Well Done! By landing here we guess you must be considering getting re-qualified for a new job – so you’ve already done more than most. Only one in ten of us are satisfied with our careers, but most complain but just stay there. Why not be one of a small number who make a difference in their lives.
We’d strongly advise that before you start any individual training program, you run through some things with a mentor who is familiar with the working environment and can point you in the right direction. Such a person will go through personality profiling with you and give you guidance on the right role for you:
* Do you like working on your own or do you find company is an important option?
* Are you considering which industry you maybe could work in? (Post credit crunch, it’s essential to choose well.)
* Is this the final time you envisage re-training, and if it is, will this new career offer that choice?
* Are you confident that your chosen retraining can help you find employment, and will offer the chance to allow you to work until retirement?
It would be an idea for you to really explore Information Technology – there are more positions than people to do them, and it’s one of the few choices of career where the sector is on the grow. Contrary to the opinions of certain people, it isn’t a bunch of techie geeks staring at their computers the whole time (if you like the sound of that though, they do exist.) Most positions are done by people like you and me who enjoy better than average salaries.
A major candidate for the top potential problem in IT training is often the ‘in-centre’ workshop requirement. Most training schools extol the virtues of the ‘benefits’ of going in to their classes, however, they quickly become a major problem because of:
* All the travelling required – multiple journeys and usually 100’s of miles each time.
* Weekday accessibility to events can be usual, and with 2-3 days to book off work, this is usually problematic for most working students.
* Most of us find 4 weeks off each year is not really enough. Spend at least half of this for educational classes and you’ll experience even more problems.
* Classes usually get fully subscribed quite quickly, meaning we have to accept a slot that doesn’t really suit.
* Some trainees lean towards a slower or quicker pace than the rest of the class. This creates the tension often found in classrooms.
* Most trainees speak about the high (and unexpected) costs associated with all the travelling back and forth to the centre while forking out for food and accommodation becomes prohibitively expensive.
* It’s important to maintain privacy. We don’t want to risk losing any advancement that we’re owed while we retrain.
* It’s quite usual for people to not ask questions they want answered – just because they’re amongst other classmates.
* It should be remembered that days in-centre become basically unreachable, if you work elsewhere in the country for days at a time.
It really does make more sense to be taught when it’s convenient for you – not the company – and use instructor-led videos with interactive lab’s.
Consider… With a laptop you can work in any location you choose. And live 24 hr-a-day support is an online click away when you get challenged.
Just do the modules at any time you need to revise. And of course, you won’t need to take notes as you have the lesson indefinitely.
Even though this doesn’t suddenly take away all study problems, it surely removes stress and makes things simpler. And you’ve reduced travel, hassle and costs.
A proficient and professional consultant (vs a salesman) will cover in some detail your current situation. This is paramount to calculating your study start-point.
If you have a strong background, or sometimes a little work-based experience (some certifications gained previously perhaps?) then it could be that your starting level will be quite dissimilar from someone with no background whatsoever.
For those students commencing IT study for the first time, it’s often a good idea to start out slowly, starting with some basic PC skills training first. Usually this is packaged with any educational course.
