Well done! Discovering this piece proves you must be pondering over your options, and if it’s re-training you’re considering that means you’ve taken it further than most. Can you believe that just one in ten of us consider ourselves fulfilled in our working life – but the majority will take no corrective action. We implore you to liberate yourself and do something – those who do hardly ever regret it.

Prior to considering any career courses, look for an advisor who can help you sort out what to look for. Someone who has the ability to get an understanding of your personality, and find out the best career for you to work towards:

* Are you happier left to your own devices at work or is being part of a team more important to you?

* What’s important that you get from the area of industry you choose? (If it’s stability you’re after, you might think twice about banks or the building industry right now.)

* Having completed your retraining, would you like your new abilities to take you through to retirement?

* Do you want your retraining to be in an industry where as far as you can see you will be able to work until your pension kicks in?

We would advise that one of your key sectors is the IT industry – it’s common knowledge that it’s getting bigger. It’s not full of geeky individuals lost in their computer screens every day – naturally those roles do exist, but most jobs are filled with people like you and me who are earning rather well.

Traditional teaching in classrooms, with books and manuals, can be pretty hard going sometimes. If this describes you, check out study materials which feature interactive and multimedia modules. Research has consistently verified that an ‘involved’ approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

The latest home-based training features interactive discs. Real-world classes from the instructors will mean you’ll learn your subject by way of the expert demonstrations. Then it’s time to test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself. Each company you’re contemplating should be able to show you a few samples of the materials provided for study. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and interactive areas to practice in.

Purely on-line training should be avoided. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where available, enabling them to be used at your convenience – it’s not wise to be held hostage to your broadband being ‘up’ 100 percent of the time.

The area most overlooked by trainees considering a training program is that of ‘training segmentation’. Essentially, this is the method used to break up the program for delivery to you, which makes a huge difference to how you end up. The majority of training companies will set up a program typically taking 1-3 years, and drop-ship the materials to you piecemeal as you finish each section. If you think this sound logical, then consider this: Many students find that the company’s ‘standard’ path of training isn’t ideal for them. They might find varying the order of study will be far more suitable. And what if you don’t get to the end at the pace they expect?

For maximum flexibility and safety, it’s normal for most trainees to request that all their modules (now paid for) are posted to them in one go, with nothing held back. You can then decide in which order and at what speed you want to work.

It’s important to understand: a training itself or a qualification is not what you’re looking for; the job or career that you’re getting the training for is. Too many training companies over-emphasise the actual accreditation. Never let yourself become one of the unfortunate masses that choose a course that sounds really ‘interesting’ and ‘fun’ – only to end up with a qualification for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.

It’s well worth a long chat to see the exact expectations industry will have. What accreditations they will want you to have and in what way you can gain some industry experience. It’s definitely worth spending time setting guidelines as to how far you wish to go as it will often force you to choose a particular set of exams. Before you embark on a particular training programme, you’d be well advised to chat over individual job requirements with an experienced industry professional, in order to be sure the training course covers all that is required.

Huge changes are coming via technology over the next generation – and it only gets more exciting every day. Computing technology and interaction through the internet is going to dramatically affect the direction of our lives over future years; to a vast degree.

Should receiving a good salary be around the top on your scale of wants, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear that the regular income of the majority of IT staff is noticeably greater than with much of the rest of industry. Excitingly, there is a lot more room for IT industry increases throughout this country. The industry is continuing to expand enormously, and as we have a skills gap that means we only typically have three IT workers for every four jobs it’s not likely that there’ll be any kind of easing off for decades to come.

Several companies will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance facility, designed to steer you into your first job. It can happen though that people are too impressed with this facility, for it’s really not that difficult for any focused and well taught person to secure work in the IT environment – because there’s a great need for trained staff.

Get your CV updated straight-away though – you should get plenty of help from your training provider on this. Don’t delay until you’ve graduated or passed any exams. It’s not uncommon to find that junior support jobs have been offered to trainees who are still learning and have yet to take their exams. At least this will get you into the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s – rather than the ‘No’ pile. You’ll normally experience better results from a local IT focused recruitment consultant or service than you’ll experience from any course provider’s national service, because they will understand the local industry and employment needs.

Not inconsiderable numbers of trainees, it seems, invest a great deal of time on their training course (sometimes for years), and just give up when it comes to looking for a job. Introduce yourself… Do everything you can to put yourself out there. A job isn’t just going to bump into you.