Are you considering applying your Microsoft Office skills towards a new career path? Learn about various certification options which can boost your appeal to potential employers in fields such as data analysis, graphic design, marketing, and more.

Microsoft Office Certifications and Certificates

You may have thought about applying your skills with Microsoft Office to a career but have been frustrated about finding the right certification type or figuring out the differences among certificate programs. You can find certifications for a variety of Office applications, including Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, that can help you gain qualifications that will appeal to potential employers. This article provides options for Excel certification, applying PowerPoint with professional work, or becoming a certified Word Expert.

What is Microsoft Office?

Microsoft Office is an essential tool for working environments across a wide range of businesses. Its software bundles provide a variety of functions, from word processing, building databases, and creating spreadsheets to designing promotional material. Working with Microsoft Office suite applications provides skills for gaining employment with composing, editing, saving, or printing documents. Microsoft Office offers a variety of applications that include Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel for use on both PCs and Macs, as well as the cloud though using Microsoft 365. 

Microsoft Office is the most widely used software application throughout the world. Microsoft Office allows users to manage email accounts, calendars, or to-do lists. Microsoft Office will enable users to get work done remotely or onsite through chats, calls, hosting meetings, or sharing documents in the cloud. Microsoft Office knowledge can be enhanced through several online education providers to improve skills for certifications from training in various applications.

Read more about what Microsoft Office is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Microsoft Office?

Microsoft Office provides features and tools that allow users to organize tasks such as creating presentations with PowerPoint, analyzing and visualizing data using Excel, communicating through email with Outlook, or composing documents using Word. These are just a few examples of the programs and features that have made Office an essential tool for professionals worldwide.

Microsoft PowerPoint has become the industry-standard for creating presentations that allow users to customize projects by designing layouts, creating tables and charts, modifying text, or inserting images, shapes, animations, and layered objects. Excel allows users to create formulas, PivotTables, and macros, along with other techniques for calculations, essential functions, charts, formatting, and printing. Outlook can handle email functions, manage calendars, organize contact lists, or create appointments and meetings.

Finally, Microsoft Word is the most widely used word-processing application worldwide and likely the most used software application. Word offers a trove of features waiting to be unlocked to help users compose, edit, and produce documents in a variety of formats. Through training, students will learn shortcuts, tips, and techniques for optimizing professional or personal use of Word. Training includes lessons for learning formatting techniques, creating hyperlinks, setting bookmarks, or inserting images, videos, and audio.

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

If you are seeking certifications for any number of Microsoft Office applications, the Noble Desktop affiliate NYIM Training provides several certificate program options, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and Access. Excel certification, for example, involves registering for an exam in Excel and, naturally, having to pass the exam to gain the Excel certification. NYIM offers several tiers of Excel certification for different levels of expertise in working with this spreadsheet application.

A person may decide, for instance, to get certified in PowerPoint with a proficiency exam proctored officially by Microsoft with exams for testing a student’s PowerPoint knowledge and prior experience. 

Top Certifications & Certificates for Microsoft Office

Noble Desktop offers Microsoft Certification training through its affiliate NYIM Training. NYIM provides certification for Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and Access.

NYIM Training currently offers the Excel Special Certification Program, which includes three separate Excel courses–fundamental, intermediate, and advanced–as well as two hours of private training along with the Excel Specialists Exam fee that includes a free retake. Those enrolled in this certificate program will also receive free exam proctoring with unlimited access to Excel training videos.

NYIM Training also offers the Word Specialist Certification Program that provides certification training in Microsoft Word along with tuition covering the exam cost, including retaking the exam with free proctoring and being able to retake the class for free. 

Students may choose NYIM’s PowerPoint Specialist Certification Program, which includes a pair of PowerPoint for Business courses, two hours of private exam prep along with the official Microsoft PowerPoint Specialist Exam study guide for taking the PowerPoint Certification exam, which includes a free retake as part of the tuition. 

Should I Get Certified in Microsoft Office?

While having skills in a Microsoft Office application alone cannot provide the foundation for a professional career, gaining Microsoft certification could. For example, certification in Excel could secure a career as a Data Analyst, which requires expert data management and analysis skills with applying Excel’s advanced functions and tools such as PivotTables, VBA, and macros. Excel has become a popular tool for several businesses, particularly for data analysis.

While not as crucial for securing a profession as Excel certification, PowerPoint certification can provide options for users to supplement their other skills, especially with work involving graphic design, marketing, or promotions.

How to Get Certified in Microsoft Office

Students can obtain Microsoft Office Certification for Excel, Access, Word, Outlook, or PowerPoint. Students must pass certification exams for the specific program by completing a set of tasks required for that individual application within the time limit set for the exam.

Learn Microsoft Office with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop