You should feel pleased that you've made it this far! A fraction of the population enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but a huge number just go off on one from time to time and do nothing. By looking for this we have a hunch that you're at least considering retraining, which means you're already ahead of the pack. The next step is to research and follow-through.

Before we even think about specific training programs, seek out someone who will give you advice on the right type of training for you. An advisor who will take time to get a feel for your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:

* Do you like to be around others at work? Are you better with new people or those you know well? Perhaps you prefer not to be disturbed and enjoy responsibilities that only you know how to deal with?

* Which criteria's are fundamentally important with regard to the industry you'll work in?

* Do you want this to be the only time you'll have to retrain?

* Are you worried about the chance of new employment opportunities, and staying employable until you plan to retire?

Think about the IT industry, that's our best advice - it's one of the few sectors of industry still growing in the UK and Europe. And the salaries are much higher than most.

We're regularly asked to explain why qualifications from colleges and universities are now falling behind more commercial qualifications? Industry now acknowledges that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, the right accreditation from the likes of CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA is closer to the mark commercially - saving time and money. They do this through honing in on the skill-sets required (together with a proportionate degree of related knowledge,) instead of covering masses of the background 'padding' that academic courses are prone to get tied up in - to pad out the syllabus.

Assuming a company understands what areas need to be serviced, then all it takes is an advert for the particular skill-set required. Commercial syllabuses are all based on the same criteria and don't change between schools (like academia frequently can and does).

Watch out that all certifications you're working towards will be recognised by employers and are the most recent versions. Training companies own certificates are not normally useful in gaining employment. Only nationally recognised certification from the major players like Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco and CompTIA will mean anything to employers.

Don't accept anything less than the latest Microsoft (or Cisco, CompTIA etc.) authorised exam preparation and simulation materials. Ensure that the mock exams aren't just asking you the right questions in the right areas, but additionally ask them in the same way that the proper exam will pose them. This completely unsettles people if the questions are phrased in unfamiliar formats. Mock exams can be enormously valuable as a tool for logging knowledge into your brain - so much so, that at the proper exam, you don't get uptight.

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