Congratulate yourself that you’re on the right track! A fraction of the population enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but vast numbers simply moan about it and take no action. Because you’ve done research we have a hunch that you’re at least considering retraining, so you’ve already stood out from the crowd. Take your time now to research and follow-through.
When considering retraining, it’s vital to first define your requirements from the position you’d like to train for. You need to know that things would be a lot better before much time and effort is spent re-directing your life. It’s good sense to regard the big picture first, to make an informed decision:
* 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?
* Do you have a preference which market sector you would be suited to? (In this economy, it’s essential to choose well.)
* 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 that you consider Information Technology – it’s well known that it is one of the few growth sectors. It’s not all nerdy people looking at computer screens constantly – naturally some IT jobs demand that, but the majority of roles are carried out by people like you and me who get on very well.
A useful feature provided by many trainers is job placement assistance. This is to assist your search for your first position. With the growing demand for appropriately skilled people in this country right now, there’s no need to become overly impressed with this service however. It’s not as difficult as you may be led to believe to get a job as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications.
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.
To bottom line it, as long as you focus the same level of energy into securing your first IT position as into studying, you’re not going to hit many challenges. A number of students strangely spend hundreds of hours on their training and studies and then just stop once qualified and would appear to think that businesses will just discover them.
Of course: a training course or a qualification isn’t what this is about; the career you’re training for is. Far too many training organisations completely prioritise the piece of paper.
It’s common, in some situations, to thoroughly enjoy one year of training and then spend 20 miserable years in a job you hate, as a consequence of not performing the correct research when you should’ve – at the outset.
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.
Getting to the right answer really only appears through a thorough investigation of many unique criteria:
* What hobbies you have and enjoy – these can point towards what areas will give you the most reward.
* Are you aiming to achieve a closely held dream – like working for yourself someday?
* Does salary have a higher place on your priority-scale than some other areas.
* Learning what the main work types and markets are – plus how they’re different to each other.
* The time and energy you’ll commit your training.
The best way to avoid the industry jargon, and discover what’ll really work for you, have an informal meeting with an advisor with years of experience; someone who understands the commercial reality whilst covering all the qualifications.
Only consider study programmes which move onto industry approved certifications. There are far too many small companies proposing minor ‘in-house’ certificates which are worthless when you start your job-search.
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. Try LearningLolly.com for in-depth information on Computer Forsensics Training and The Internet Is 40.
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