The Skills You Should Learn to Get An Office Job

If you’re looking to make a change and would prefer an office job to what you’re doing now, it’s important that you learn some of the skills—whether it’s writing, presenting, organizing and beyond—that will help you find the job you’re looking for.

Keep in mind that the specific skills you need depend on the job you’re looking for, but there are several that translate across most. To help, we’ll delve deeper into these important skills, including:

• Attention to detail
• Interpersonal communications
• Basic computer skills
• Time management
• Self-care

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Attention to detail. There’s are a lot of minutiae that comes with an office job. It doesn’t matter the scope or magnitude of what you’re doing; attention to detail will be important. While not everybody is naturally detail-oriented, you can get better at this by doing some of the following:

• Organize your workspace. Staying organized makes it easy to see when something is out of place in your space and other areas. You’ll start noticing how things should be organized in spaces other than your desk as you try to keep things in their place.
• Slow down. Sometimes we’re in such a hurry to get things done that we skip over the smaller details of the task. Slow down with your work to pay attention to the details of the task.
• Read books. If you’re having a hard time slowing down, take time to read books. No, this doesn’t mean listening to audiobooks. Slow yourself down and read a physical book because it forces you to focus on the task at hand rather than trying to multitask. You’ll have a greater appreciation for the work you do and the details of it all.
• Focus on quality over quantity. It’s not uncommon to focus on the amount of work you’re doing above its quality. Change your focus to doing what you need to improve the final product of your work. At first, especially, you’ll find that the amount of work you can do will decrease, but the quality will greatly improve.

Strong interpersonal communication skills. Whether you want to be an office administrator or answer phones, you’re going to be working with people. From sending emails, to working on team projects, to speaking with customers— interpersonal communication skills are arguably the most important of them all. Not sure if you’re ready? Here are some ways that you can work to improve your interpersonal communication skills:

• Be an active listener.
• Don’t talk over people or try to finish their sentences.
• Be open to feedback.
• Be confident when speaking.
• Maintain eye contact during a conversation.
• Be aware of body language.

Basic computer skills. Working an office job often means working at a computer. For typical office workers, you won’t need to know how to do things like computer programming or code writing, but basic computer skills are a must, like creating and saving files, making a spreadsheet, sending an email, creating a presentation, and using other basic software. If you don’t have these programs on your PC, look into taking a class at your local library, community college, or rec center to learn some of the ins and outs. You can also check out these helpful online videos.

Time management. Projects in an office setting can be somewhat different than those in a retail setting, for example. The long-term timeline you’ll be given comes with many checkpoint deadlines that must be met along the way. For example, you might have a project that takes six months to complete, but you have six to 10 items that need to be completed during that time. What’s more, you might have additional projects you’re working on. Good time management skills make it so that you can get your work done on time without cramming to finish it, which—as we mentioned earlier—can compromise the quality of your work.

Self-care. The lack of physical demand with most office jobs can lead to a sedentary lifestyle and more hours indoors, which can be damaging to your physical, mental, and emotional health. Make sure stay active and maintain a good work-life balance so it doesn’t take a toll on your overall health.

It’s also important to be mindful of personal hygiene. Offices can be tight quarters, and it can be difficult to focus on work if unpleasant smells are filling the air. Maintaining good personal hygiene is part of being a good citizen in an office setting.

In addition to all this, be sure to look at the skills for the specific job you want and start tackling them. Pretty soon, you’ll be climbing the corporate ladder!