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.

Before you make decisions on any career courses, discuss your thoughts with an industry expert who can help you sort out which area will be right for you. Someone who can get to know your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:

* Do you like working on your own or is being in a team environment an important option?

* What thoughts do you have with regard to the industry you’ll work in?

* Would you like this to be the last time you’ll have to retrain?

* Are you concerned with regard to the chance of getting new work, and keeping a job until you plan to retire?

We would advise you to consider the computer industry – there are a larger number of roles than staff to fill them, plus it’s one of the few choices of career where the market sector is still growing. In contrast to the opinions of certain people, it isn’t just geeks looking at screens every day (some jobs are like that of course.) The vast majority of roles are occupied by ordinary men and women who enjoy better than average salaries.

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!

Getting your CV considered is more than not being known. A surprising amount of junior positions are bagged by trainees (sometimes when they’ve only just got going.)

Most often, a specialist locally based recruitment consultancy (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) is going to give you a better service than a centralised training company’s service. They should, of course, also be familiar with the local area and commercial needs.

Not inconsiderable numbers of men and women, apparently, put a great deal of effort into their studies (sometimes for years), and then just stop instead of trying to get the right position. Market yourself… Do your best to put yourself out there. A job isn’t just going to bump into you.

Don’t get hung-up, as many people do, on the certification itself. Training is not an end in itself; you should be geared towards the actual job at the end of it. You need to remain focused on where you want to go.

Don’t let yourself become one of the unfortunate masses who select a program that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and end up with a plaque on the wall for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.

Never let your focus stray from what you want to achieve, and build your study action-plan from that – avoid getting them back-to-front. Keep your eyes on your goals and study for something you’ll enjoy for years to come.

It’s good advice for all students to speak with an industry professional before following a particular study program. This gives some measure of assurance that it contains the commercially required skills for the chosen career path.

In most cases, your normal person has no idea in what direction to head in a computing career, let alone which market they should be considering getting trained in.

As having no previous experience in the IT industry, in what way could we understand what someone in a particular job does?

Consideration of the following issues is most definitely required when you want to reveal the right answers:

* The sort of individual you reckon you are – what kind of jobs you find interesting, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.

* Why you’re looking at starting in Information Technology – it could be you’re looking to overcome a particular goal such as working for yourself maybe.

* What salary and timescale requirements you may have?

* Often, trainees don’t consider the work involved to gain all the necessary accreditation.

* It’s wise to spend some time thinking about the level of commitment you’ll put into your training.

In all honesty, it’s obvious that the only real way to research these issues will be via a meeting with someone that understands Information Technology (as well as it’s commercial needs and requirements.)

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.

All the major IT organisations like Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA have nationally acknowledged proficiency courses. Huge conglomerates such as these can make sure you stand out at interview.

(C) 2009. Navigate to LearningLolly.com for quality career advice on IT Jobs News and Comptia News.