Everybody is busy these days, and inevitably if we want to improve our career prospects, getting educated alongside a job is our best way forward. Training tracks certified by Microsoft can fill that gap. You may wish to shortlist your ideas with someone who knows about the commercial needs of the market, and is able to show you the most appropriate area to suit your abilities and character. Having selected the career track for you, your next search is for a relevant course matched to go with your skills and abilities. Your course material should leave no room for complaints.

It's essential to have an accredited exam preparation programme included in the package you choose. Because many examining boards for IT are American, you need to become familiar with their phraseology. You can't practice properly by simply answering any old technical questions - they have to be in the same format as the actual exams. Mock exams can be enormously valuable for confidence building - so much so, that at the proper exam, you don't get phased.

A lot of trainees think that the school and FE college system is the way they should go. So why then are commercial certificates slowly and steadily replacing it? Industry is now aware that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, certified accreditation supplied for example by Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe often is more effective in the commercial field - for much less time and money. Of course, a certain quantity of associated detail has to be learned, but precise specifics in the areas needed gives a vendor educated student a massive advantage.

It's a bit like the TV advert: 'It does what it says on the label'. Companies need only to know what areas need to be serviced, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they're assured that a potential employee can do exactly what's required.

Some training providers have a handy Job Placement Assistance service, to assist your search for your first position. With the great shortage of skills in this country at the moment, it's not too important to place too much emphasis on this feature however. It's actually not as hard as some people make out to secure your first job once you're properly qualified.

Nevertheless, don't procrastinate and wait until you've qualified before bringing your CV up to date. As soon as you start a course, enter details of your study programme and tell people about it! You may not have got to the stage where you've got to the exam time when you will get your initial junior support job; but this won't be the case if interviewers don't get sight of your CV. If you'd like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then it's quite likely that an independent and specialised local employment service could be more appropriate than a national service, for they are much more inclined to have insider knowledge of what's available near you.

Various trainees, it seems, invest a great deal of time on their training course (sometimes for years), and just give up when it comes to trying to get a job. Sell yourself... Make an effort to get yourself known. Good jobs don't just knock on your door.

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