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Well done! Hitting upon this feature suggests you’re thinking about your future, and if it’s re-training you’re considering you’ve already done more than almost everybody else. Did you know that hardly any of us describe ourselves as contented at work – but most will just put up with it. We encourage you to be different and move forward – you have the rest of your life to enjoy it.

We recommend you seek advice first – talk to someone who’s familiar with your chosen field; a guide who can really get to know you and find the best job role for you, and analyse the learning programs which will get you there:

* Is having company at work important to you? Are you better with new people or those you know well? Or you may prefer task-orientated work that you can complete alone?

* What do you require from the market sector you work in? (Things do change – look at the building trade, or banks for example.)

* Would you like this to be the last time you’ll have to retrain?

* Do you expect your new knowledge base to give you the chance to get a good job, and keep working until sixty five?

We would advise you to consider the computer industry – there are a larger number of roles than staff to fill them, plus it’s one of the few choices of career where the market sector is still growing. In contrast to the opinions of certain people, it isn’t just geeks looking at screens every day (some jobs are like that of course.) The vast majority of roles are occupied by ordinary men and women who enjoy better than average salaries.

The perhaps intimidating chore of securing your first job is often made easier by training colleges, through a Job Placement Assistance service. Often, too much is made of this feature, as it’s relatively easy for well qualified and focused men and women to get a job in this industry – because there’s a great need for skilled employees.

However, avoid waiting until you have completed your exams before bringing your CV up to date. As soon as you start a course, enter details of your study programme and place it on jobsites!

It’s not uncommon to find that junior support roles are offered to people who are in the process of training and haven’t even passed a single exam yet. This will at least get you into the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s – rather than the ‘No’ pile.

The top companies to help get you placed are generally local IT focused employment agencies. Because they get paid commission to place you, they have more incentive to get on with it.

Not inconsiderable numbers of men and women, apparently, put a great deal of effort into their studies (sometimes for years), and then just stop instead of trying to get the right position. Market yourself… Do your best to put yourself out there. A job isn’t just going to bump into you.

A ridiculously large number of organisations only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and forget what it’s all actually about – which is a commercial career or job. You should always begin with the final destination in mind – don’t get hung-up on the training vehicle.

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.

Talk to an experienced industry advisor who understands the work you’re contemplating, and who can give you a detailed run-down of what you actually do in that role. Getting all these things right well before beginning a training course makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

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.

Perusing long lists of different and confusing job titles is a complete waste of time. Surely, most of us have no idea what our own family members do for a living – so we have no hope of understanding the ins and outs of any specific IT role.

Generally, the way to deal with this question appropriately flows from a deep discussion of a number of areas:

* The sort of individual you reckon you are – what kind of jobs you find interesting, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.

* Are you aiming to achieve a closely held dream – like working for yourself someday?

* What salary and timescale requirements you may have?

* 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.

The bottom line is, your only chance of investigating all this is from an in-depth discussion with an advisor or professional that has enough background to lead you to the correct decision.

You have to be sure that all your exams are current and what employers are looking for – you’re wasting your time with programmes which provide certificates that are worthless because they’re ‘in-house’.

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. Visit LearningLolly.com for quality advice on IT Jobs Growth and Comptia Training News.

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