Chris's Blog

You should feel pleased that you’re on the right track! Just ten percent of people enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but vast numbers just go off on one from time to time and that’s it. As you’ve reached this page we can guess that you’ve a personal interest in re-training, so even now you’re ahead of the game. The next step is to get busy to find your direction.

For those thinking of re-training, it’s crucial that you first make a list of your expectations from the position you’re looking to get into. It’s important to discover if things would be a lot better before much time and effort is spent re-directing your life. So much better to look at the destination you’re hoping for, to avoid disappointment:

* Do you operate better working alone or perhaps being around others is an important option?

* Have you given much thought to which area you choose to work in? (With the economic downturn, it’s even more crucial to get it right.)

* Is this the last time you plan to retrain, and if so, do you believe this career choice will give you scope to do that?

* Is it important for the course you’re re-training in to be in a market sector where you know you’ll have a job until your pension kicks in?

The biggest industry in the United Kingdom to meet the above criteria is the computer industry, particularly IT. There is a requirement for greater numbers of skilled technicians in this market, – take a look at any jobs website and you will find them yourself. Don’t misunderstand and think it’s all nerdy people sitting in front ofscreens all day – there’s a lot more to it than that. Large numbers of the people in IT are just like you and me, but they enjoy their work and get well paid.

A so-called advisor who doesn’t ask many questions – chances are they’re just trying to sell you something. If they’re pushing towards a particular product before getting to know your background and whether you have any commercial experience, then you know it’s true.

With some real-world experience or certification, it may be that your starting point of study is very different to someone completely new.

Always consider starting with a user-skills course first. It will usually make the learning curve a much more gentle.

The perhaps intimidating chore of getting your first IT job is often eased by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance facility. Ultimately it isn’t so complicated as you might think to get a job – assuming you’re well trained and qualified; the growing UK skills shortage sees to that.

One important thing though, avoid waiting until you have passed your final exams before polishing up your CV. Right at the beginning of your training, enter details of your study programme and tell people about it!

It can happen that you haven’t even passed your first exam when you will get your initial junior support role; however this isn’t going to happen if your CV isn’t in front of employers.

If you don’t want to travel too far to work, then you’ll probably find that an independent and specialised local employment service can generally be more appropriate than a national service, because they’re far more likely to have insider knowledge of what’s available near you.

In a nutshell, as long as you focus the same level of energy into securing a job as into training, you’re not going to hit many challenges. A number of people strangely invest a great deal of time on their course materials and then just stop once they’ve passed their exams and would appear to think that businesses will just discover them.

Often, trainers provide piles of reference manuals and workbooks. Learning like this is dull and repetitive and not ideal for studying effectively.

Research over recent years has constantly shown that connecting physically with our study, is far more likely to produce long-lasting memories.

The latest audio-visual interactive programs featuring instructor demo’s and practice lab’s beat books hands-down. And they’re far more fun.

Each company you’re contemplating must be pushed to demo some simple examples of the type of training materials they provide. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and interactive areas to practice in.

Many companies provide just online versions of their training packages; and although this is okay the majority of the time, think what will happen if you lose your internet access or you get intermittent problems and speed issues. It’s much safer to rely on DVD or CD discs that will solve that problem.

An all too common mistake that we encounter all too often is to concentrate on the course itself, rather than starting with the end result they want to achieve. Schools are full of unaware students who chose a course based on what sounded good – in place of something that could gain them the job they want.

It’s an awful thing, but the majority of trainees commence training that sounds amazing from the marketing materials, but which provides a job that is of no interest. Speak to a selection of university leavers for a real eye-opener.

Make sure you investigate your feelings on earning potential, career development, and if you’re ambitious or not. It makes sense to understand what (if any) sacrifices you’ll need to make for a particular role, what accreditations are needed and in what way you can develop commercial experience.

Have a chat with an experienced industry professional that has a commercial understanding of the realities faced in the industry, and who’ll explain to you a detailed run-down of what you’re going to be doing in that job. Contemplating this well before you start on any learning programme will prevent a lot of wasted time and effort.

(C) 2009. Browse LearningLolly.com for logical career tips on MCSA vs MCSE and Web Design Courses.