| Scentsy | Flameless Candles | Wickless Candles |
|
A very small number of men and women in the United Kingdom are claiming to be happy in their job. Of course, most won’t do a thing. The fact that you’ve got this far if nothing else tells us that you’re considering or may be ready for a change. Before you make decisions on any career courses, look for an advisor who can talk you through the right type of training for you. Someone who has the ability to get a feel for your personality, and discover what job role you’ll be most comfortable with: * Would you like lots of contact with people? If so, do you like working with the same people or do you want to meet lots of new people? Maybe you’d rather be left alone to get on with things? * What criteria are fundamentally important when considering the market sector you’ll be employed in? * Is this the last time you plan to retrain, and if so, will this new career offer that choice? * Do you want your training course to be in a market sector where as far as you can see you’ll remain employable until retirement? We would strongly recommend that your number one choice is IT - it’s common knowledge that it’s getting bigger. IT isn’t all techie people staring at computers constantly - it’s true there are those roles, but most jobs are filled with ordinary men and women who get on very well. If the UK Information Technology (IT) sector provides such an array of incomparable advancement opportunities for everyone - what are the questions we should be asking and what factors are important to consider? Don’t forget: a actual training program or the accreditation isn’t what this is about; a job that you want to end up in is. Many trainers unfortunately put too much weight in the piece of paper. Imagine training for just one year and then end up doing the actual job for 10-20 years. Don’t make the error of finding what seems like an ‘interesting’ course only to spend 20 years doing a job you don’t like! It’s well worth a long chat to see what expectations industry may have of you. Which particular certifications they’ll want you to gain and how to gain experience. It’s also worth spending time setting guidelines as to how far you think you’ll want to get as it will force you to choose a particular set of qualifications. Look for advice and guidance from a professional advisor, even if there’s a fee involved - as it’s a lot cheaper and safer to discover early on whether you’ve chosen correctly, instead of finding out after several years of study that you’ve picked the wrong track and have to return to the start of another program. Training support for students is an absolute must - ensure you track down something that provides 24×7 direct access, as anything less will frustrate you and could impede your ability to learn. Look for training where you can receive help at any time of the day or night (even 1am on Sunday morning!) You want 24×7 direct access to mentors and instructors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages - so you’re constantly waiting for a call-back during office hours. Top training companies incorporate three or four individual support centres around the globe in several time-zones. They use an online interactive interface to join them all seamlessly, no matter what time you login, there is always help at hand, avoiding all the delays and problems. Always choose an educator that goes the extra mile. Because only 24×7 round-the-clock live support truly delivers for technical programs. Trainees looking at this market often have a very practical outlook on work, and won’t enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and slogging through piles of books. If you’re thinking this sounds like you, go for more modern interactive training, where learning is video-based. Many years of research has constantly demonstrated that becoming involved with our studies, to utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention. The latest audio-visual interactive programs involving demonstration and virtual lab’s beat books hands-down. And they’re far more fun. It’s very important to see courseware examples from your chosen company. Be sure that they contain video demo’s and interactive elements such as practice lab’s. Avoid training that is purely online. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where obtainable, enabling them to be used at your convenience - you don’t want to be reliant on a good broadband connection all the time. Many training academies are still offering the slightly musty old method of classroom lessons. Often sold as a benefit, if you talk to a student who has had to attend a few, you’ll find them listing some or most of these: * Frequent visits to the centre - hundreds of miles in many cases. * For those of us that work, then Mon-Fri classes are hard to attend. More than likely you will be contending with 2-3 days at a time as well. * And let’s not forget the lost vacation days. Most of us have four weeks vacation allowance. If over 50 percent is used in classes, then it doesn’t leave much for us and our families. * ‘In-Centre’ workshop days often are over-subscribed, meaning we have to accept something that we don’t really want. * The pace of the class - classes typically consist of students of mixed aptitude, so there is often tension between students that want a quicker pace to those who prefer a more relaxed pace. * Tot up the cost of all the fares or petrol, parking, food and accommodation and you could be in for a major shock. Attendees have reported extra costs of hundreds to thousands of pounds over time. Sit down and add it up - and see for yourself. * It’s important to maintain privacy. We wouldn’t want to run the risk of throwing away any advancement that we’re owed because our employer knows we’re retraining. * How many of us have avoided asking a question, because we wanted to fit in? * Working away from home - some students find they’re living or working somewhere else for certain parts of the program. Classes become very difficult then, but you’ve already paid for them when you paid initially. It has to make more sense to study when it’s convenient for you - not the company - and employ interactive videos of instructors teaching a class. Think… If you’ve got a notebook PC then you could study in any location you choose. And 24 hr-a-day support is an online click away in case you get challenged. It doesn’t matter how many times you need to repeat a module, on-screen instructors won’t ever lose patience! And don’t forget, as a consequence, note-taking is gone forever. It’s all there for you to use. The upshot: Reduced hassle and stress, money saved, and travelling is removed. Can job security truly exist anymore? In a marketplace like the UK, where industry can change its mind whenever it suits, it certainly appears not. Security only exists now in a swiftly escalating market, pushed forward by a shortage of trained workers. This shortage creates just the right environment for a secure market - a more attractive situation all round. Offering the IT market for instance, the 2006 e-Skills investigation highlighted a national skills shortage around the UK in excess of 26 percent. Quite simply, we can only fill just 3 out of every four jobs in the computer industry. This single notion alone clearly demonstrates why the United Kingdom needs so many more people to get into the IT sector. Without a doubt, it really is a fabulous time to retrain into IT. About the Author:
Author Jason Kendall splits his work between advising and consulting on superior education and UK Support. To investigate IT Training, visit LearningLolly Computer Courses.
|
Tags: a, advice, c, computer, computer training, computer;internet, Computers, e, education, i, internet, n, o, online, r, reference, Reference Education, s, self improvement, training, u, Uncategorized, w, web