Speaking to a NEBOSH candidate recently it clarified just how important it was to have the right support network, in order to achieve a successful outcome to gaining a NEBOSH pass. This person was struggling to find the right type of environment to work through what they had been learning, they found home difficult and when at work there are too many distractions. Although their boss had kindly agreed to study time, they seemed not to be getting anywhere and asked for our advice.

Part of the problem was they were signed up to an online course and had very little interaction with anyone else and seemingly a lack of tutoring support. Now we understand that online courses do provide some benefits to some people; but clearly this person had not considered their preferred learning style before signing up. It seems the driving force was the fees were substantially less than the off line courses. That is fine if you can learn without the interaction of others; but here it was not working and although cheaper it was in danger of being money wasted.

Taking the time to speak with the candidate and their boss it was obvious to us that an alternative support strategy was needed. This candidate needs expert mentoring in order to support their learning and to help relate it into an appropriate format that would allow them to have any chance of passing the NEBOSH exams they should soon be sitting. Currently it appears they will have to delay taking the exams as they know there is no chance they would pass.

Thankfully for this person they will be able to tap into the expert support of our lead tutor who will mentoring them through a number of one to one learning sessions. Of course this will add to the costs incurred but they realise that it’s better to spend a bit more and have a chance of passing rather than have wasted what has already been spent.

The morale of the tale is, be careful where you try to save costs; good quality training will always pay dividends in the long term. Taking the cheap option must be very carefully thought through otherwise it could just be money lost.