How to retrain for a new career

When considering taking a new career path, you might find that skills and knowledge you’ve acquired in past jobs don’t qualify you for the new position you want. If you’ve decided on a career path and really want to commit, you might need some additional training to back up the skills you already have.

There are a lot of training options available to those searching for a new career. If you’re currently employed, you might be able to train on the job, otherwise you’ll have to train independently through distance learning, online courses or part-time study.

Before you comit to any form of training however, you need to consider just how much time and effort you’ll need to invest to complete your chosen training. You’ll also need to consider the cost of training. If you’re training independently, there are a range of financial support options available to British citizens.

Career development loans allow you to borrow anywhere from £300 to £10,000. The training you have selected must not take longer than 2 years to complete. While you study, the UK government will repay the interest on your training. After this however, you will be solely responsible for repaying the loan plus interest.

Adult learning loans work on a salary-based repayment system. You can have up to 4 adult learning loans at any one time. Loans vary from a minim of £300 up to £10,000 depending on your qualifications and line of work. After you have completed your training and started a new job, you’ll be required to pay 9% of your annual salary (if you earn £21,000 or more) until the loan is fully repaid.

If you can finance your training, all that’s left to do is find a reputable training provider and get started! A good training provider will want to know your learning objectives so they can find the best solution for you. Always read the terms and conditions before you apply. Good training providers will be confident in the quality of their content and will likely offer very a flexible refund policy. Any provider that has a strict no-refund policy probably doesn’t have much faith in their products and may just be out for your money.

Finally, make sure to double check exactly what you need to do to acquire specific certifications. Sometimes, it may not be good enough to pass an exam and you might require some extra-curricular activities such as work experience, volunteering or mentoring to be eligible for your desired qualification.

If you’d like to read about how I made a successful career change, read How I Changed My Career.