The somewhat scary thought of finding your first IT job can be made easier by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance service. The need for this feature can be bigged up out of proportion though - it's quite easy for their marketing department to overplay it. In reality, the huge shortage of staff in the United Kingdom is what will enable you to get a job.

Bring your CV up to date as soon as possible however (advice can be sought on this via your provider). Don't delay until you've graduated or passed any exams. You'll often find that you will get your first position while you're still a student (even in the early stages). If your course details aren't on your CV (and it hasn't been posted on jobsites) then you're not even going to be known about! If you'd like to get employment in your home town, then you'll often find that a local (but specialised) recruitment consultancy could work much better for you than a national service, due to the fact that they are much more inclined to know what's available near you.

Please be sure that you don't put hundreds of hours of effort into your studies, then call a halt and leave it in the hands of the gods to find you a job. Stop procrastinating and start looking for yourself. Invest as much resource into securing the right position as it took to get qualified.

Discovering job security these days is problematic. Businesses often drop us out of the workplace with very little notice - whenever it suits. However, a marketplace with high growth, with a constant demand for staff (through an enormous shortfall of commercially certified workers), enables the possibility of real job security.

Taking the IT sector for example, the 2006 e-Skills investigation brought to light massive skills shortages across the United Kingdom of over 26 percent. So, out of each 4 positions available throughout IT, organisations can only source certified professionals for 3 of them. Attaining proper commercial Information Technology exams is as a result a quick route to succeed in a long-lasting and rewarding career. As the Information Technology market is growing at the speed it is, could there honestly be a better sector worth taking into account for retraining.

A study programme must provide a nationally accepted exam at the end - not a useless 'in-house' diploma - fit only for filing away and forgetting. From the perspective of an employer, only the big-boys like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe (for instance) will get you short-listed. Anything less won't make the grade.

Don't get hung-up, as many people do, on the training course itself. Training for training's sake is generally pointless; you should be geared towards the actual job at the end of it. You need to remain focused on where you want to go. Avoid becoming one of those unfortunate people who select a program that on the surface appears interesting - and end up with a plaque on the wall for something they'll never enjoy.

Stay focused on what it is you're trying to achieve, and create a learning-plan from that - don't do it the other way round. Stay focused on the end-goal and ensure that you're training for a job that'll reward you for many long and fruitful years. Always seek guidance and advice from a skilled professional, irrespective of whether you have to pay - it's usually much cheaper and safer to find out at the start if you've chosen correctly, rather than find out after several years of study that you're doing entirely the wrong thing and have to start from the beginning again.

Most trainers typically provide a big box of books. Obviously, this isn't much fun and not really conducive to taking things in. If we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, then we normally see dramatically better results.

Programs are now found via DVD-ROM discs, where your computer becomes the centre of your learning. Using video-streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how something is done, and then have a go at it yourself - via the interactive virtual lab's. You'll definitely want a training material demonstration from the training company. The materials should incorporate expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and fully interactive skills-lab's.

Purely on-line training should be avoided. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where possible, so you can use them wherever and whenever you want - it's not wise to be held hostage to your internet connection always being 'up' and available.

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