Congratulations! Finding this article means you're likely to be wondering about where you're going, and if you're considering retraining you've already done more than most others. Are you aware that hardly any of us are fulfilled in our working life - yet most will take no corrective action. We implore you to liberate yourself and do something - think about how you could enjoy Monday mornings.

It's in your interests that prior to beginning any individual training program, you chat with an expert who is familiar with the working environment and can advise you. They can assess your personality and assist in finding the right role for you:

* Is collaborating with others important to you? Would that be with the same people or with a lot of new people? Possibly operating on your own on specific tasks would be more your thing?

* What ideas are fundamentally important with regard to the industry you're looking to get into?

* Do you want this to be a one off time that re-training is necessary?

* Do you want your retraining to be in an area where you know you will be able to work up to retirement age?

Think about Information Technology, that's our recommendation - it's one of the only growing market sectors in Great Britain and Europe. Another benefit is that remuneration packages are much better than most.

A lot of men and women are under the impression that the school and FE college path is the right way even now. So why then are commercially accredited qualifications becoming more in demand? As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, industry has had to move to the specialised training that can only come from the vendors - in other words companies like Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA. This often comes in at a fraction of the cost and time. Academic courses, for example, become confusing because of vast amounts of background study - and much too wide a syllabus. This prevents a student from understanding the specific essentials in enough depth.

It's rather like the advert: 'It does what it says on the label'. The company just needs to know what they're looking for, and then request applicants with the correct exam numbers. That way they can be sure they're interviewing applicants who can do the job.

Students will sometimes miss checking on a vitally important element - the way their training provider breaks up the courseware sections, and into what particular chunks. Training companies will normally offer a program spread over 1-3 years, and courier the materials in pieces as you complete each section or exam. On the surface this seems reasonable - until you consider the following: What if you find the order pushed by the company's salespeople doesn't suit all of us. What if you find it hard to complete all the modules inside of their particular timetable?

In a perfect world, you want ALL the study materials up-front - enabling you to have them all for the future to come back to - whenever it suits you. This also allows you to vary the order in which you complete each objective where a more intuitive path can be found.

We'd hazard a guess that you've always enjoyed practical work - a 'hands-on' person. Usually, the painful task of reading endless manuals is something you'll force on yourself if you absolutely have to, but you really wouldn't enjoy it. Check out video-based multimedia instruction if book-based learning really isn't your style. Research over recent years has constantly shown that an 'involved' approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, is far more likely to produce long-lasting memories.

Programs are now found via DVD-ROM discs, where your computer becomes the centre of your learning. Through video streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how to do something, with some practice time to follow - in an interactive lab. You'll definitely want a study material demo' from the school that you're considering. You'll want to see demo's from instructors, slideshows and interactive labs where you get to practice.

Many companies provide training that is purely available online; and while this is acceptable much of the time, consider what happens if you lose your internet access or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. A safer solution is the provision of DVD or CD discs which don't suffer from these broadband issues.

One feature offered by some training providers is a Job Placement Assistance program. The service is put in place to steer you into your first IT role. In reality it isn't so complicated as you might think to secure the right work - once you're trained and certified; employers in this country need your skills.

Nevertheless, don't procrastinate and wait until you've completed your exams before getting your CV updated. The day you start training, mark down what you're doing and get promoting! Quite often, you will be offered your initial role while you're still a student (even when you've just left first base). If your CV doesn't say what you're learning (and it isn't in the hands of someone with jobs to offer) then you aren't even in the running! Normally you'll get quicker service from an independent and specialised local recruitment consultancy than you'll experience from any training provider's recruitment division, as they'll know local industry and the area better.

A big frustration of many course providers is how hard people are prepared to study to get qualified, but how little effort that student will then put into getting the job they have trained for. Don't falter at the last fence.

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