Gone are those days when being tech-savvy was a unique trait. Employees and everyone are now required to have some basic tech skills. While some people may be very comfortable using technology, and take up highly complex IT operations, others may need specialized guidance and practice to get through the basics. Either way, you can master these basics easily if you are committed to doing so.
You first need to understand and accept the importance of these basic skills in this new world of work. Companies and organizations are now more interested in employees who have some basic IT knowledge. IT skills help people complete their duties more efficiently. Now, more than ever, businesses and organizations are serious about incorporating tech into their basic operations.
Almost every job role now has a digital counterpart. A long time ago, editors only needed to be skilled in writing with pen and ink. Today, this has evolved into the use of computers to edit and format text documents. Then, the postal service was primarily involved in sending and delivering mail. Today, digital email marketing skills are highly sought-after.
All being said, you should now see the importance of these basic tech skills I am about to show you in this post.
7 Basic Tech Skills You Must Have
These are basic tech skills. The word “basic” was not a misnomer. This is because they are so basic anyone can learn them. Even if you are not so comfortable with computers, you can be able to learn these within a very short time.
1. Word Document Processing
If you have ever worked with a word editor like Microsoft word, you will realise it’s not as simple as one would think. Word processing is also not difficult but it is essentially required in every sector today, including hospitals, banks, corporate business organizations, etc.
Learning basic typing skills is very important. This will enable you to transfer written information within the company, prepare reports, and even more for businesses that rely heavily on writing (e.g, newspaper companies).
Processing Word documents require your knowledge of text spacing and indentation, basic formatting such as bold, italics, and underlining, and the special importance of learning shortcuts in achieving these tasks easily.
If you are interested in developing your Word processing skills, there are a lot of resources out there to help. But “Ctrl + C or Cmd + C” will copy any selected text. “Ctrl + V or Cmd + V” will paste it in the chosen location.
2. Emailing
Emails have become the staple for communications in professional setups today. With emails, businesses and organizations can reach out to thousands of clients in a few seconds.
Email marketing is another offshoot of this discipline, and it involves the inclusion of marketing into regular emails to make them more appetizing to recipients. Of course, anyone can learn this basic skill as well.
Learning the right emailing skills is important for many companies today. It, thus, becomes a necessity to learn the basics of sending emails to your clients, co-workers, and customers. Again, it is not so difficult to learn. You just have to put your mind to consider it and you automatically begin to see yourself getting better at it.
A few tips that might help; the format of an email significantly impacts the reader. The content should be appealing with a good subject title. Following the basic email etiquette will give you the best results and productivity.
3. Basic Troubleshooting for Devices
Troubleshooting is a basic tech skill that comes in handy when your device encounters an unexpected problem. Unexpected errors and software failures happen every time, and everyone can relate. The difference between when they are noticed and how long it takes to get them resolved depends on the ability of the operator to troubleshoot and resolve these issues.
Common issues encountered while working with your computer include network connection issues, screen errors, and forgotten passwords. As a quick tip: if you have forgotten your password on MAC and you need to sign in urgently, this guide here => https://setapp.com/how-to/how-to-reset-lost-mac-password can help you reset your password with ease all by yourself.
The bottom line is, if you invest your time learning how to do basic troubleshooting on your devices, you will be more valued by your employer, as well as be able to solve your own problems easily, effectively, and quickly.
4. Preparing Presentations
There is hardly ever any business nowadays that does not rely on PowerPoint presentations for their lecture, briefings, summaries, and seminars. This basic skill of preparing PowerPoint presentations will truly make you stand out in any organization you are working with.
The skills of preparing presentations lie mainly in your ability to navigate settings, format fonts and spacings using standard etiquette, as well as understanding how to use colors and images for highlighting and emphasis. These are basic skills but not every one of us is already comfortable with them.
Most employers will assume that you know how to create presentations already. This assumption may become a major problem if it turns out you don’t know how to do so. You are required to learn how to create presentations for internal usage, for delivery to other businesses (B2B), and to clients (B2C). Either way, your ability to create visually compelling presentations at work will make you stand out from other people.
Again, there are various tools available on Microsoft Office or Google Suite to help you acquire this basic tech skill.
5. Advanced Search Engine Operations
Anyone can type any keyword in the search bar in any browser and it will populate with results in a few seconds, but not everyone knows advanced search keywords to better refine your search. Search engines like Google, Bing, and others display results based on what they think your keywords are about. With advanced keywords, you tell the search engine exactly what you want.
Over 95% of people worldwide do not know about advanced keyword operators. And while this statistic may not be verified, there are chances you do not even know about them prior to this time. Here are some advanced operators you should begin with: Boolean operators such as AND, NOT, and OR, which engage the “true or false” logic. Learning these advanced search engine operators and operations will make you achieve better results for you and your organization.
6. Social Media Skills
Social media skills are not exactly tech skills but they are worth including on this list for obvious reasons. Social media skills leverage digital technology; the social media platforms; to connect with thousands and millions of people and audiences. This can be positively impactful on your business and organization.
As an employee, having a good social media presence can boost your worth before your employer. You can be offered a raise if you constantly promote your company’s brand and the impact is significantly visible. Many employers pay social media managers separately to promote their brands on social media. Learning how to do this will, thus, add a feather to your cap.
Final words
In this new age, basic tech skills are required of everyone. Being tech-savvy is no longer limited to a few people, it is universal.
As an employee, learning basic tech skills puts you in an advantageous position over other employees in the workplace. It helps you get things done more efficiently and save you a lot of stress when you get into some trouble.
If for no other reason, learning these basic tech skills is important in making you more valuable, loved, and useful to yourself and your employer. This directly or indirectly translates to more money in ways you may not be able to forsee.
