Congratulations! By landing here it’s likely you’re thinking about learning new skills to change career – that puts you way ahead of the crowd. Only one in ten of us are content with our jobs, but no action is ever taken. So, why not be one of the few who make a difference in their lives.
Before embarking on a course, look for some advice – find an industry expert; someone who’ll give you career advice based on what works best for you, and offer only the courses which will get you there:
* Would you like to work with others? If the answer’s yes, would you enjoy being part of a team or are you more comfortable dealing with strangers? Or would you rather work alone with a task?
* Building and Banking are not coping well at the moment, so which sector would give you the most options?
* After re-training, how long a career do you hope for, and will the market sector provide you with that possibility?
* Do you have niggles about the possibility of getting another job, and being in demand in the employment market right up to retirement?
We would advise that you consider the IT sector – it’s common knowledge that it is one of the few growth sectors. IT isn’t all techie people gazing at their PC’s every day – of course those jobs exist, but most jobs are carried out by ordinary people who are earning rather well.
Some trainers will only provide basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); not many go late into the evening (after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly. Always avoid training that only supports you with a call-centre messaging service outside of normal office hours. Companies will give you every excuse in the book why you don’t need this. The bottom line is – you need support when you need support – not when it suits them.
The most successful trainers use multiple support centres active in different time-zones. An online system provides an interactive interface to link them all seamlessly, any time of the day or night, help is just seconds away, without any problems or delays. Don’t ever make the mistake of taking second best with the quality of your support. Most would-be IT professionals who fall by the wayside, are in that situation because of a lack of support.
Lately, do you find yourself questioning how safe your job is? For most people, this only rears its head when we get some bad news. But really, the lesson often learned too late is that true job security doesn’t really exist anymore, for nearly everyone now. Now, we only experience security through a swiftly rising marketplace, driven forward by a shortfall of trained staff. It’s this alone that creates the correct setting for a secure market – a much more desirable situation.
Recently, a UK e-Skills investigation demonstrated that twenty six percent of IT jobs are unfilled due to an appallingly low number of trained staff. Therefore, for each 4 job positions that exist around Information Technology (IT), employers can only source certified professionals for 3 of the 4. Acquiring proper commercial computing certification is therefore a ‘Fast Track’ to succeed in a long-term as well as satisfying occupation. As the Information Technology market is developing at such a quick pace, there really isn’t any other area of industry worth considering as a retraining vehicle.
Your training program should always include the latest Microsoft (or any other key organisation’s) authorised exam preparation packages. Don’t fall foul of depending on unofficial exam preparation questions. Their phraseology is sometimes startlingly different – and sometimes this can be a real headache once in the actual exam. Ensure that you have some simulated exam questions in order to check your knowledge at all times. Practice or ‘mock’ exams will help to boost your attitude – so you’re much more at ease with the real thing.
The age-old way of teaching, utilising reference manuals and books, is often a huge slog for most of us. If this describes you, find training programs that are on-screen and interactive. If we’re able to study while utilising as many senses as possible, then the results are usually dramatically better.
Courses are now available via DVD-ROM discs, where everything is taught on your PC. Through video streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how to perform the required skill, with some practice time to follow – via the interactive virtual lab’s. It would be silly not to view some of the typical study materials provided before you make your decision. You should expect videoed instructor demonstrations and interactive modules with audio-visual elements.
Some companies only have access to online training only; sometimes you can get away with this – but, imagine the problems if internet access is lost or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It’s preferable to have actual CD or DVD ROMs that removes the issue entirely.
Students often end up having issues because of one aspect of their training very rarely considered: The way the training is divided into chunks and couriered to your address. Many think it logical (when study may take one to three years to gain full certified status,) for a training company to release a single section at a time, as you achieve each exam pass. Although: With thought, many trainees understand that their training company’s ‘standard’ path of training isn’t the easiest way for them. Sometimes, it’s more expedient to use an alternative order of study. Perhaps you don’t make it inside of the expected timescales?
To provide the maximum security and flexibility, most students now choose to request that all their modules (now paid for) are sent immediately, and not in a piecemeal fashion. You can then decide at what speed and in which order you’d like to work.
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