When I hired my assistant, several years ago, I asked her if she was good at PowerPoint. Really wanting the job, she enthusiastically replied "Oh, yes -- VERY good!"
She then went out and bought "PowerPoint for Dummies," and boned up on it during the week before she started the job with me.
I bet there is an "Excel for Dummies" book, too, and that whole series is very good -- my family owns several (eBaying for Dummies, etc.). I do think you're going to be expected to be proficient at Word and Excel for just about any office job these days.
