Congratulate yourself that you’re on the right track! A fraction of the population enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but vast numbers simply moan about it and take no action. Because you’ve done research we have a hunch that you’re at least considering retraining, so you’ve already stood out from the crowd. Take your time now to research and follow-through.
Before you make decisions on any career courses, discuss your thoughts with an industry expert who can help you sort out which area will be right for you. Someone who can get to know your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:
* Do you like working on your own or is being in a team environment an important option?
* Do you have a preference which market sector you would be suited to? (In this economy, it’s essential to choose well.)
* Is this the last time you imagine you’ll re-train, and if so, do you suppose your new career will allow you to do that?
* Would you like your study to be in an industry where you believe your chances of gainful employment are high until retirement?
We would advise that you consider Information Technology – it’s well known that it is one of the few growth sectors. It’s not all nerdy people looking at computer screens constantly – naturally some IT jobs demand that, but the majority of roles are carried out by people like you and me who get on very well.
A useful feature provided by many trainers is job placement assistance. This is to assist your search for your first position. With the growing demand for appropriately skilled people in this country right now, there’s no need to become overly impressed with this service however. It’s not as difficult as you may be led to believe to get a job as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications.
Having said that, it’s important to have help and assistance with preparing a CV and getting interviews though; also we would encourage any student to get their CV updated right at the beginning of their training – don’t put it off till you’ve finished your exams.
Getting your CV considered is more than not being known. A surprising amount of junior positions are bagged by trainees (sometimes when they’ve only just got going.)
Most often, a specialist locally based recruitment consultancy (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) is going to give you a better service than a centralised training company’s service. They should, of course, also be familiar with the local area and commercial needs.
To bottom line it, as long as you focus the same level of energy into securing your first IT position as into studying, you’re not going to hit many challenges. A number of students strangely spend hundreds of hours on their training and studies and then just stop once qualified and would appear to think that businesses will just discover them.
Don’t get hung-up, as many people do, on the certification itself. Training is not an end in itself; you should be geared towards the actual job at the end of it. You need to remain focused on where you want to go.
Don’t let yourself become one of the unfortunate masses who select a program that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and end up with a plaque on the wall for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.
You must also consider your feelings on earning potential, career development, plus your level of ambition. It makes sense to understand what (if any) sacrifices you’ll need to make for a particular role, what exams are required and where you’ll pick-up experience from.
Take guidance from an experienced professional, even if you have to pay – it’s usually much cheaper and safer to find out at the start if you’ve chosen correctly, instead of discovering following two years of study that you aren’t going to enjoy the job you’ve chosen and now need to go back to square one.
Looking at the myriad of choice out there, does it really shock us that the majority of trainees get stuck choosing the job they could be successful with.
How can we possibly grasp the tasks faced daily in an IT career if we’ve never been there? Often we have never met anyone who performs the role either.
Consideration of the following issues is most definitely required when you want to reveal the right answers:
* The sort of individual you reckon you are – what kind of jobs you find interesting, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.
* Are you driven to re-train for a specific motive – i.e. do you aim to work from home (maybe self-employment?)?
* How highly do you rate salary – is it of prime importance, or do you place job satisfaction a little higher on the scale of your priorities?
* Considering the huge variation that Information Technology encapsulates, it’s a requirement that you can take in how they differ.
* You need to appreciate the differences between each area of training.
In all honesty, it’s obvious that the only real way to research these issues will be via a meeting with someone that understands Information Technology (as well as it’s commercial needs and requirements.)
Only consider study programmes which move onto industry approved certifications. There are far too many small companies proposing minor ‘in-house’ certificates which are worthless when you start your job-search.
Unless your qualification is issued by a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe, then it’s likely it will be commercially useless – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.
(C) 2009. Pop to LearningLolly.com for superb career advice on IT Jobs News and Comptia News.