A course offers to 'help' X Factor hopefuls through the show's auditions. Photograph: Graham Snowdon
Sometimes it feels like we're forever being reminded about what it takes to get to the top, but it's easy to forget that the competition is pretty intense at the bottom of the pile too.
I got thinking about this after spotting this enterprising poster on a wall in Brixton market recently, advertising two-month workshops ("plus diploma") aimed at star-struck wannabes hoping to get on to the 2008 series of The X Factor.
This isn't a course for people who are actually already on the show, take note, but for those hopefuls going along to the auditions.
You might wonder why anyone would be willing to invest time and money in a workshop so speculative that it is of virtually no professional value whatsoever. But the fact is, the classified ads are full of such courses - some worthwhile, many less so - praying on the hopes and ambitions of people looking to increase their chances of rising up their chosen professions.
I should know because, following a brief spell out of work, I once went on one myself. I'd applied for a magazine subediting job and wanted to look like I was at least making an effort to address my shortage of experience.
A local college relieved me of £200 for a two-day subediting course where a kindly sort of chap told me that, yes, in his opinion I could write headlines to magazine standards. I didn't learn much, but it did make me feel a little more optimistic and I put it on my CV. And yes, I did get the job in the end. So maybe it was money well spent after all.
Can you say the same of vocational courses you've been on? Did they help you get the job you were aiming for, or just give you a confidence boost? Or did you come away feeling ripped off?
