Congratulate yourself that you're reading this article! Only one in ten folks claim contentment with their job, but vast numbers simply moan about it and nothing happens. Because you've done research it's probable that you're giving retraining some thought, so well done to you. Take your time now to get busy to find your direction.

With regard to any career courses, look for an advisor who will give you advice on the right type of training for you. An advisor who will take time to ask questions about your likes and dislikes, and find out what types of work suit you:

* Is working with other people your thing? Perhaps you like being a team player? Or you may prefer task-orientated work that you can complete alone?

* Building and Banking are struggling these days, so which industry would suit you best?

* Once your training has been completed, would you like your new abilities to get you jobs for the rest of your working life?

* Do you have niggles with regard to the possibility of finding new employment, and staying employable all the way until retirement?

The most significant market sector in the UK that fulfils the above criteria is the computer industry, particularly IT. There's a need for more knowledgeable staff in this market, just search any job site and there'll be a long list. Don't misunderstand and think it's all techie people staring at theirscreens every day - there's a lot more to it than that. The majority of staff in the industry are ordinary people, with well paid and stimulating jobs.

Chat with almost any knowledgeable advisor and you'll be surprised by their many worrying experiences of students who've been conned by dodgy salespeople. Stick to a skilled professional that quizzes you to find out what's appropriate to you - not for their wallet! You need to find the right starting point of study for you. With some live experience or base qualifications, it may be that your starting point of study is very different to someone completely new. If you're a student beginning IT exams and training as a new venture, it can be helpful to ease in gradually, by working on a user-skills course first. This is often offered with most accreditation programs.

Watch out that all exams you're working towards are recognised by industry and are the most recent versions. Training companies own certificates are usually worthless. You'll discover that only industry recognised examinations from the major players like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA and Cisco will have any meaning to employers.

We'd hazard a guess that you probably enjoy fairly practical work - a 'hands-on' type. Usually, the painful task of reading endless manuals is something you'll make yourself do if you have to, but you'd hate it. You should use video and multimedia based materials if book-based learning really isn't your style. Years of research and study has constantly demonstrated that connecting physically with our study, will more likely produce memories that are deeper and longer-lasting.

Find a course where you'll receive a library of CD and DVD based materials - you'll be learning from instructor videos and demo's, followed by the chance to practice your skills in interactive lab's. Every company that you look at must be pushed to demo a few samples of their training materials. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and a variety of interactive modules.

Often, companies will only use purely on-line training; and while this is acceptable much of the time, imagine the problems when you don't have access to the internet or you get a slow connection speed. It is usually safer to have actual CD or DVD ROMs that will solve that problem.

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