Choosing a course to change career is a big decision, and most of the information you will read is written to sell it to you. That includes ours. The best defence is to ask direct questions, and to pay attention to how they are answered as well as what is said.
Here are five that cut through the most.
1. Who teaches, and what do they do the rest of the week?
You want to know whether the people teaching you do the work you are training for. Ask for names and what they currently do. Practitioners who work in the field teach what the job looks like now. People who left the industry years ago, or courses delivered entirely through recorded video, may not.
Be wary of vague answers like “industry experts” with no names attached.
2. Is the teaching live, how big is the class, and who helps when I am stuck?
“Live” can mean anything from a weekly hour of questions to full teaching sessions. Ask how many hours of live teaching there are, how many people are in each class, and what happens when you are stuck on a Tuesday night. Is there a named person who knows your work, or a shared chat channel?
A large class with a support inbox is a very different experience from a small cohort with a mentor who knows your project.
3. What happens after the teaching ends?
This is where many courses go quiet. Ask exactly what careers support is included, how long it lasts, who delivers it, and what you will actually do. “Careers support” can mean a single CV webinar. Look for specifics: CV rewrites, mock interviews, application help, and a defined period.
If a provider offers a guarantee, ask exactly what is guaranteed: the support, a job, or a refund. Then ask what you have to do to qualify and when any refund would be paid, and get the conditions in writing.
4. How many people finished the last cohort?
Enrolment numbers tell you about marketing. Completion tells you about the course. Ask how many people who started the most recent cohort finished it, and how many are now working in a related role. Ask how those figures were measured and over what period. If a provider cannot or will not answer, that is an answer too.
5. What is the refund policy, and what will I actually get at the end?
Read the refund terms before you pay, not after. If you buy a course online or by phone in the UK, consumer law usually gives you a 14-day cancellation period, but the details depend on how and when the course starts. Know what you can get back, and until when.
Then ask what the certificate is. Is it a regulated qualification, a university award, or a certificate issued by the provider? Each can be the right choice for different purposes, but you should know which one you are buying, particularly if you need it for a visa or for professional registration.
How Ashwood answers
We suggest asking these questions of every provider, so here are our own answers:
- Who teaches: practitioners, most of whom keep their day job and teach one weekend cohort at a time.
- Teaching and support: live at weekends, two sessions a week, in a cohort capped at 24 people, with a named mentor.
- After teaching: three months of structured placement support in nine parts, from CV restructuring to salary negotiation. Read exactly what it covers.
- Refunds: you can request a full refund within the first 14 days of the programme, subject to the conditions on our refunds page.
- Certificate: awarded by Ashwood Education and endorsed by The CPD Certification Service. Any employer can check a certificate number on our verification page. It is not a regulated qualification, and our course pages say so.
For anything we have not answered here, book a call and ask an adviser directly.