If you don't get the CAO offer you hoped for, or you don't want to go to college, the good news is that there are many more options to choose from. Between further education, training and direct job offers, there are more places available than the number of students who sat this year's Leaving Certificate. This year nearly 66,000 students sat the Leaving Certificate examination and 62,581 of these applied for CAO places. There are 34,000 CAO places which means that roughly half of those who applied for CAO places will get a place in a course of their choosing. The remaining students, numbering approximately 32,000, have several options available to them: further education or training in non-CAO courses, applying for jobs immediately, or repeating the Leaving Certificate in the hope of getting a CAO offer next year.

Apart from the CAO, students can choose PLC (Post-Leaving Certificate) courses, CERT course, TEAGASC courses and FAS apprenticeships, as well as courses in private colleges and in colleges in Britain and Northern Ireland. There are approximately 30,000 places between all these options.

There are 16,000 places available in PLC colleges and 3,000 places in private colleges. A further 3,000 to 4,000 students are expected to take places in colleges in Britain and Northern Ireland. On top of this many students will choose to repeat the Leaving Certificate. This year 4,500 students repeated from 1996.

CERT, the State tourism training agency, runs courses in seven areas: for chefs, restaurant service, accommodation service, bar tending, hotel reception, hospitality skills and tourism skills. The chefs' courses are the most popular, with nearly 1,300 places, although Grainne O'Malley of CERT says there are huge career opportunities in the restaurant service area too. CERT has places for up to 3,000 new people on training courses up to the end of this year, and all participants get scholarships. The agency says graduates from its courses are virtually guaranteed jobs.Interested students can apply by phoning (01) 8556555.

TEAGASC has places for more than 1,000 students in agriculture and horticulture courses nationwide.

For those who want to get jobs immediately, the best opportunities for school leavers this year are likely to be in the Garda, nursing and the Army. There have been around 12,000 applications for these posts and the applicants will sit examinations throughout September. After this, there will be another stage, involving an interview with a written element. This will be done in batches, based on the results of the September exam.

While it is likely that new prison officers will be recruited early in 1998, but the Civil Service Commission says there has been no decision yet on whether there will be clerical/ typist jobs in the civil service in 1998. Local authorities are responsible for their own recruitment and jobs that arise will be advertised in the national newspapers.

There are approximately 4,000 places available on FAS apprenticeship schemes. Apprentices must first find employment, and employers then register them on the FAS scheme. Given the building boom, it is not surprising that most apprenticeships are in the construction industry, the most popular ones being for electricians and carpenters/joiners.

The banks have traditionally provided employment for school leavers.

Finally, the retail sector is another growing area and many major retailers are trying to recruit people.