SibImpulse

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.

We recommend you seek advice first – talk to someone who’s familiar with your chosen field; a guide who can really get to know you and find the best job role for you, and analyse the learning programs which will get you there:

* 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?

Prioritise Information Technology, that’s our best advice – unusually, it’s one of the growing market sectors in this country and overseas. Salaries are also more generous than most.

Finding your first job in the industry is often made easier with a Job Placement Assistance program. At the end of the day it isn’t so complicated as you might think to land a job – as long as you’re correctly trained and certified; the shortage of IT personnel in Britain looks after that.

CV and Interview advice and support is sometimes offered (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). Ensure you update that dusty old CV immediately – not after you’ve qualified!

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.

If you don’t want to travel too far to work, then you’ll often find that a local (but specialised) recruitment consultancy may serve you better than the trainer’s recruitment division, for they’re going to be familiar with local employment 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.

Spend some time thinking about earning potential and what level of ambition fits you. This will influence what precise certifications will be expected and how much effort you’ll have to give in return.

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.

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:

* Personality plays an important role – what things get your juices flowing, and what are the areas that really turn you off.

* 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.

* How highly do you rate salary – is it of prime importance, or do you place job satisfaction a little higher on the scale of your priorities?

* Learning what the main work types and markets are – plus how they’re different to each other.

* You need to appreciate the differences between each area of 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.)

Watch out that all accreditations you’re considering doing will be commercially viable and are up-to-date. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are not normally useful in gaining employment.

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. Visit LearningLolly.com for clear career tips on Computer Forsensics Training and The Internet Is 40.

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