Congratulations! By landing here you’re probably toying with the idea of re-training to work in a different industry – that puts you way ahead of the crowd. A small minority of us are satisfied with our careers, but most just moan and do nothing about it. You could be a member of the few who actually do something about it.
Before we even think about individual training courses, discuss your thoughts with an industry expert who will be able to guide you on what to look for. Someone who has the ability to get a feel for your personality, and find out the best career for you to work towards:
* Are you hoping to be involved with others in the workplace? Would that be with the same people or with many new people? Perhaps working alone with your own methodology would be more your thing?
* Banking and building are not coping well right now, so it’s important to look very carefully at what sector would suit you best?
* Once your training has been completed, would you like your skills to see you to retirement age?
* Do you want your study to be in an area where as far as you can see you will be able to work up to retirement age?
The most significant market sector in the UK to meet the above criteria is Information Technology. There’s a shortage of knowledgeable people in the industry, simply have a look at a local jobs website and you’ll discover what we mean. However, it’s not full of techie geeks staring at theirscreens every day – there’s a lot more to it than that. The majority of the people in the industry are ordinary people, with well paid and stimulating jobs.
Don’t forget: the actual training or an accreditation is not the ultimate goal; a job that you’re getting the training for is. A lot of colleges seem to place too much importance on the actual accreditation. It’s a testament to the marketing skills of the big companies, but a large percentage of students start out on programs that sound marvellous from the prospectus, but which provides a job that doesn’t satisfy. Talk to many university students for a real eye-opener.
Stay focused on where you want to go, and then build your training requirements around that – don’t do it the other way round. Keep on track and ensure that you’re training for an end-result that’ll reward you for many long and fruitful years. Look for advice and guidance from an experienced advisor, even if there’s a fee involved – as it’s a lot cheaper and safer to discover early on whether your choices are appropriate, instead of discovering after two full years that you’re doing entirely the wrong thing and have to return to the start of another program.
Please understand this most important point: You absolutely must have proper 24×7 instructor support. Later, you’ll kick yourself if you don’t adhere to this. Avoid those companies that use call-centres ‘out-of-hours’ – with your call-back scheduled for typical office hours. This is no use if you’re stuck and need an answer now.
It’s possible to find professional companies that give students direct-access online support at all times – no matter what time of day it is. If you accept anything less than online 24×7 support, you’ll regret it very quickly. You might not want to use the service during the night, but what about weekends, early mornings or late evenings.
When did you last consider the security of your job? Normally, this issue only becomes a talking point when we experience a knock-back. However, the lesson often learned too late is that true job security simply doesn’t exist anymore, for nearly everyone now. However, a marketplace with high growth, where staff are in constant demand (through an enormous shortfall of trained people), provides a market for proper job security.
Taking the IT business for instance, the most recent e-Skills study showed a skills gap in the United Kingdom around the 26 percent mark. Put simply, we’re only able to fill just three out of each 4 job positions in IT. This glaring concept reveals the urgent need for more properly accredited Information Technology professionals across the country. We can’t imagine if a better time or market settings could exist for acquiring training in this hugely growing and evolving sector.
Don’t accept anything less than an accredited exam preparation programme included in the package you choose. Be sure that the mock exams are not just posing the correct questions on the right subjects, but ask them in the same way that the proper exam will phrase them. This really messes up students if they’re met with completely different formats and phraseologies. Be sure to have some simulated exam questions in order to check your comprehension at any point. Simulated or practice exams help to build your confidence – so the actual exam is much easier.
