Should you be looking for training tracks certified by Microsoft, then you’ll naturally expect training organisations to provide a wide selection of some of the top training courses on the market today.

You may wish to consider all the options with somebody who knows about the commercial needs of the market, and can influence your choice of the more likely roles to go with your personal characteristics.

Confirm that your training program is personalised to your skills and abilities. Select a company that will ensure that the training is purpose built for the status you wish to achieve.

The sometimes daunting task of landing your first role in IT can be relieved by some training providers because they offer a Job Placement Assistance programme. It can happen though that there is more emphasis than is necessary on this service, for it is actually not that hard for well qualified and focused men and women to get a job in the IT environment – because companies everywhere are seeking well trained people.

Work on polishing up your CV right away however – you should get plenty of help from your training provider on this. Don’t put it off until you’ve graduated or passed any exams.

You might not even have qualified when you’ll secure your initial junior support job; although this isn’t going to happen if your CV isn’t in front of employers.

If you’d like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then it’s quite likely that a local (but specialised) recruitment consultancy may be more appropriate than the trainer’s recruitment division, as they’re far more likely to be familiar with the local job scene.

Essentially, as long as you focus the same level of energy into getting a position as into studying, you won’t find it too challenging. Some trainees curiously spend hundreds of hours on their training course and then just stop once they’ve passed their exams and seem to expect employers to find them.

Beware of putting too much emphasis, like so many people do, on the certification itself. You’re not training for the sake of training; you’re training to become commercially employable. Stay focused on what it is you want to achieve.

You may train for one year and then end up doing a job for a lifetime. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of finding what seems like a program of interest to you only to waste your life away with something you don’t even enjoy!

Be honest with yourself about what you want to earn and the level of your ambition. This can often control what precise accreditations will be expected and what’ll be expected of you in your new role.

Seek out help from an experienced industry advisor who understands the sector you wish to join, and who can give you ‘A typical day in the life of’ synopsis of what duties you’ll be performing day-to-day. It’s good sense to understand whether or not this is right for you long before your course begins. There’s really no point in starting to train and then realise you’ve made a huge mistake.

It’s likely that you’re quite practically minded – a ‘hands-on’ individual. If you’re anything like us, the painful task of reading endless manuals is something you’ll make yourself do if you have to, but it’s not ideal. You should use video and multimedia based materials if learning from books is not your thing.

Many years of research has time and time again demonstrated that getting into our studies physically, is far more likely to produce long-lasting memories.

Interactive full motion video utilising video demo’s and practice lab’s will forever turn you away from traditional book study. And you’ll find them fun and interesting.

It’s wise to view examples of the courseware provided before you sign on the dotted line. Always insist on videoed instructor demonstrations and a variety of audio-visual and interactive sections.

Seek out physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s whenever you can. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with the variability of broadband quality and service.

Considering how a program is ‘delivered’ to you isn’t always given the appropriate level of importance. In what way are your training elements sectioned? And in what sequence and do you have a say in when you’ll get each part?

Many think it logical (with a typical time scale of 1-3 years to pass all the required exams,) that a training provider will issue one module at a time, as you complete each part. But:

Maybe the order of study pushed by the company’s salespeople doesn’t suit all of us. It may be difficult to get through each and every section at the speed required?

To provide the maximum security and flexibility, many trainees now want to have all their training materials (which they’ve now paid for) couriered out in one package, all at the beginning. That means it’s down to you in what order and how fast or slow you’d like to work.

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