Should you be doing a search for certified training from Microsoft, you will no doubt be hoping for training providers to provide a wide selection of the most superior training programs available today. You might like to talk through what you're looking to do with an industry expert - and if you haven't come to a decision, then get help to sort out whereabouts in industry would suit you most, dependent on your abilities and personality. When you've chosen the job you'd like to get into, an applicable training course has to be picked that's a match for your current level of knowledge and ability. Make sure it's well designed for you as an individual.

At the top of your shopping list for a training program should be proper direct-access 24x7 support through expert mentors and instructors. It's an all too common story to find providers that will only offer a basic 9am till 6pm support period (maybe later on certain days) with very little availability over the weekend. Never accept training that only supports trainees via a call-centre messaging system after 6-9pm in the evening and during weekends. Training companies will always try to hide the importance of this issue. The bottom line is - you want to be supported when you need the help - not as-and-when it's suitable for their staff.

The very best programs utilise a web-based round-the-clock facility combining multiple support operations over many time-zones. You'll have a single, easy-to-use environment which switches seamlessly to the best choice of centres irrespective of the time of day: Support when you need it. Never compromise where support is concerned. Most would-be IT professionals who give up, just need the right support system.

An area that's often missed by potential students mulling over a new direction is 'training segmentation'. This basically means the breakdown of the materials for delivery to you, which completely controls where you end up. Individual deliveries for each training module one stage at a time, according to your exam schedule is the usual method of releasing your program. This sounds logical, but you must understand the following: What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do each element at the speed they required? Sometimes their preference of study order doesn't come as naturally as some other order of studying might.

For the perfect solution, you'd get ALL the training materials right at the beginning - enabling you to have them all to return to any point - irrespective of any schedule. Variations can then be made to the order that you complete each objective if you find another route more intuitive.

A useful feature that many training companies provide is a Job Placement Assistance program. The service is put in place to assist your search for your first position. It can happen though that there is more emphasis than is necessary on this service, because it's relatively easy for well qualified and focused men and women to get work in the IT industry - because there's a great need for qualified personnel.

You would ideally have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; additionally, we would recommend everybody to update their CV right at the beginning of their training - don't wait until you've graduated or passed any exams. Various junior support roles have been bagged by people who are still learning and haven't got any qualifications yet. At the very least this will get you into the 'maybe' pile of CV's - rather than the 'No' pile. The most efficient companies to help you land that job are usually specialist locally based employment services. Because they only get paid when they place you, they're perhaps more focused on results.

A slight grievance for some training companies is how much people are focused on studying to pass exams, but how little effort that student will then put into getting the position they've studied for. Have confidence - the IT industry needs YOU.

Frequently, a average trainee really has no clue how they should get into IT, or even which market they should be considering getting trained in. How likely is it for us to understand the many facets of a particular career when we haven't done that before? We normally don't know someone who works in that sector anyway. To come through this, a discussion is necessary, covering a number of unique issues:

* Our personalities play an important part - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the areas that you really dislike.

* Are you aiming to reach a closely held aspiration - like working from home as quickly as possible?

* How highly do you rate salary - is it the most important thing, or do you place job satisfaction higher up on the priority-scale?

* Getting to grips with what typical IT roles and sectors are - plus how they're different to each other.

* The level of commitment and effort you'll commit your training.

The bottom line is, the best way of checking this all out is through an in-depth discussion with an experienced advisor that through years of experience will give you the information required.

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