What to look out for when selecting who to train with

There are many 'tell tale signs' to look out for when you are weighing up which provider to choose. Here is our guide: Make sure you check for logos on their website and if in doubt check with the awarding body directly – for instance, the City & Guilds will be more than happy to check for you. These recognised awarding bodies such as EAL, City & Guilds and NICEIC inspect and verify the quality and delivery of each course and qualification on a regular basis. These reports are one of the reasons why Access Training are regarded as one of the best around. Be very careful when choosing training centres that only offer one discipline. They are often small companies in small buildings, operating on a small budget and have small resources with not many staff and have not been around for very long.

Their finances can also be very fragile as they only have one source of income so they may not be around for long and could disappear with your hard earned money. Bigger is better. Select a company such as Access Training who have a proven history in delivering many trades over many years. Companies that are accredited by the City & Guilds for many disciplines are the most successful in the industry and can afford to run their courses with the student always as the top priority. Each course has its own independent facilities and classrooms, within one of our 16,000sqft facilities!

Training providers like Access Training only deliver the training and qualifications in specially designed buildings and each discipline is contained in an entirely separate, purpose built facility. You certainly won’t be training in noisy and dusty premises as ours are described as, “The best around”, according to the City & Guilds. Also check if they have moved premises in the last 2 years. Some companies ‘jump on the bandwagon’ and only offer the trade that is most popular at that time. These companies are only interested in profit and are not concerned with the student. They may not be around for long.

Some of these companies used to deliver training in other trades but have failed through poor quality of training and bad management. Ask about their past and accept no excuses, it’s your hard earned money you are giving them. If they only have two or three Tutors then steer clear. It means they will have large class sizes. In our experience having more than 10 students in a class on intensive courses seriously affects the delivery and quality of training, and the pass results. You may have found a number of providers through the web, but do they tell you everything you need to know? Be very wary of those that advertise their prices and seem very cheap, they often conceal the detail about what you will actually be getting and what support the company will be giving you. The ones that appear cheap are often simply selling certificates and not the quality of their training which is just as vitally important. Certainly check for descriptions and photos of their training areas and ask about student support, at Access Training we offer 24 hour support for all our students should they have any questions. They work on large commissions and do not care what they sell to who and how. They simply want to sell for the highest price they can to as many customers as possible then hand the training over to whichever training provider delivers the training for the cheapest price, hence maximising the sales profits. The actual training delivered to the student is normally terrible with many customer being ‘promised everything’ by the salesperson and getting very little in reality.

Top tip. Only deal with the Trainers Providers directly! Further Education Colleges are fast becoming outdated in the construction training sector – they are purely focused upon young school leavers doing apprenticeships and not mature adults. The resources available to adult students and their tutors at a college are not regarded as a priority and are often small as they are seriously underfunded compared to private training companies. Also they cannot be flexible to the needs of the lifestyles of students; if you miss an important class then that’s tough! At Access Training you decide when you train. Also courses are often cancelled or altered at short notice and they are not sufficiently staffed as they have no necessity to provide a quality service as they are funded from the public purse. The courses may very well sound impressive, but what are you actually getting? Some qualifications are simply useless in the real world; some simply don’t qualify you to do what you want to do at all. Be sure that they have explained all the available qualifications. If they don’t explain very well or are vague, then walk away.

Make sure you are dealing with a company that offers you City & Guilds, EAL, NVQ or NICEIC qualifications. Anything else just won’t do. It is an essential question to ask. Most potential students ask us what our results are. Our average is second to none at 95%, so it goes without saying that if you want to be sure of passing your qualification, you'll need to train with the best training provider. Simple; too expensive and you should stay away and too cheap are to be avoided too so invest wisely. At Access Training we will provide you with the most affordable option that is tailored to you. The answer is simple, choose us. We deliver what we say. You will not regret choosing Access Training as hundreds of people over the years will testify.

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