Microsoft office suites certification

[Shinagami]

Does anyone know anything about it? I'm told it's extremely helpful if I want to get a better job. I've only been part time for the past year and a half. Have any of you been certified in MOS or know someone who has?

[Tiberius]

First time I've ever heard of that certification to be honest, and I'm skeptical of the claim that it would be "extremely helpful" to get a better job. Unless your job requires you to create / edit really complicated Word / Excel / Powerpoint (etc.) documents, then I'm not sure why you'd want to have it. I mean, it's not like Office products are difficult to use in the first place; most people can handle them fine and if you run into problems, two minutes of Googling will often suffice.

[vorlon13]

Running a forum on the internet, on the other hand . . .

[Shinagami]

First time I've ever heard of that certification to be honest, and I'm skeptical of the claim that it would be "extremely helpful" to get a better job. Unless your job requires you to create / edit really complicated Word / Excel / Powerpoint (etc.) documents, then I'm not sure why you'd want to have it. I mean, it's not like Office products are difficult to use in the first place; most people can handle them fine and if you run into problems, two minutes of Googling will often suffice.

That's what I thought. See I've been with my parents since falling on hard times and they sort of have a tendency to pressure me into things. They want me to get a "real job" instead of following my passion. Either way, some extra money in the bank would be nice!

[Tiberius]

That's what I thought. See I've been with my parents since falling on hard times and they sort of have a tendency to pressure me into things. They want me to get a "real job" instead of following my passion. Either way, some extra money in the bank would be nice!

What's your passion and why can't you monetize that? I wouldn't take parents advice when it comes to job hunting; there are always major differences in the job market with each generation. When I was in my final year of university, my dad told me to send my CV and cover letter to "at least 100 companies" and wait for a response. I didn't do that; I just uploaded my CV to a job site and the next day I had calls from 6 job agencies who wanted to set me up with interviews; I got my first job on the second interview.

[Shinagami]

That's what I thought. See I've been with my parents since falling on hard times and they sort of have a tendency to pressure me into things. They want me to get a "real job" instead of following my passion. Either way, some extra money in the bank would be nice!

What's your passion and why can't you monetize that? I wouldn't take parents advice when it comes to job hunting; there are always major differences in the job market with each generation. When I was in my final year of university, my dad told me to send my CV and cover letter to "at least 100 companies" and wait for a response. I didn't do that; I just uploaded my CV to a job site and the next day I had calls from 6 job agencies who wanted to set me up with interviews; I got my first job on the second interview.

Writing. I've looked into freelance ghost writing and wrote a tryout piece for a local paper and delivered it last week. I've yet to hear back from them. I don't even know what I expect to happen. I just feel it might lead somewhere. I didn't graduate college and  I don't really have any skills.

[Tiberius]

Writing. I've looked into freelance ghost writing and wrote a tryout piece for a local paper and delivered it last week. I've yet to hear back from them. I don't even know what I expect to happen. I just feel it might lead somewhere. I didn't graduate college and  I don't really have any skills.

Do you do fiction / non-fiction or a bit of both? My wife does freelance copywriting full time. There are websites out there that have a low bar but have enough standards that they are not laughable which make for good entry for people with no / low experience. They usually pay only per view, which doesn't wind up being a lot, but it's great practice. There aren't a lot of these left because of content mills, because they ruined the model. She suggests researching what a content mill is so you don't end up working for one without knowing what it is. Sites with limited pay but big availability include:

http://examiner.com (if you sign up referring somebody who already writes for them, they get a $50 bonus)
http://hubpages.com

Research these types of sites; my wife doesn't do a lot of work for them, and isn't up to date on ones that are good. A writers forum will lead you in the right direction.

Another way is content marketplaces; essentially you either post work that you have written, put a price on it and try to sell it, or clients post requests for articles, you pick up the job, and deliver it for a fee. These include:

http://textbroker.com
http://writeraccess.com

Then there are sites which are similar but you compete / bid for jobs. These include:

http://elance.com
http://freelancer.com
and even http://craigslist.com

Some of these sites have amazing gigs happening in the background, that the majority of users will never see. If you do a good job, editors will usually reach out to you and offer you long term contracts, etc. My wife has contracted with Sears, Macys, and CBS as a result of these "behind the scenes" positions.

If you have any questions, shoot me a PM and I'll ask her some more questions.