For those considering retraining, UK companies offer a wide variety of options. The first thing to think about is your reason for change.

Maybe you suffer from frustration and boredom at work. Perhaps you’re looking for more challenges, or a less stressful environment. Do you feel persecuted and under-valued in your job, and possibly taken advantage of? Is the industry you work in slowing down?

Many people get fed up of working anti-social hours for not enough money. Others just want to do something new, because they know they haven’t yet really found what they’re looking for.

To make a change requires action, but by reading this you’re taking the first step. Actually doing something new can be quite scary, but rest assured you’re walking on a well trodden path.

Having decided that retraining is of interest to you, the next thing to look at is what career would you like to get into.

Here are some questions to be thinking about:

* Once retrained, do you want to earn more money?

* Do you want this retrained skill to last you for the rest of your working life?

* Is finding a new job quickly an important factor in retraining?

* Do you want a skill that means you can live anywhere in the UK, and aren’t restricted to one particular area?

These questions have been asked because they fulfill most of the requirements for a great number of the people we come into contact with. Yet it’s surprising how many don’t think about them until asked. Don’t make the mistake of retraining into an over-subscribed industry.

So in response to the above questions, the most serviceable retraining programme needs to prepare the student for an industry that has skill shortages in demand nationwide, with better than average pay and long term career opportunities up to senior years.

By understanding your needs and who you are, you can start to hone in on that ideal environment for you to work in. But you’ll still need someone who has the experience to explain what the job is really like. Most of us have little understanding of what our neighbours actually do to earn their money.