Yet another hollow remark from a PLP Government who habitually over promise and under deliver.

I’m not saying that Bermuda and Bermudians could not have been more welcoming, but money always talks and particularly in a recessionary economy people are interested in doing more with less. (unless you’re the Government of course).

Wait till more loose their homes, cars etc. and then we will see what they wish to do.
And um a onion!!!

1) It is not always the case that Bermudians who are unemployed have been overlooked for a foreign worker. Sometimes it is other Bermudians who get the job.

2) It is a fact that sometimes Bermudians are not qualified for the jobs that they apply for.

3) It is a reality that amongst Bermudians, the MORE QUALIFIED, usually get hired first.

Those facts inevitably mean that yes; Sometimes Bermudians are not successful for a variety of different reasons.

What would be helpful to this discussion is an estimate, based on data, of how many qualified Bermudians are actually being overlooked for foreigners and whether or not the Bermudians are in fact qualified. To throw around statements like, “in most cases” or “majority of the time” has to be informed by accurate data. Without that data, what are we basing our conclusion that this is a prevalent problem on?

I, for one, am not persuaded that the problem that we are seeing is based on Bermudians simply being overlooked. Here are some facts;

1. It is a lot more expensive to hire foreign workers (not a good thing in this climate).

2. The job market in here is smaller than before. That means that there are more people applying for the same jobs. It is a great time for Companies to hire really talented individuals at a fraction of the cost. (Hard and soft market principles apply).

3. Bermudians has to be prepared to go the extra mile. The days of doing “just enough” are over. I know that there are many Bermudians who do but there are many amongst us who do not.

I think we have to have a hard and honest look at why some people are unemployed. Sometimes it is self inflicted through unrealistic expectations and a poor attitude. I am for the Government doing what it can to stamp our poor behaviour on the part of employers but that conversation has to go the other way as well. Bermuda needs to be providing a healthy, well educated talent pool for IB to choose from and at the moment, we are not.

- they want to work a 8 hour day; and occasionally weekends and public holidays
- they show up on time
- they have a phone that works when I need it to (Did I mention we offer a phone subsidy?)
- they wear the clean uniform that I supply them with
- they turn off their bb and cell phone during working hours
- they don’t steal anything from clients or time from me
- they won’t fight, bitch and argue at the site of a job
- they have transportation or the unfettered ability to get from job to job
- their language is clean and free of profanity
- they don’t openly covet and yes beg people for things they see in their homes
- they understand that taxes etc are non negotiable deductions, and that hours and more work is a function of how you do on this job…not just becasue you filled out an application…

All persons who satisfy these basic qualifying criteria are hired.

Para 1 – Agreed
Para 2 – I take your point about rejecting the notion of lazy Bermudians. They have to do the work to qualify for their credentials. Please accept my point there are some qualified Bermudians with bad attitudes, clock watching and underperformance issues that tarnish the rest of the Bermudians. I would say all suitably qualified Bermudians should be gainfully employed.
Para 3 – When government intervenes in the free market to dictate what investors can do with their money, therein comes the problems and Bermudians have unwittingly gotten caught in the middle. Employers try to circumvent the system and Bermudians begin to feel they have a born right to be hired. This is the area that I feel needs to be addressed in a way to produces congruent behaviors on the part of the Employers and Employees in addition to my other thoughts.

Para 4 – Agreed.

As a first step, all suitably qualified Bermudians must be gainfully employed. I emphasise suitably qualified because you must be clearly qualified to be considered for the job. At this point, I reject the general notion of lazy Bermudians. The average professional Bermudian has made a personal and financial sacrifice to gain the relevant professional designation. Given the international standing of the qualifications (law, accounting, finance, insurance etc) they would have had to meet whatever standards apply. In many cases, they obtain the qualifications while holding down a fulltime job and parental responsibilities.

To summarise, Bermuda will never produce qualified Bermudians for all posts, but all qualified Bermudians must be employed in appropriate posts in order for IB to succeed in Bermuda. I will also go further and assert that if Bermudians are employed to their potential, there will be a marked decrease in the level of negative comments about IB since it is an economic fact that higher levels of IB presence generally benefit all Bermudians.

Thus my original comment that any negotiations with IB must be done from a position of strength. The adage ‘I need you and you need me’ is definitely true in this instance’. We need to understand that if we get this ‘IB situation’ correct, 1 + 1 will = 3, with Bermuda and IB as the beneficiary.

Employers must start being honest and stop saying that they cannot find qualified Bermudians.

The challenge is to know when the social relationship is relevant because it can never be overcome by a policy of trying to put Bermudians in certain jobs. If I am the hiring manager, I will invariably want who I want. What follows is an interview process whereby I find reasons NOT TO HIRE anyone (in many cases Bermudians) that I do not want. If we can understand that criteria, we will have a better handle on realistic expectations for hiring Bermudians.

So what is the solution? There must be appropriate limitations on various classes of employment whenever there are qualified Bermudians to fill the jobs. Once all qualified Bermudians are employed in the relevant category, the immigration policies for the category should be fairly lenient. I am not advocating quotas or any such unsustainable process but a simple method of ensuring that all QUALIFIED BERMUDIANS are fully employed.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am talkng about white collar jobs since there are many qualified Bermudian professinals that are either unemployed or underemployed. The PLP will not survive as a government if several of their middle class supporters remain disgruntled and unhappy about their employment prospects.