Good for you! By reading this you’ve doubtless been pondering on getting re-qualified for a new job – so you’ve already done more than most. A small minority of us are happy and fulfilled in our work, but it’s rare anyone does more than moan. So, why not be one of the few who make a difference in their lives.

We’d politely request that prior to beginning any study program, you run through some things with a mentor who can see the bigger picture and can advise you. Such a person will go through personality profiling with you and help you find your ideal job to train for:

* Is working with other people your thing? Perhaps you like being a team player? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that you can get on with on your own?

* What elements are you looking for from the market sector you work in? – We all know that things have changed, look at building and banking for instance.

* Having completed your retraining, are you hoping your new skills will give you the ability to serve you till you retire?

* Do you think being qualified will give you the chance to discover new employment possibilities, and stay employable until your retirement plans kick in?

The largest sector in Great Britain that can satisfy a trainee’s demands is Information Technology. There is a requirement for greater numbers of qualified staff in the industry, – take a look at any jobsite and you’ll see for yourself. However, it’s not all techie people looking at their computerscreens the whole time – it’s much more diverse than that. Most of the people in this sector are just like you and me, with well paid and stimulating jobs.

One useful service that many training companies provide is a programme of Job Placement assistance. This is to help you get your first commercial position. With the huge need for more IT skills in the UK today, it’s not too important to make too much of this option though. It isn’t so complicated as you might think to land your first job once you’re properly qualified.

However, don’t wait till you’ve qualified before updating your CV. Right at the beginning of your training, list what you’re working on and tell people about it!

It’s possible that you won’t have even passed your first exam when you’ll secure your initial junior support role; although this won’t be the case if your CV isn’t in front of employers.

Normally you’ll get quicker results from a specialist locally based employment agency than any training provider’s employment division, because they’ll know local industry and the area better.

Just make sure you don’t conscientiously work through your course materials, and then just stop and imagine someone else is miraculously going to sort out your employment. Stop procrastinating and get on with the job. Channel as much time and energy into securing your new role as you did to get trained.

A sneaky way that training providers make a lot more is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and then including an ‘Exam Guarantee’. It looks impressive, but is it really:

They’ve allowed costings for it one way or another. It’s definitely not free – they’ve just worked it into the package price.

Trainees who take each progressive exam, paying for them just before taking them are much more likely to pass. They’re conscious of what they’ve paid and prepare more appropriately to be up to the task.

Isn’t it in your interests to not pay up-front, but when you’re ready, not to pay any mark-up to a training college, and to take it closer to home – instead of the remote centre that’s convenient only to the trainer?

Paying upfront for exams (which also includes interest if you’ve taken out a loan) is madness. Why fill a company’s coffers with your hard-earned cash simply to help their cash-flow! Some will be pinning their hopes on the fact that you don’t even take them all – but they won’t refund the cash.

Re-takes of previously unsuccessful exams via training course providers who offer an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are tightly controlled. You’ll be required to sit pre-tests till you’ve proven conclusively that you can pass.

On average, exams cost approximately 112 pounds last year through UK VUE or Prometric centres. Therefore, why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra to get ‘Exam Guarantees’, when common sense dictates that the responsible approach is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.

Wouldn’t it be great to know for sure that our jobs will always be secure and the future is protected, but the likely scenario for the majority of jobs in England today seems to be that there is no security anymore.

It’s possible though to reveal market-level security, by searching for areas that have high demand, mixed with work-skill shortages.

Recently, a UK e-Skills analysis highlighted that 26 percent of IT jobs are unfilled due to a huge deficit of appropriately certified professionals. Showing that for each four job positions in existence across Information Technology (IT), we have only 3 certified professionals to do them.

Gaining proper commercial computing qualification is consequently a quick route to a life-long and rewarding occupation.

Without a doubt, now really is a fabulous time to join Information Technology (IT).

Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, without a doubt, starting to replace the older academic routes into the industry – so why is this happening?

Industry now recognises that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, proper accreditation from the likes of Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA most often has much more specialised relevance – for much less time and money.

Patently, a reasonable amount of background knowledge must be taught, but precise specialisation in the particular job function gives a vendor educated person a real head start.

Imagine if you were an employer – and your company needed a person with some very particular skills. What should you do: Trawl through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from several applicants, asking for course details and what workplace skills they’ve mastered, or choose particular accreditations that exactly fulfil your criteria, and make your short-list from that. Your interviews are then about personal suitability – instead of having to work out if they can do the job.

Many folks don’t understand what information technology is about. It’s ground-breaking, exciting, and puts you at the fore-front of developments in technology affecting everyones lives in the 21st century.

We’ve barely started to get a feel for how technology will affect our lives in the future. The internet will massively change how we regard and interrelate with the entire world over the coming years.

And keep in mind that on average, the income of a person in the IT market over Britain as a whole is significantly greater than in other market sectors, therefore you’ll most likely gain much more once qualified in IT, than you’d get in most other industries.

It seems there’s no end in sight for IT growth in Great Britain as a whole. The market sector is continuing to expand enormously, and with the skills shortage of over 26 percent that we’re experiencing, it’s not showing any signs that it will even slow down for decades to come.

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