The Internet provides a double-edged sword in that much of what is available is either out of date by the time you look at it, or the accuracy and credibility of the information presented is questionable. How do you find a resource which will deliver real results to your career and training progression?
First of all, you should consider how important employers consider job training to be both in terms of the investment they make in their own employees and staff and also in terms of how attractive a potential candidate who has experience and training in particular areas relevant to their own business operations. With training as an investment, it is a win-win situation as employers value the skills provided and employees can command greater remuneration and opportunities if they have been through recognized training programs for use with work.
Jobs with paid training are used as incentives by employers to attract high quality candidates to the positions on offer; indeed many employers provide a training program which runs parallel to career progression offered within a company and is used as much as a symbol of employer commitment to your career development as the remuneration package that is offered. Obviously, competition for vacancies from potential candidates can be expected to be strong and you should prepare yourself thoroughly before you consider applying.
This brings us back to the Internet as a resource and indeed, no other tool will provide you with fast and effective access to vacancies both for training and vacancies providing training for other staff within an organization. There are some pitfalls to using the Internet but using some basic common sense will help you get the most out of the web sites that are available.
Aggregators or portal web sites which collate vacancy information in real time are the best source of current information on what is available. Being armed with current information is crucial if you wish to gain a competitive advantage over your competition for training posts and access to training programs on offer. In addition, you should ensure that the web site you’re using is actually primarily focused on providing information in the area you’re interested in -- many sites are simply nothing more than an umbrella for access to a range of other recruiting web sites, while many others are nothing more than a means of harvesting and collecting resumes from potential candidates which are then sold on to third parties to generate revenue or, indeed, used for less lawful purposes.
Remember your resume is a goldmine of information on you as a private individual and will frequently provide information such as your social security number, your date of birth and address history as well as a host of other data that any identity thief would be only too happy to get their hands on. Look at how your resume will be distributed and the degree of security provided by the web site for your personal information.
Managing your resume is also a key feature of a good web site resource; you should have the facility to create multiple versions of your resume so slightly different resumes are used which highlight particular skills and experience that a particular employer is looking for. One resume may focus upon your training experience in finance functions for a bank while experience gained in training others may be highlighted in a resume where you’re looking for taking on further training supervisory roles.
You can also check the credibility of a web site and the company behind it by simply checking the contact address and telephone numbers provided in the contact section of the site. A web site that fails to provide a landline telephone number and a physical mailing address should probably be avoided as there is nothing to suggest this is a genuine company and may even not be based in the US to begin with. If you’re looking to get more advanced in checking out who’s behind a web site, then you can perform “Who Is” reverse web site address checks, and you can get these resources simply by performing a search on the web which will give you much more detailed information. If a resource is good (or bad), then you can expect that other people will be talking about it, and there are numerous discussion boards and social media sites which will express a variety of opinions and recommendations from people who have actually used the service.
Training jobs and candidates with experience at delivering training programs are in demand, despite the current economic conditions. This should come as no surprise. When times are hard, quality employers look to motivate and help their staff be more effective and more productive as a means of helping to extract more value from their working activities. Training plays a vital role in achieving this as well as staff development and retention, so the importance of job training should never be underestimated.
