Alison Neale enrolled on Aspire 2Be’s Digital Skills for Business qualification to strengthen skills that would support her in her day-to-day role as an administrator.
Alison recognised the valuable opportunity to build on her existing knowledge with the qualification, particularly to develop her confidence with tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
From the outset, Alison found the enrolment process quick and straightforward, allowing her to get started easily. Once she started the programme, she found the resources provided by her Trainer Coach useful and supportive, helping to guide her through each stage of the course and build her understanding as she progressed.
As Alison worked through the qualification, she found the learning highly practical and immediately relevant. One of the standout elements for her was the online Excel training session, which she described as particularly beneficial. Through this learning, she developed a much stronger understanding of the tools and features available within Excel, and has since used those skills to create documents, charts and statistical reports for her managers.
Over time, the impact of the course became increasingly clear. Before starting the qualification, Alison felt limited in a number of areas such as mail merge, understanding the legal implications of data, and using Excel beyond basic copy and paste functions. Since beginning the course, she has developed the confidence to build spreadsheets, input data, convert information into charts, and even use forecasting tools. These new capabilities have already helped her grow in her role and work more effectively with digital systems.
The support Alison received throughout the programme also played an important part in her experience. She described her Trainer Coach as supportive, responsive and always available to help with questions when needed. Alongside this, Alison also felt well supported by her employer, who remained engaged with her progress throughout the course and encouraged her to share what she had learned.
This growing confidence has had a noticeable impact in the workplace. Alison shared that where she might previously have gone to others for help with IT, she now finds colleagues coming to her for support instead.
Alison would recommend the course to anyone who uses digital tools in their role, even those who feel they already have a solid level of knowledge. In her experience, the qualification offers valuable new ways of working and helps learners discover skills that can make everyday tasks easier and more effective. As Alison said, the phrase “work smarter, not harder” perfectly sums up what the course has helped her achieve.
