towards the beginner as it does not cover too many advanced tasks, although it does seem to provide some intermediate level training. 

4 Software Programs I Use Most Often

Between my personal computer, work computer, and phone there are certain programs that I use quite often



Microsoft Office

Whether for work or school, most of my daily tasks involve Microsoft Office. At work, I utilize this program for email (Outlook), creating spreadsheets and entering data (Excel and Access), and creating word documents (Word). For school I use this program for mostly the same purposes as work, minus Outlook and adding Powerpoint. 



Instagram
As an app on my iPhone, I use this program on a 
daily basis. I do a lot of fly fishing and like to document my time on the river, share my experiences with others, and see what other people are up to in the fly fishing community. I am also an ambassador for a local fly fishing apparel company called H&H Outfitters, where I represent the company and get their name out by wearing and showing off their product. It's a lot of fun and I have made a bunch of new friends just because of this app and how I utilize it. 


Google Earth

I use this app/program on all of my computers. Working for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in fisheries I use it to help locate and visualize sampling sites. Outside of work I use Google Earth to locate new fishing spots, which I like to do regularly.





Safari/Google Chrome

These two web browsers get used extensively on all of the computers I use on a daily basis. I have Safari installed on my personal computer and phone and Chrome on my work computer. I use each browser for research, accessing Blackboard and other school related websites, saving files in Google docs, and whatever other web based activities I feel like doing.  

3 Types of Computers I Use Most Often

There are 3 types of computers I use on a regular basis...

Smartphone
I am willing to admit I am pretty reliant on my iPhone. I not only use it to stay in touch with people over the course of the day, but as a computer it helps me keep up with my emails, take notes when necessary, browse the web/do research, play the occasional game, and listen to music and podcasts. 

Personal
Even though I wouldn't necessarily label myself as a "Mac person", after purchasing my iPhone and getting used to its operating system I ended up getting a Macbook when it came time to get a new laptop. While there is quite the learning curve in terms of getting to know how the computer operates compared to a windows based computer, I am starting to figure it out and am having a lot of fun with it. 

Workstation
The computer I use at work runs on a multi user operating system that allows all of our employees around the state to upload files to a common drive to share information