Bermuda College recruitment officer Cha'Von Clarke knows what it is like to change careers.

She has worked in schools, a newspaper office, a bank, an insurance company and a modelling agency.

"I can definitely speak to the fact that many people change their career six times in a lifetime, because I have been through all sorts," she said.

Now she has found her dream job, advising other people about the opportunities offered at the Bermuda College.

Their latest recruitment drive, BC Downtown Recruitment, targets people who may be looking for a career change because of the current economic climate.

It consists of a series of information sessions and lectures, about all the different possible career paths at the Bermuda College.

"I have had people already call me who have lost their job completely, or been made redundant," said Miss Clarke. "Then we have some people who feel uneasy.

"They go to work everyday and they feel as though they are walking on eggshells.

"Then you have those who are interested in growing in their careers but they feel their opportunities may be stunted because they don't have the paper to go along with their experience."

The BC Downtown Recruitment drive is targeted at students over the age of 21 who are looking for career advancement or career change.

It started yesterday, and will continue every successive Monday at the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce until April 27.

"Bermuda College can help you with those needs," the recruitment officer added. "We have a commercial on You Tube that goes along with the song 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. Everyone is stressed right now and concerned about what is going on.

"Bermuda College will help you to make some positive moves, even though you might be in a negative situation."

She said many people who signed up for the Downtown Recruitment sessions were particularly interested in the Bermuda College's accelerated 12- to 18-month programme.

"Most of these programmes are certifications, account assistants, office skills, navigation, childcare, continuing care, management leadership," she said. "I have had a lot of calls about that last one because people are looking for a fast way to get back into the industries. We will have many industry professionals at all of the information sessions."

Among them: Laura Jackson of Bermuda Executive Services will speak about what prospective employers are looking for; Kelli-Ann Smith of the Fairmont Hamilton will speak about human resources; Pandora Glasford will speak about the National Training Board; Bermudian actuary Cherie Simons will speak about her profession.

Sessions include information on the trades, the culinary arts, the service industry and many other things.

"The statistics say that 179 of 881 chefs and cooks on the Island are Bermudian," said Miss Clarke quoting the 2007 Manpower Survey. "It would be really nice to have more Bermudians in that career."

Besides BC Downtown Recruitment, Miss Clarke has arranged many other creative endeavors to reach different segments of the community from kids still in primary school to high school students to adults.

"At one point the traditional way of reaching out to a traditional student — anyone under 21 — would be to go to the school and share information about the college," she said. "I changed that a bit.

"Now, I encourage prospective students to come to the Bermuda College and experience an information session, then a full tour of the facility."

And she said this has turned out well. "We are doing a lot for the community at the Bermuda College," she said. "We see the value of getting out and making the public aware of the new things we are doing."

The Bermuda College has attempted to reach this market through campaigns such as BC Travel Light, a travelling college fair of sorts, and BC Talk, a series of discussions about the Bermuda College on HOT 107.5.

"That was really well received," she said. "We received a lot of calls and e-mails."

She said the introduction of free tuition at the Bermuda College has seen an increase in interest.

"We have seen more people interested," she said. "We also saw quite a few people who tried it. I'm sure they understood the requirements, but many of them did it as a trial because it was free.

"They didn't understand that the Bermuda College's standards are as high as universities abroad. If you don't do the work or show up for class, you will fail. So we have people who no longer qualify for the free tuition until they pull their (Grade Point Average) up.

"Many people may say, I want to do business, but when I go a little further and ask them what they want to do as a career, they don't need to do business, they may need to do human services or arts and sciences," she said."People need to really be careful of the courses they take. If you fail or withdraw, you will not receive the free tuition when you take it again. It is only paid for once by Government."People have responded so well to Miss Clarke that she had to begin offer one-on-one counselling sessions."It wasn't something that we knew the recruitment officer would do, but quite a few people said, 'Cha'Von I really related to you on the radio, so can I come in and talk to you?' So we started our one-on-one consultations.""I have had people in my office in tears," she said. "I have had mature students say to me, 'Cha'Von I don't know what I am doing in my office. I am never going to use this degree, but I have always wanted to do this.' I have had parents call me up after we have met to beg me to talk to their children. 'He is not paying attention in class, please talk to him'."Miss Clarke said she is passionate about people reaching their goals."It is great and I love it," she said. "I think this is one of my best jobs. Education is my passion." Miss Clarke attended Temple University in Pennsylvania and has a degree in psychology, criminal justice and neuroscience."I use it every day," she said. "Neuroscience is just looking at how the brain functions, and how it affects us in making decisions."Originally, I wanted to go into the prisons but it didn't work out that way. I am happy this is the direction I have taken."She previously taught at Clearwater Institute and Berkeley Institute, but always wanted to work with older students.During her off-time, Miss Clarke is involved in a number of creative endeavors. She teaches a small drama class at the Bermuda College; she performed in a winning play for the annual 'Famous for Fifteen Minutes' playwriting competition.She also loves to write."I write for 'Style Bermuda', and 'Showoff Magazine' and I also have a book that I want to publish," she said. "It was called 'Bermy Chick', but is now called 'Streets are Listening, God is Watching'. The book is about how regardless of what you are going through, you can always pull something positive from it."[AT]bodyfrank:For more information, telephone Miss Clarke at 239-4099 or e-mail her at cclarkecollege.bm.