How can I measure my MS Office skills to better prepare for job hunting?

Question

I'll be changing careers within a few months and would like to know where I stand with my ms office knowledge and usage skills, possibly even against others in the nation. I believe this will help me determine just how much I'm worth as an employee (salary) and also aid in pin-pointing what type of job I should apply for. How should I go about testing my PC/Office skills without taking those long, boring, official cert tests? Please note: a tech career is NOT my goal, but rather some possible office work.

Answer 1

Register at companies like Manpower or Randstadt. The temporary help agencies will give you tests in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access. Just try it.

Answer 2

There are a ton of sites to test your knowledge. I studied for all of those boring tests and took them all - it's a lot of work but you get 'certified' and it tells the company a lot. If you go to the microsoft site (click on Start/windows update and click Office tab), you can pick around to "learn office", etc. and there will be some questions there. I must have used at least 7 sites. Also, I invested in a DVD that has questions similar to the ones on the certification tests. Here are some sites that will get you started.
www.measureup.com
www.pcskillstests.com/Testing/offices.html
www.scsite.com/wd2003/learn
www.getassessed.net/assess/default.asp

Answer 3

Many textbook publishers (Thompson, IPC, Que) have practice test for many of the office certification test. Silvia Learning Centers may also have a practice test.

Answer 4

Get a MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist) certification.