You should feel pleased that you’re on the right track! Only one in ten folks claim contentment with their job, but vast numbers just bitch about it and nothing happens. Because you’ve done research we can guess that you’re at least considering retraining, so even now you’re ahead of the game. The next step is to get busy to find your direction.
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 like working on your own or do you find company is an important option?
* The building trade and the banking industry are none too stable right now, so which industry will answer your needs?
* Is this the final time you envisage re-training, and if it is, will this new career offer that choice?
* Do you think being qualified will give you the chance to find the work you’re looking for, and remain in employment until your retirement plans kick in?
Think about the IT sector, that will be time well spent – it’s one of the few market sectors still on the grow in this country and overseas. Salaries are also more generous than most.
‘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:
* All the travelling required – multiple journeys and usually 100′s of miles each time.
* Weekday accessibility to events can be usual, and with 2-3 days to book off work, this is usually problematic for most working students.
* 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.
* The pace of the class – centre-days usually have trainees of varied aptitude, so tension can be created between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those who prefer a more relaxed pace.
* 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.
* Do you really want the chance of letting yourself be side-stepped for a lift up the ladder or income boosts just because you’re retraining.
* It’s quite usual for people to not ask questions they want answered – just because they’re amongst other classmates.
* For those who have work away from home, you now have to deal with the fact that days in-centre now become impossible to get to – unfortunately however, they’ve already been paid for.
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.
Consider… With a laptop you can work in any location you choose. And live 24 hr-a-day support is an online click away when you get challenged.
There’s no need to take notes – every lesson is laid out for you already. Anything you want to do over, just go for it.
Quite simply: Time and money is saved, you have reduced hassle and you completely avoid polluting our environment.
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.
If you have a strong background, or sometimes a little work-based experience (some certifications gained previously perhaps?) then it could be that your starting level will be quite dissimilar from someone with no background whatsoever.
Commencing with a user skills course first is often the best way to get into your computer training, but really depends on your level of familiarity with computers.