A fraction of the working population in the UK today are pleased and contented with their working life. Naturally most won’t do a thing. The fact that you’re reading this if nothing else suggests that change is beckoning.

When looking at training, it’s essential to first define your requirements from the job you’re hoping to qualify for. It’s important to discover if things would be a lot better before you put a lot of energy into re-directing your life. We recommend looking at the whole story first, to avoid disappointment:

* Would you like to work with others? If so, do you want a team or are you hoping to meet new people? Or are you better working in isolation?

* Have you given much thought to which sector you could be employed in? (Post credit crunch, it’s more important than ever to choose carefully.)

* Once you’ve qualified, would you like your new abilities to serve you till you retire?

* Are you happy that the training program you’ve chosen will make you employable, and offer the chance to keep you in work until your pension kicks in?

We would advise that your number one choice is the IT sector – everyone knows that it’s getting bigger. IT isn’t all techie people staring at computers the whole time – naturally there are those roles, but the majority of roles are carried out by people like you and me who get on very well.

Many students come unstuck over a single training area very rarely considered: The method used to ’segment’ the courseware before being packaged off through the post.

Delivery by courier of each element stage by stage, as you complete each module is the typical way that your program will arrive. This sounds logical, but you might like to consider this:

What happens when you don’t complete every single exam? Maybe the prescribed order won’t suit you? Because of nothing that’s your fault, you may not meet the required timescales and therefore not end up with all the modules.

To be straight, the very best answer is to obtain their recommendation on the best possible order of study, but make sure you have all of your learning modules right from the beginning. Everything is then in your possession in the event you don’t complete everything at their required pace.

Starting from the viewpoint that we need to find the market that sounds most inviting first, before we can contemplate what development program meets that requirement, how can we choose the correct route?

How can most of us possibly understand the many facets of a particular career if we’ve never been there? We normally have never met anyone who does that actual job anyway.

To attack this, there should be a discussion of a number of unique issues:

* The type of personality you have and what you’re interested in – which working tasks you love or hate.

* For what reasons you’re starting in IT – maybe you want to triumph over some personal goal like being self-employed for instance.

* Does salary have a higher place on your priority-scale than some other areas.

* Getting to grips with what the normal job areas and markets are – and what differentiates them.

* You’ll also need to think hard about the amount of time and effort you’ll put into gaining your certifications.

In actuality, you’ll find the only real way to research these issues will be via a meeting with an advisor that has experience of IT (and chiefly it’s commercial needs.)

Don’t forget: the actual training or the accreditation is not the ultimate goal; a job that you’re getting the training for is. Too many training companies put too much weight in the certificate itself.

You may train for one year and then end up performing the job-role for decades. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of finding what seems like an ‘interesting’ course and then spend decades in a job you hate!

You’ll want to understand the exact expectations industry will have. What certifications they will want you to have and how you’ll go about getting some commercial experience. It’s also worth spending time setting guidelines as to how far you think you’ll want to build your skill-set as often it can force you to choose a particular set of certifications.

Seek guidance and advice from an experienced industry professional, even if you have to pay a small fee – it’s usually much cheaper and safer to discover early on whether your choices are appropriate, instead of finding out after two full years that the job you’ve chosen is not for you and now need to go back to square one.

A useful feature offered by some training providers is a Job Placement Assistance program. The service is put in place to steer you into your first IT role. Ultimately it’s not as difficult as you may be led to believe to secure your first job – as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications; employers in this country need your skills.

You would ideally have help and assistance with preparing a CV and getting interviews though; and we’d encourage everyone to bring their CV up to date as soon as they start a course – don’t delay till you’ve finished your exams.

It’s not uncommon to find that junior support jobs have been bagged by students who’re still on their course and haven’t even passed a single exam yet. This will at least get your CV into the ‘possible’ pile and not the ‘no’ pile.

Normally you’ll get quicker results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than you will through a training course provider’s national service, because they will understand the local industry and employment needs.

Please be sure that you don’t spend hundreds of hours on your training and studies, then call a halt and expect somebody else to sort out your employment. Stand up for yourself and start looking for yourself. Put the same focus into securing the right position as you did to gain the skills.

(C) S. Edwards 2009. Try Click HERE or New Careers Information.