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Dana Craig
Administrative Assistant, SENTAR
Microsoft Office Specialist
After raising three children, Dana Craig decided it was time to return to the workforce. She quickly landed a job as a receptionist for Sentar, a custom software development and research company.
She was immediately overwhelmed by how much office technology had changed and found that her basic computer experience was no longer sufficient in today's workplace. "I was afraid to even hit the enter key for fear of what would happen!" she admitted. Challenged by the responsibilities of her new job, she decided to change her major at Calhoun Community College to earn a computer science degree.
The classes were helpful in providing basic computer knowledge, but Craig found that she wanted to learn at a faster rate than the courses offered. When one of her co-worker mentioned the Microsoft® Office Specialist program, she was immediately intrigued by the prospect of becoming Microsoft certified-and at her own pace!
Craig says Microsoft Office certification not only benefits her personally, but her company as well. She explains, "Along with the research and development activities at Sentar, we also write numerous proposals and conduct marketing presentations. Employees with the skills to create and conduct PowerPoint briefings and develop Access databases to track our software allow our developers to actually spend their time developing!"
Craig mentioned her desire to become certified to Peter Kiss, CEO of Sentar, who gladly supported her idea and even paid for the certification exams. He stated, "I knew this was a worthwhile investment because it would allow Dana to be a more productive employee and allows us to offer additional capabilities to our customers."
Since Craig has always loved new challenges, certification became an exciting goal for her to achieve. Once prepared, she arranged to take the exams at the Fourth R Education Center in the Huntsville Computer Renaissance. She was pleased by their excellent customer service and even more pleased after she passed four certification exams!
Craig attributes her raise and promotion to Administrative Assistant to certification. "Microsoft Office certification gave me a very tangible goal that helped me focus my career direction," she says. Craig intends to complete Master level certification for Office 2000 in the near future and eventually plans to become a Microsoft Office trainer. No longer feeling overwhelmed by her office responsibilities, she credits certification for its positive impact on her job, "Now, instead of being overwhelmed by my job, I enjoy all of the challenges it brings."
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