During a downturn in the economy like this, people are thinking about their options. Many are being encouraged to train for a vocational career as opposed to starting a business per se. Is that wise? Well, that depends on what you were doing when you were laid off. If you had a high degree of skill in a particular field, then establishing a consulting practice or a business related to your previous work may, in fact, be a good idea. Further training may not add appreciably to your chances for success.
Those considerations change when your skill set before a lay off wasn’t so hot. In other words, if you were laid off from a low skilled job, your options for starting a business may be minimal. In that case, should you decide to train for a vocational career it may not only help you emerge from training “job ready” but increase your odds of spinning off your new skills into a profitable business as well. The more skills you have, the more options you have for employment OR entrepreneurship. Possibly you’ll be able to secure a training program that “kills two birds with one stone” – one that increases your employment options and entrepreneurial options.
How do you decide which vocational career to train for? I would suggest tapping into the available labor market information for your state, city or region. This is usually available online. You want to check into the fields that 1) pay well and 2) also show a growing demand trend in the future. These estimates of future demand are an educated guess, but it’s usually a conservative guess and helpful in evaluating the claims of schools offering a variety of training programs. Then extrapolate – how can you turn your vocational training not only into a “job” but into a possible business. There’s no one “database” for that, but you can check out the online book stores to see if there are, books for instance, that discuss turning your soon to be acquired career skill into a viable business.
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