Good for you! As you're reading this article you're probably toying with the idea of re-training to work in a different industry - that puts you way ahead of the crowd. A small minority of us are satisfied with our careers, but it's rare anyone does more than moan. You could join a select group who decide to make the change.

It's in your interests that prior to beginning any individual training program, you have a conversation with someone who has knowledge of the industry and can point you in the right direction. Such a person will go through personality profiling with you and help you sort out a role to fit you:

* Are you happier left to your own devices at work or is being part of a team vital for your sanity?

* What's important that you get from your chosen industry? (Things do change - look at the building trade, or banks for example.)

* Once you've trained, how many years work do anticipate working, and will the market sector offer you the chance to do that?

* Do you believe that your chosen retraining will make you employable, and provide the facility to allow you to work until retirement?

It's important that one of your key sectors is Information Technology - it's well known that it is one of the few growth sectors. IT isn't all techie geeks lost in their computer screens the whole time - of course some IT jobs demand that, but most jobs are filled with people like you and me who get on very well.

A key training program will undoubtedly incorporate wholly authorised exam simulation and preparation packages. Don't fall foul of depending on non-accredited exam papers and questions. The way they're phrased can be completely unlike authorised versions - and often this creates real issues once in the actual exam. Why don't you analyse whether you're learning enough by doing tests and practice in simulated exam environments to prepare you for taking the real thing.

It only makes sense to consider study programmes that move onto industry recognised qualifications. There's an endless list of small companies pushing minor 'in-house' certificates which will prove unusable in today's commercial market. From the perspective of an employer, only top businesses such as Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco or CompTIA (for instance) will get you into the interview seat. Anything less just doesn't cut the mustard.

The somewhat scary thought of securing your first job is often eased because some trainers offer a Job Placement Assistance service. The honest truth is that it's not as hard as some people make out to land a job - assuming you're well trained and qualified; the growing UK skills shortage sees to that.

CV and Interview advice and support may be available (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). It's essential that you polish up your CV right away - don't wait until you've finished your exams! Many junior support roles have been offered to students who are still learning and have yet to take their exams. This will at the very least get your CV into the 'possible' pile and not the 'no' pile. If you'd like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then it's quite likely that a specialist locally based employment agency might be of more use than a national service, because they're far more likely to know local employment needs.

Fundamentally, if you put as much hard work into getting your first job as into training, you won't have any problems. Some trainees bizarrely put hundreds of hours into their course materials and just give up once they've passed their exams and would appear to think that businesses will just discover them.