If you’re looking for a manufacturing job, you might not be thinking specifically about your computer skills. But in fact, there are necessary computer skills important to manufacturing employers. You should know them and highlight them on your resume.
Here are the necessary computer skills you should have to get a job in manufacturing.
How to use Word
If there’s a single software you should know, it’s Microsoft’s Word. Word is an all-purpose document creator. At its simplest, it opens the equivalent of a page on which information can be entered or modified.
Manufacturing jobs need documentation (what’s been done or performed, for instance, or steps on how to do a task). A lot of documentation is done in Word.
Word can also be used to create tables, columns, and so on.
Searching on the web
You may have to look up several things on the internet – which kind of equipment is suitable for a job, specs, steps on how to use equipment – and a knowledge of how to search is vital.
There are several search engines. The most common are Google and Bing, www.google.com, and www.bing.com. You need to know how to open these pages, enter relevant keywords in the search bar, and access the information that is returned.
E-mail is, at this point, an almost universal method of communication. But you’ll need to know how to send (and receive!) a business e-mail, which can be different from e-mail used for friends and family.
First, business e-mail has a more formal style. The subject line always needs to be filled in, which you may not do for personal e-mail. Busy colleagues need to know the subject you’re communicating about at a glance. If they don’t, they may ignore your e-mail, or delete it. The body of the e-mail should be brief and communicate what you need. You shouldn’t use the kind of abbreviations appropriate in text messages (u there?).
Second, you need to respond to important e-mails promptly without getting bogged down in reading e-mails that maybe not as important. Your supervisor’s request for overtime, for instance, should be treated as a top priority. A message from Human Resources about the vacation schedule isn’t as crucial for the performance of work tasks, so it’s of secondary importance.
Are you looking for a new job?
Are you looking for a good, steady manufacturing job? At Expert Staffing, we specialize in matching talented professionals with jobs that will allow them to thrive while they expand their skills and comfort zone. To learn more about promising positions in your field, contact us today.
