Just ten percent of adults in Great Britain are happy with what they do for a living. Of course, most will take no action. The fact that you’re reading this surely suggests that you’ve realised change must come.
We’d recommend that prior to beginning any individual training program, you discuss your plans with a person who can see the bigger picture and can make recommendations. They can look at aspects of your personality and give you guidance on the right role for you:
* Is having company at work important to you? Is it meeting new people or being part of a team? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that only you know how to deal with?
* Building and Banking are not coping well at the moment, so think carefully about the sector that would suit you best?
* How long a career do you hope to have once retrained, and will the market sector offer you that opportunity?
* Would you like your training course to be in an area where you believe you’ll remain employable until your pension kicks in?
It’s important that one of your key sectors is Information Technology - it’s common knowledge that it’s developing all the time. It’s not all nerdy people looking at computer screens constantly - it’s true some IT jobs demand that, but the majority of roles are filled with Joe averages who do very well out of it.
If you’re considering a training academy that still provides ‘in-centre’ days as a feature of their programme, then take note of these problems experienced by almost all students:
* Lots of round journeys - often hundreds of miles each and every time.
* Asking for frequent time off work - many training providers will only provide availability during weekdays - typically grouping 2 or 3 days together. This is generally difficult for those of us who work for a living, and it’s made more problematic if you include the travel time on top.
* And let’s not overlook lost vacation time. Most of us have 4 weeks annual leave. If at least half is sacrificed to learning, then it doesn’t leave much for us and our families.
* ‘In-Centre’ workshop days can get way too big.
* Some trainees lean towards a pace that is different to the other class members. Often this can bring about tension in the class.
* Add up the cost of all the fares or petrol, parking, accommodation and food and you’ll be in for a big surprise. Trainees talk of increased costs mounting to several hundred and sometimes thousands of pounds. Take some time to add it all up - and see for yourself.
* A lot of trainees want their training to remain private thus avoiding all come-back in their work.
* We all find that, at times, it’s uncomfortable to raise questions when surrounded by other students - who wants to look like they’re the only one who doesn’t get it?
* For students working away from home occasionally, you face the added difficulty that events are now difficult to get to - but unfortunately, the fees were paid along with everything else at the start.
Many students discover a more flexible approach is to make use of ready-made, videoed lessons at home, in comfort - taking them when it’s convenient to you - not someone else.
You could study at home on your PC or use your laptop to enjoy the sun. Any questions; then utilise the 24×7 Support (that we hope you’ll insist on with any technical courses.)
It really doesn’t matter how often you would like to re-take a quiz or test, on-screen teachers can never get frustrated with you! And don’t forget, with this method, note-taking is gone forever. Everything is already there for you.
Even though this can’t completely stop every single problem, it definitely makes things easier, simpler and less stressful. Plus you’ve got less hassle, costs and travel.
Considering the amount of options that are available, is it any wonder that the majority of trainees don’t really understand the best career path they will follow.
How can we possibly grasp the tasks faced daily in an IT career when we’ve never done it? Maybe we don’t know someone who works in that sector anyway.
Generally, the way to deal with this question appropriately flows from an in-depth talk over several different topics:
* Which type of person you consider yourself to be - what kind of jobs you really enjoy, plus of course - what you definitely don’t enjoy.
* Do you want to obtain training for a specific reason - e.g. do you aim to work based at home (working for yourself?)?
* How highly do you rate salary - is an increase your main motivator, or is day-to-day enjoyment a lot higher on your priority-list?
* Learning what the main job areas and sectors are - and what differentiates them.
* Having a serious look at the level of commitment, time and effort that you’re going to put into it.
For the average person, getting to the bottom of each of these concepts tends to require the help of a professional who can explain things properly. And we don’t just mean the qualifications - but also the commercial requirements and expectations also.
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