It’s quite some achievement that you’re reading this article! A small number of workers enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but most of us just bitch about it and take no action. The fact that you’re here means it’s likely that you’re finding out about training, so well done to you. Take your time now to research and follow-through.
When considering retraining, it’s important that you first make a list of what you DO want and DON’T want from the job you would like to get. Be sure that you would be more satisfied before you put a lot of energy into taking a new turn. We recommend looking at the whole story first, to steer clear of regrets:
* Do you operate better working alone or is being in a team environment an essential criteria for you?
* Are you thinking carefully about which area you maybe could work in? (With the economic downturn, it’s more important than ever to choose carefully.)
* Is this the final time you imagine you’ll re-train, and based on that, will this new career offer that choice?
* Are you concerned about the chance of getting new work, and being gainfully employed all the way until retirement?
The biggest industry in Great Britain that fulfils the above criteria is Information Technology. There’s a demand for more knowledgeable people in this market, just check out any jobs website and you will find them yourself. Don’t misunderstand and think it’s full of techie geeks gazing towards theirscreens all the time – it’s much more diverse than that. Large numbers of workers in the computer industry are just like the rest of us, and they have very interesting and well paid jobs.
Including exam fees with the course fee and offering an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is a common method with a number of training colleges. But let’s examine why they really do it:
We all know that we’re ultimately paying for it – it’s quite obvious to see that it’s been inserted into the overall price charged by the training company. It’s absolutely not free (although some people will believe anything the marketing companies think up these days!)
Should you seriously need to pass first time, then you should pay for each exam as you go, focus on it intently and apply yourself as required.
Isn’t it outrageous to have to pay a training course provider in advance for exam fees? Go for the best offer at the time, instead of paying a premium – and take it closer to home – instead of miles away at the college’s beck and call.
Is there a good reason to pay interest on a bigger loan than is necessary because you’ve paid early for examination fees when there was no need to? A great deal of money is made by companies charging all their exam fees up-front – and then cashing in when they’re not all taken.
The majority of organisations will require you to do mock exams and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass – which actually leaves you with no guarantee at all.
With average Prometric and VUE exams coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, it makes sense to pay as you go. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? Study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.
Many trainers provide a shelf full of reference manuals. This can be very boring and not really conducive to achieving retention.
We see a huge improvement in memory retention when we use multiple senses – this has been an accepted fact in expert circles for decades now.
The latest home-based training features interactive CD and DVD ROM’s. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you’ll take everything in through the expert demonstrations. Then it’s time to test your knowledge by practicing and interacting with the software.
Be sure to get a study material demo’ from the training company. You’ll want to see expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and lab’s for you to practice your skills in.
It doesn’t make sense to select online only courseware. Connection quality and reliability varies hugely across most broadband providers, it makes sense to have physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s.
When did you last consider the security of your job? For the majority of us, this issue only becomes a talking point when something dramatic happens to shake us. But in today’s marketplace, the lesson often learned too late is that job security doesn’t really exist anymore, for all but the most lucky of us.
Security only exists now through a rapidly growing marketplace, driven by a lack of trained workers. It’s this shortage that creates the right conditions for a higher level of market-security – a far better situation.
Taking the computing sector for example, a key e-Skills study showed massive skills shortages across the UK of over 26 percent. To explain it in a different way, this highlights that the UK can only find three qualified staff for each 4 job positions available at the moment.
This alarming idea reveals the requirement for more technically accredited computing professionals throughout the country.
We can’t imagine if a better time or market state of affairs will exist for getting trained into this rapidly emerging and developing sector.
Student support is absolutely essential – look for a package that provides 24×7 direct access, as not opting for this kind of support could hamper your progress.
Locate training schools where you can receive help at all hours of the day and night (irrespective of whether it’s the wee hours on Sunday morning!) Make sure it’s always direct-access to qualified mentors and tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages – so you’re parked in a queue of others waiting to be called back when it’s convenient for them.
It’s possible to find the top providers which offer online support at all times – even in the middle of the night.
If you accept anything less than direct-access round-the-clock support, you’ll regret it. It may be that you don’t use it during the night, but consider weekends, early mornings or even late evenings at some point.
You have to make sure that all your certifications are commercially valid and current – forget studies which provide certificates that are worthless because they’re ‘in-house’.
All the major commercial players such as Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA each have nationally acknowledged proficiency programs. These big-hitters will make sure you’re employable.
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