When was the last time you considered how safe your job is? Typically, we only think of this after we experience a knock-back. However, the reality is that true job security simply doesn't exist anymore, for nearly everyone now. Wherever we find increasing skills shortages and areas of high demand of course, we often hit upon a new kind of market-security; driven forward by a continual growth, companies are struggling to hire the staff required.

Using the computer business for example, a recent e-Skills investigation highlighted a skills gap around the United Kingdom in excess of 26 percent. This shows that for every 4 jobs that exist across Information Technology (IT), we've only got three properly trained pro's to fulfil that role. This one reality in itself underpins why Great Britain is in need of considerably more trainees to enter the industry. Quite simply, gaining new qualifications in IT during the next few years is likely the best career choice you could ever make.

If you may be starting with a training school which still provides workshops as a benefit of their course, then listen to these issues met by almost all students:

- Constant journeys to the centre - normally 100's of miles.

- For those of us that work, then Monday to Friday events are difficult to make. Typically you are facing several days in a row too.

- And let's not disregard the lost vacation days. Most of us have 4 weeks off each year. If half of that is used up on workshops, then we aren't going to be doing much vacationing.

- Training events can fill up very quickly and can sometimes be too big - so they're not personal enough.

- Often, tension develops in many classes where the right pace for one student is not the same as another.

- A lot of students tell us of the considerable cost of travelling back and forth to the training venue and paying for food and accommodation becomes prohibitively expensive.

- Many students want study privacy thus avoiding all management questions at work.

- Posing questions in a class full of students often makes us feel nervous. Surely, at some point, you've avoided asking a question because you were worried it might make you look silly?

- Often, workshops frequently become simply undoable, in cases where you work away for part of the week.

To find a more flexible route, make use of videoed classes wherever you want to take them - and do it when it's convenient to you - not anybody else. Study from home on your desktop PC or if you have laptop, why not get outside if the weather's nice. Any questions; then use the provided 24x7 live support (that we hope you'll insist on with any technical courses.) You have the ability to watch and re-watch the study modules whenever you want to brush up. There's also no need to make notes as you have access to the class forever. Although it's impossible to remove every single problem, it undeniably removes stress and makes things simpler. Plus you've got less hassle, costs and travel.

Think about the facts below very carefully if you believe that over-used sales technique about an 'Exam Guarantee' sounds great value:

Everybody's aware that they're still paying for it - it's quite obvious to see that it's already been included in the overall price charged by the course provider. It's absolutely not free (it's just marketing companies think we'll fall for anything they say!) Qualifying on the first 'go' is what everyone wants to do. Progressively working through your exams one at a time and funding them as you go puts you in a much stronger position to qualify at the first attempt - you prepare appropriately and think carefully about the costs.

Why should you pay your training course provider up-front for exams? Find the best deal you can at the appropriate time, rather than pay marked up fees - and do it locally - instead of miles away at the college's beck and call. Including money in your training package for examination fees (plus interest - if you're financing your study) is bad financial management. Resist being talked into filling the training company's account with your hard-earned cash just to give them more interest! Many will hope you won't get to do them all - but they won't refund the cash. In addition to this, you should consider what an 'exam guarantee' really means. The majority of organisations won't be prepared to pay for you to re-take until you can prove to them you're ready to pass.

Spending hundreds or even thousands extra on an 'Exam Guarantee' is remiss - when a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools is what will really see you through.

The classroom style of learning we remember from school, with books and manuals, can be pretty hard going sometimes. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, dig around for more practical courses that are multimedia based. Where possible, if we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, then the results are usually dramatically better.

Top of the range study programs now offer interactive discs. By watching and listening to instructors on video tutorials you'll find things easier to remember through their teaching and demonstrations. Then it's time to test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself. Don't take any chances and look at a small selection of training examples before you purchase a course. What you want are instructor-led video demonstrations and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab's.

Opt for CD and DVD ROM based physical training media in all circumstances. Thus avoiding all the issues associated with broadband 'downtime' or slow-speeds.

We can see a plethora of jobs and positions available in computing. Arriving at the correct choice out of this complexity is generally problematic. What are the chances of us grasping the tasks faced daily in an IT career when we've never done it? We normally don't even know anybody who is in that area at all. To get to the bottom of this, we need to discuss a number of different aspects:

- Personality plays an important part - what gives you a 'kick', and what are the areas that ruin your day.

- Is your focus to obtain training because of a particular motive - e.g. do you aim to work based at home (maybe self-employment?)?

- Is your income higher on your priority-list than anything else.

- When taking into account all that IT covers, you'll need to be able to absorb what's different.

- It's wise to spend some time thinking about the amount of time and effort you'll put into your training.

In these situations, it's obvious that the only real way to research these issues is via a conversation with an advisor or professional that understands Information Technology (and chiefly it's commercial requirements.)

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