At Love Success, we want to make sure that those working in or applying for PA jobs in London have the professional skills to feel confident and thrive in the role. It’s great to put training and development on your CV, but taking the initiative and completing free courses off your own back shows prospective employers that you’re dedicated and proactive too.
Now is an excellent time to develop your skills in PA and executive assistant work. With the pandemic, furlough, and home-working, lots of free online courses for PAs have sprung up. Taking some of these admin-boosting courses can help your career.
We’ve scoured the net and our networks, and these are our favourite online courses for Personal Assistants and Executive Assistants.
Free MS Office training
Working for executives in office settings, even if you’re currently working from home, means you’ll almost certainly need to be an MS Office pro. From Excel to PowerPoint to Word, your skills with this software are essential in every aspect of what you do.
We truly understand this! And that’s why we offer all Love Success candidates access to our Software Training Suite, which can be accessed anywhere and at any time as long as you have an internet connection. You can take as many courses as you want.
Typing
Typing skills enable you to work quickly and accurately. Competent typing skills are frequently a basic request from employers recruiting PAs. Typing.com is a free online course that takes you through the stages required to become proficient. If you’re new to admin and PA-type roles, we highly recommend that you follow this course or a similar one.
If you want to be able to prove your value with skills like typing, at Love Success we have a Free Assessment Centre. Typing is just one of many skills we can assess for you.
Critical thinking and problem solving
As a PA, your executive will frequently look to you to take the initiative. They need to know that you’re capable of solving problems and taking decisive action. However, this can be quite daunting! This free course by Coursera digs deep into everything you need to know to become a skilled critical thinker. It’s an excellent course to give you confidence in identifying and pursuing solutions.
Data Protection
PAs need to be capable of acting with immense discretion. Frequently, data that needs to be managed carefully will be in your hands. It will be very reassuring to you and your boss if you’re fully conversant on your legal responsibilities when it comes to data protection and privacy.
The Introduction to GDPR course is free and will take you through the fundamentals you need to know.
Communication
Communication is a vital skill for Personal Assistants. Your skills here often define just how suited you are to the role. Another free Coursera course that’s great for PAs is their Improving Communication Skills course. This provides administrative professionals with excellent tools for elevating their communication.
Events Management
Usually, in a PA role, events management will be an important task. As society opens up more following the pandemic, it’s probably important to brush up on these skills, which have potentially been unused for a year! The Event Planning course by the Oxford Home Study Centre will be an excellent refresher, or will provide you with the core skills to creating a successful event if you’re new to it.
Here to help
At Love Success, we genuinely believe that it’s part of our role as a PA recruitment agency to ensure you have the skills needed to succeed in PA jobs in London. We’re here to help you access the training you need and carry out assessments for you. Get in touch on 020 7870 7177.
Love Success is a leading London PA & office support recruitment agency.
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