Success!
On Monday I was called by someone at the college, asking me to come in and do some testing that they do for all their Administrative Assistants. It was on Word, Excel, typing and editing. They were timed tests; half hour for the first two, 5 minutes for the typing and I don't know how long for the editing one.
I finished the Word one in 20 minutes, and to my surprise, I finished the Excel one quicker. There were some things asked on it that I have no clue about (I've never heard of a Macro, don't know what they're used for... nor do I know how to link things from one worksheet to another in a spreadsheet), but most of the time I just clicked around and found my way. I wonder if it was testing not so much on how well you KNOW how to use the things, but how well you can find your way around/follow directions.
The typing thing was a breeze; I went slow because I hadn't clipped my nails and that always slows me down. I have taken some online typing tests that either won't let you back up if you make a mistake, or count it as wrong, or count everything after a mistake as wrong, and didn't know if this test did that as well, so I just went a little slower to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. When reviewing with the HR consultant afterward, I found I was at 86% on both the Word & Excel parts (they look for 70 and above), I typed 79 wpm with 100% accuracy (and I know I can type a bit faster), and in the 99th percentile with their editing thing. Nice to know.
The whole thing took about an hour and a half from the time I got there to the time I left, and she said she'd talk to the Director of Housing Services and I might be getting a call back as early as that afternoon. Since I was in the city I decided to look around a bit; I went to Loopy Yarns on State Street (a cool shop; they sell vegan yarn!) and the MAC store on Oak. While at MAC - about an hour after I had left the university - the HR lady called me back and said they'd like to offer me the position. Yay!
My first post-college job. I'm nervous, but then I know that no one knows what they're supposed to do their first day of work. There are about 10 staff members in the department, so I'll be supporting them and then I'm the supervisor for about 5-7 student staff members. My first day is June 18... so I have a lot of packing to do in the next week! Plus, we get the keys a week from today, so I have to be in the city for a few hours next Saturday. I sometimes feel like I've gotten a lot done (the kitchen is almost totally packed, the one bedroom has stuff that's either packed or will be taken by hand instead of the movers), but then I look around this room (the living room) and it looks like a hurricane. Maybe if I go through the papers on the table it'll seem a little more put together.
Since I got my packet from the university from HR today, I should take a few minutes to read through some of it, so I'll do that now. :)
I finished the Word one in 20 minutes, and to my surprise, I finished the Excel one quicker. There were some things asked on it that I have no clue about (I've never heard of a Macro, don't know what they're used for... nor do I know how to link things from one worksheet to another in a spreadsheet), but most of the time I just clicked around and found my way. I wonder if it was testing not so much on how well you KNOW how to use the things, but how well you can find your way around/follow directions.
The typing thing was a breeze; I went slow because I hadn't clipped my nails and that always slows me down. I have taken some online typing tests that either won't let you back up if you make a mistake, or count it as wrong, or count everything after a mistake as wrong, and didn't know if this test did that as well, so I just went a little slower to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. When reviewing with the HR consultant afterward, I found I was at 86% on both the Word & Excel parts (they look for 70 and above), I typed 79 wpm with 100% accuracy (and I know I can type a bit faster), and in the 99th percentile with their editing thing. Nice to know.
The whole thing took about an hour and a half from the time I got there to the time I left, and she said she'd talk to the Director of Housing Services and I might be getting a call back as early as that afternoon. Since I was in the city I decided to look around a bit; I went to Loopy Yarns on State Street (a cool shop; they sell vegan yarn!) and the MAC store on Oak. While at MAC - about an hour after I had left the university - the HR lady called me back and said they'd like to offer me the position. Yay!
My first post-college job. I'm nervous, but then I know that no one knows what they're supposed to do their first day of work. There are about 10 staff members in the department, so I'll be supporting them and then I'm the supervisor for about 5-7 student staff members. My first day is June 18... so I have a lot of packing to do in the next week! Plus, we get the keys a week from today, so I have to be in the city for a few hours next Saturday. I sometimes feel like I've gotten a lot done (the kitchen is almost totally packed, the one bedroom has stuff that's either packed or will be taken by hand instead of the movers), but then I look around this room (the living room) and it looks like a hurricane. Maybe if I go through the papers on the table it'll seem a little more put together.
Since I got my packet from the university from HR today, I should take a few minutes to read through some of it, so I'll do that now. :)