Congratulations! As you're reading this article it's likely you're thinking about retraining for a new career - that puts you way ahead of the crowd. A small minority of us are happy and fulfilled in our work, but no action is ever taken. You could be a member of the few who actually do something about it.

Before you make decisions on individual training courses, look for an advisor who will give you advice on what to look for. Someone who has the ability to ask questions about your likes and dislikes, and discover what job role you'll be most comfortable with:

* Do you like to be around others at work? Is it meeting new people or being part of a team? Perhaps you prefer not to be disturbed and enjoy responsibilities that only you know how to deal with?

* Have you given much thought to which sector you choose to work in? (These days, it's essential to choose carefully.)

* Is this the final time you plan to retrain, and if it is, do you suppose your new career will allow you to do that?

* Do you expect your new knowledge base to give you the chance to find the work you're looking for, and remain in employment until you choose to stop?

Don't overlook the IT industry, that will be time well spent - unusually, it's one of the growing market sectors throughout Europe. And the salaries are much higher than most.

A question; why is it better to gain commercially accredited qualifications rather than traditional academic qualifications taught at the state educational establishments? Industry is now aware that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, proper accreditation from the likes of CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA often is more effective in the commercial field - for considerably less. University courses, for example, clog up the training with too much background study - with a syllabus that's far too wide. Students are then held back from learning the core essentials in sufficient depth.

As long as an employer understands what work they need doing, then they just need to look for the particular skill-set required. The syllabuses are all based on the same criteria and do not vary between trainers (like academia frequently can and does).

It's abundantly clear: There really is very little evidence of personal job security anywhere now; there's only industry and sector security - companies can just remove anyone if it suits the business' business interests. In times of growing skills shortages and increasing demand though, we generally reveal a newly emerging type of security in the marketplace; where, fuelled by the conditions of constant growth, employers struggle to find the influx of staff needed.

Offering the Information Technology (IT) industry for example, a key e-Skills analysis demonstrated massive skills shortages throughout Great Britain around the 26 percent mark. This shows that for each four job positions existing around the computer industry, there are only 3 trained people to fill that need. This fundamental certainty reveals an urgent requirement for more commercially accredited computing professionals throughout Great Britain. While the market is evolving at the speed it is, could there honestly be a better market worth considering as a retraining vehicle.

Be watchful that any exams that you're considering will be commercially viable and are up-to-date. The 'in-house' certifications provided by many companies are often meaningless. You'll find that only recognised qualifications from the major players like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA and Cisco will have any meaning to employers.

Microsoft IT Skills Self-Paced Computer Certification Courses >>