RISK-EXPERTS.COM

Well done! Reading this subject matter indicates you’re probably thinking about your future, and if it’s new career training you’re deliberating over that means you’ve taken it further than the majority of people will. Did you know that surprisingly few of us are contented at work – yet most will just put up with it. Why not break free and take action – think about how you could enjoy Monday mornings.

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 enjoy a busy working environment? Is it meeting new people or being part of a team? Perhaps you prefer not to be disturbed and enjoy responsibilities that you can get on with on your own?

* Are you considering which industry you maybe could work in? (Post credit crunch, it’s essential to choose well.)

* Having completed your retraining, would you like your skills to see you to retirement age?

* Is it important for the course you’re re-training in to be in an area where as far as you can see your chances of gainful employment are high up to retirement age?

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.

‘In-Centre workshop days’ get pushed as a major benefit by many training companies. After chatting with the majority of computer industry hopefuls that have tried them out, you’ll likely realise that they’ve now become a waste of time mainly due to the following:

* Many round journeys – quite often hundreds of miles each and every time.

* Workshop availability; often weekdays only and two or three days in a row. It’s never convenient to take the required leave of absence.

* Lost holiday days – most working people get just four weeks holiday each year. If you give up at least half to your educational days, that doesn’t leave much holiday time left for the family as a whole.

* ‘In-Centre’ workshop days can ’sell out’ fast and often end up larger than is ideal.

* Some trainees lean towards a slower or quicker pace than the rest of the class. This creates the tension often found in classrooms.

* The growing costs associated with travel – driving or taking public transport to the training facility plus several days bed and breakfast can mount up each time you attend. With only 5-10 centre-days costing 35 pounds for a single over-night room, plus 40 pounds petrol and 15.00 for food, that equates to four to nine hundred pounds of costs that we weren’t expecting.

* 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.

* Being away from home with your work during the week – a fair few students find they’re living or working away for sections of the programme. Workshops are very difficult then, unfortunately you’ve already paid for them with your initial fees.

Many students discover a more flexible approach is to utilise videoed workshops wherever you want to take them – studying at your own pace, when it suits you – not anyone else.

Any time you get a problem, get onto the live 24×7 support (that should’ve been packaged with any technical type of training.) Bear in mind, if you have a laptop, you could study wherever the mood takes you.

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.

Don’t forget, if you’ve got any accreditation or direct-experience, then you can sometimes expect to begin at a different level to a trainee with no history to speak of.

If this is going to be your opening crack at an IT exam then you may want to begin with user-skills and software training first.