Don't just lie there, do something ...

HOLIDAYS that combine fun and relaxation with new skills have become increasingly popular. Why not use a week - or even a day or two - of your leave to enhance your CV, giving you a doorway to a new job and greater earning power? You'll feel so good having really made the most of your time off. And you'll get twice the value of a sun- soaked break by returning with a tan, a new skill and some course notes. If you don't even want the fuss of leaving home, there are some excellent holiday courses in London.

Talk it up

Communications coach Polly James (better known as Beryl in The Liver Birds) offers a self-presentation and performance course - ideal for giving any kind of work talk - on an idyllic Greek island. Spectacular Skyros boasts more than 250 courses: you can taste two a day, as well as your main one.

If you opt for Polly's course (14-27 September), there are also courses in writing (including tips on business writing), yoga, cookery and learning Greek to sample.

With an internet caf in the village and parties most nights, you can do as much or as little as you want. Two weeks will set you back from pounds 675 to around pounds 925 (flights extra). Call 020 7267 4424 or visit www.skyros.com.

Publish and be damned

Desperate to learn desktop publishing, PhotoShop, web design or HTML? Pick them up in a week, and get the certificate to prove it. Pitman offers Publisher - 18 hours for pounds 275 - or Microsoft Front Page, a web-design course, also 18 hours, for pounds 275, plus HTML, PhotoShop and Dreamweaver.

It also does a new introductory course to PR skills, at pounds 225. There's a Pitman's certificate at the end of each course, which they suggest you do in five four-hour stints or 10 two-hour ones, with time in between for holiday relaxation. Pitman centres are always in the heart of town, with tea, coffee and hot chocolate available. You work at your own pace from tapes but with a tutor on hand to help. Call 01937 548557 or visit www.pitman-training.com.

In at the deep end

Hoping for a job in the travel industry, but can't swim? Don't worry, Swim-In has never failed to get an adult afloat. This complete beginners' course, held at the Springfield Hotel near Chester, only takes very small groups. Fee - pounds 435 the week - includes bed, breakfast and evening meal and all personal swimming tuition. If you can't do a confident width at the very least when you leave, you get your money back. Call 01352 780503 for details, or visit www.learn- to-swim.co.uk.

Foreign tongue

Ability to speak a second language is always a bonus when job hunting.

Linguarama 020 7405 7557 (London, Bath, Stratford-upon Avon) offers weeklong, residential "total immersion" in any European business language.

Fees range from pounds 880 (half-day every day, so time off to sightsee) to pounds 1,690 a week of full days of one-toone tuition, which includes private lunch with the tutor.

The Bath centre is a Georgian mansion with swimming pool and tennis courts: typical dinner, coq au vin and crpes plus a glass of house Sauvignon, all included.

Back to nature

Get some balance into your working life with energy enhancement in Argentina, Crete or India. Courses teach you how to develop "soft skills" such as emotional intelligence, plus yoga, Reiki, relaxation, "energy management", dancing, all in exotic locations with organic food. Costs, including accommodation but excluding flights, around pounds 550 for a week. Visit the site on www.energyenhancement.org.

In vino veritas

Need to know about wine?

Perhaps you help your boss entertain, or you fancy a career in the wine trade: a day's course will give you a real grounding in le vin and a nice certificate. For pounds 75 you'll taste 20 wines and enjoy a slap-up lunch at the Aurum Restaurant, Notting Hill, where these Wine Education Service workshops are held. Call the Wine Education Service on 020 8423 6338 for more details or visit www.wine- education-service.co.uk.

Follow the leader

Being able to coach and influence others at work successfully gives you power. The buzzword here is NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and many fans testify to its office success. NLP guru Ian McDermott offers a one-day introduction Essential NLP - on 15 June in London. Communication skills at work are key: he'll show you how to develop them. Cost is pounds 149 plus VAT, call 020 7247 0252 for details or visit www.itsnlp.com.

Cordon bleu

If you can cook, you'll never be out of work - that's a fact.

Augment your natural flair with a certificate from Leith's. Its one-week professional and practical holiday course costs pounds 450 and you'll emerge able to dish up a dinner party. You cook enough food to take home dinner for two every night. A cookbook, attendance certificate and all grub is included.

Call 0207 229 0177 for details or visit www.leiths.com

Speak out

Vivacious voicework needed?

An Act up! two-day course in London gives you an advantage in call centre or "voice" jobs. Act up!'s new course focuses on using your voice effectively at work. Established actors give tips and tricks of the trade. Based in central London, the two-day course costs pounds 630 (maximum eight people). Contact Act up! on 020 7924 7701 or visit [email protected].

Make a splash

Watersport skills are CV eyecatchers for jobs in travel, hospitality, leisure and fitness.

A holiday course on the Scilly Isles will get you started. Stay at a guesthouse on the beach - details from [email protected] and build your chosen watersport course into a package of seven nights B&B, plus three dinners (pounds 250 approx, all-in.) A typical dinner chicken in tarragon sauce, followed by hazelnut meringues - won't have you foraging for tuck, your belly will be full. Diving and sailing courses are pounds 30 a half-day; there's also the popular pounds 40 "wind safari" (01720 423399), with hiking, sailing and surfing, and a beach barbecue.

Courses include all instruction, wet suits, boards and equipment. Consider going with friends and use the wind safari as a challenge or a chill-out.

(Details from the Windsurfing and Sailing Centre on 01720 4233999.)

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