Several companies will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance service, designed to steer you into your first job. With the growing skills shortage in the United Kingdom even when times are hard, it's not too important to become overly impressed with this service however. It isn't such a complex operation to secure employment once you're trained and certified.

Get your CV updated straight-away though (advice can be sought on this via your provider). Don't put it off till you've finished your exams. It's not uncommon to find that junior support jobs have been bagged by people who are in the process of training 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 best services to get you a new position are most often independent and specialised local recruitment services. As they will get paid by the employer when they've placed you, they have the necessary incentive to try that bit harder.

Certainly make sure you don't spend hundreds of hours on your training and studies, and then just stop and leave it in the hands of the gods to secure your first position. Take responsibility for yourself and start looking for yourself. Channel the same energy and enthusiasm into landing the right position as you did to gain the skills.

Both of the exams have recently undergone a 2009 update in line with CompTIA's advance towards ISO standardisation. The earlier A+ (version 2006/2007) exams which were classified using the '600' prefix are now being retired internationally throughout 2010. In Britain, they discontinue on 31st August 2010. Because both these, and the recently released 700 exams are currently allowed to be taken in 'prometric' & 'Vue' test-centres, it seems sensible to study for the '700' exams now, & not have to certify again later on. A+ 2009 will now be offered as '220-701' CompTIA A+ Essentials and 220-702 'CompTIA' 'A+' Practical Application. The main modifications were an entire re-structuring of the preceding 4 exams in to just 2 examinations, & the inclusion of some teaching on newer technologies. Formerly, the 'A+' was split into 4 examinations: one essential & three elective specialisations. During the last four years, the market has grown to the stage where all 4 examinations are actually thought to be necessary - hence the reformatting into 2 required examinations. An up-grade examination has been created by 'CompTIA' for everyone who have the previous qualification. BR/003 is the reference number. Extra training will almost certainly be required, especially for those who just originally studied for 2 of the four 'electives'. Obviously however the new technological subjects will need to be learned about.

Several of these positions are often starting points for higher-level IT careers, therefore, as with all career-tracks, its extremely important to first examine precisely what your end goals are, and which kind of learning-style you want. The best way to optimise your career-path fully is always to take advice from an industry specialist prior to starting with your training course. Training companies should offer to produce a tailored training path by co-ordinating a combination of training programs that will get the trainee from where they are now to wherever they would like to go.

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