It's a no brainier — getting additional education after high school can open the door to many career options and great learning opportunities. But how do you know what career you're supposed to pursue, what university to pick and perhaps most importantly, whether or not you qualify for a scholarship.

That's where the Bermuda Career Centre can help. The Royal Gazette spoke to Derek Smith, the Executive Director, about how the current economic situation is forcing more people to depend on scholarships and the importance of making good choices early on.

"The number of scholarships has not decreased," he points out. "I would imagine that there are more people vying for these scholarships because of the amount of people who have decided to go to college or even return to college.

"Many scholarships have, as criteria, that the individual must be in their second year. There may be many reasons for this, but one may be that you have to prove yourself the first year. If you have these $25,000 scholarships, you're not going to award it to someone who hasn't even finished their first year."

This is where the value of the Bermuda College comes in. "I think we should have more students considering enrolling at the Bermuda College, because despite some expenses involved... it's free! It also provides you with an on-site campus experience."

Mr. Smith says many might have the discipline to enrol in distance learning (online), but for many youngsters who have just graduated, the Bermuda College provides a rich experience in preparing them for college abroad.

As for searching for scholarships, he says searching through the Career Centre website helps youngsters to think outside the box when they're looking for scholarships in their particular field.

"Tick as many of the boxes of interest as possible. Just because you're interested in mathematics, pick banking, engineering, education, finance, insurance, hospitality, math and general, which is non-restrictive scholarships," he says showing the ease of using the website which goes through the process of elimination and displays the various scholarship offered by companies and institutions. Now you can start applying. (See tips to completing the application process.)

"What I encourage parents to do is supervise the application process and take advantage of every possibility in the database. It will save you money," he adds.

Another benefit of getting a scholarship is that recipients are almost always guaranteed a summer job with the respective company. This could translate into future employment.

"It's important that students do as much as possible while at college," he advises. "This can take the form of voluntary or compensated. Employers want to know what you have done, what experience you have and what activities you've been involved in on and off the campus. These are experiences that will expand on your communication skills, your interpersonal and leadership skills."

He adds: "The biggest complaint from graduates is that they have a degree, but they don't have experience. These are opportunities for you to get some experience and prevent frustration after your academic journey. There is no guarantee, but you are positioning yourself for favourable consideration if you are able to elaborate on the skills that you have acquired while you were away at school."

Mr. Smith adds that another way students can save money on college is to consider attending school in the United Kingdom. He recently returned from tours of some of the universities and colleges and found that students could save up to 50 percent by attending school in the UK.

"I found one school that charged 3,000 pounds a year and if you do the conversion it's a little over $5,000 a year," he explains. "Compared to a university in the United States that could cost up to $25,000 a year."

Because so many Bermuda-based companies have offices in the United Kingdom, students can also find summer employment with these companies.

Mr. Smith will be available for an information session on December 3 at the Hamilton Princess as part of the International College Fair to talk about scholarships and invites all students and parents to attend and find out about opportunities available to them.

Visit the website at www.bdacareers.bm, call 292-5056, or visit the Bermuda Career Centre offices at the Department of Labour and Training on Reid Street in Hamilton.