Staffing services look for computer skills for those in the finance and accounting world who want to work temp. In addition to the Internet, the software skills many services look for are Excel and Lotus as well as Solomon, Quickbooks, Peachtree, and Great Plans.
If you choose to work full time as a professional technical temp in the financial field, consider investing in a laptop computer that has some kind of standard financial software on it. There is a demand for the professional technical temp who has combined accounting or auditing knowledge with computer programming skills, and can solve problems and help develop software that specifically meets financial record keeping and analysis requirements. These programs format or arrange various kinds of financial information that accountants and auditors are constantly compiling and explaining. As financial people continue to work with computers, they will design programs that are specific to the needs of public, management, and government accountants and auditors. That means if you are a person who can combine your financial skills with computer knowledge, you will not have any trouble selecting the type of jobs you want as a temporary professional technical worker or as someone who wants to temp your way into a full time job.
If you do not have any computer skills or just want to increase your skills, many staffing services will work with you to accomplish this and train you. Most services will ask you what, if any, skills you have on the computer. Some services will even test your abilities on certain software. You may also be tested on accounting skills, such as your knowledge of debit and credit, and of 10 key (and maybe whether you have 10 key by touch or by sight, which means you must look at a keypad before entering the numbers into a system). Some staffing services have specific written questions that test whether you have the background you say you have as someone who has worked in accounting or finance.
If you want to learn a software program that will help you as an accountant or finance person while working as a temp, there are several ways to accomplish this. First, you can tell the service what skills you want to learn. The service may train you in house, that is, on a computer in the office of the staffing service. Some of the staffing service programs are self tutorial, so you can learn at your own pace. The service may charge you a nominal fee for teaching you the program. Many of the progressive or better staffing services will allow you to come in and work on their equipment and learn on the days they do not have work for you.
Another way to learn accounting software programs is on the job. A staffing service may send you out to work on an accounting assignment where you will be exposed to a software program you know nothing about. Most reputable services will tell the people you are working with you need time to learn the program and will factor in the amount of time you need to learn the software with the time for the assignment. For example, Lois signed up to be an accountant with a staffing service and was told there was a six week job available where she would be working on Quattro Pro and Excel. She was proficient in Excel but had never learned Quattro Pro. She took the six week job, and the staffing service told the company where she would be temping that she could do everything the job required except the Quattro Pro. The service adjusted the hourly bill rate for the client, which allowed Lois to learn the software. The client was satisfied, because Lois was billed at a lower rate while she was learning the software. Lois came away from the six week job with more skills than she had before she started.
