Posted: Aug 07, 2012 9:25 pm
Moderate proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite of programs - Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and maybe even Outlook and Access - is, in my opinion, part of a basic set of IT skills. To an extent, I assume people have these skills already, when applying for an office-based job. It's not something I necessarily look for, but if it's on the CV, my reaction is simply: "Ah, all right, then. Thanks for mentioning it." Word and PowerPoint are pretty easy programs one can learn the essentials of quite quickly. If they're not explicitly stated in your skill set, it not something to be concerned about. A recruiter like me might even think they weren't even worth mentioning. So, in my opinion, they're not special skills.