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Lord Jones of Birmingham, former director general of the CBI, speaking in Colchester on Friday*, implored: 'Please don't stop training people. Don't look at your training budget and cut it. Don't stop marketing. Now is the time for confidence.'

Karen says: 'Although the economic outlook is gloomy, Lord Jones is quite right. Now is the time for companies to invest in their people and help them to build their skills so that they will be better placed to compete in the future.

'It's a win-win situation because - for very little cost - businesses will benefit from having better skilled people, and individuals will increase both their capabilities and their own confidence in the process.'

Karen suggests that companies consider these three recession-beating training tips:

1. Keep it local. (Do you really need to be spending money to send staff to training courses in London?)

2. Think about half-day courses. (A great deal can be accomplished in just a few hours. After all, how many pointless meetings last this long?)

3. Cherry-pick topics. (Although the IT training industry has been built on the model of selling complete courses, many people already have a good percentage of skills, which means they will be better off learning exactly what they need rather than sitting through a standard full-day course.)

Specialising in Microsoft Office and Livelink training, Karen - who also contributes the popular 'Tame your computer' series to the Cambridge Network website - offers hands-on or hands-off computer courses, either in-house at companies' offices or at her own premises in Cambridge. 

See a list of courses taking place in Cambridge soon.


* Lord Jones was speaking at the Mayor's Oyster Feast in Colchester. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7702419.stm

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Find out more at http://www.roem.co.uk or contact Karen Roem karen@roem.co.uk