Government relaunches Ready2Work
(CNS): With unemployment expected to climb to 19% this year, government is relaunching a 2016 jobs programme to help those in the tourism sector retrain for a new field of work. Following the economic collapse as a result of measures taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism has been especially hard hit and is now “barely alive”, Premier Alden McLaughlin said last week, as he announced the comeback of Ready2Work.
The on-the-job training initiative encourages employers to take on local people and train them as they work with financial backing from government. The immediate aim is for bosses to take on former tourism workers in an apprentice or internship programme and teach them a new trade while government pays the trainees for up to six months.
Hoping that this will see people who once in tourism jobs “retool and repurpose” for a new future, McLaughlin said those who sign up for the Ready2Work programme would receive one-on-one training in a job placement, a stipend from government, counselling and other support such as childcare, and ultimately a structured pathway to employment.
More than 2,700 Caymanians from the tourism sector have registered with government for help and the Needs Assessment Unit is helping some 10,000 people and dealing with around 60 new applicants every day, so getting locals back to work will be critical to rebuilding the local economy.
Although Cayman has closed its ports officially until the end of August, the premier has said on a number of occasions that the shutdown will be extended and the borders are unlikely to open to any visitors until almost the end of the year. And even as tourism does slowly reopen in a post COVID-19 world, there will be significantly fewer visitors than before the pandemic.
Consequently, hundreds of workers will be looking at a long-term shift from tourism and government is hoping that the Ready2Work programme will help transition unemployed locals into new careers.
The programme helped around 100 job seekers in the first year. The budget for the initiative was increased in 2017 but no figures relating to its success or failure have been released since then.
For more information job seekers and potential employers should email ready2work@gov.ky
or call Paul Puckering at 925-7230
or Dianne Conolly at 925-7230
or visit the WORC website here
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Category: Jobs, Local News
I hope it is Caymanians training Caymanians.
Maybe there aren’t as many qualified Caymanians @12.38am. Recruiters are veiled salespeople, they need to place people to earn their fee’s. If I was marketing I would 1. look for someone with the relevant qualifications and 2. ‘push’ them it doesn’t mean the person being pitched, is actively looking but more what the recruiter can use as a strong candidate. Ironically as you said you then call the recruiter – they have managed to get you to contact them. I am just highlighting their techniques.
Since there is another big push on Caymanians first – what about replacing Dr. Lee with Mr. Seymour? That would have made for some truly absurd viewing during the corona times.
What will the government do for income from all the lost permit fee’s.
There may be trouble ahead.
I strongly recommend our government put in place a full time cleaning crew for some of the unemployed to keep our roadsides and beaches clean. I’m sure there are unemployed people in each district that could make up their own district cleaning team. I think it’s important for the image of our islands to keep these areas clean all during the year, rather than having a big crew out there every once in awhile!
They do sporadically but usually only before they do a employment poll. Thanks for temporary ditch digging jobs Aldart…..still getting your salary?
How about this, don’t throw your garbage out if the car window!
Or instead of wasting money on people who only want to work 4 weeks out of the year we need to have community service mandatory for most offensives…
All the commenters on here on CNS over the years and what has been accomplished?
NOTHING BURGER.
More lipstick on a pig brought to you by Alden and his merry men. They have failed Caymanians for their entire political careers. What a mess
How about our education system produce people who are ready to work, Alden?
Financial firms have always used the slimy agencies to do their fishing with anonymous ads….then the firms can tailor the position requirements around the bites. Alden’s WORC does that for the firms now with it’s required registration for job seekers. Well as long as he’s is still getting paid everything is fine. Thanks Alden ..oink…oink
For them or the unemployed?
Financial industry firms on island used to all have their own in-house HR team. That task has now been outsourced to the recruitment agencies. Now, the local financial industry job market is being controlled entirely by the recruitment agencies. Have you been inside one of the “local” recruitment agencies lately? Picture many many white foreign faces. Before you roll your eyes and fly off the handle, please note that I am not anti-foreigner. I am merely stating a fact (wish I could underline the word FACT here). Financial industry recruitment was once done by qualified professionals, both expat and Caymanian, working for the firms they were recruiting for. Now, Caymanians looking for employment in Cayman’s financial industry, have to send their CVs to a predominantly foreign-staffed “local” recruitment agency. Are we really to believe that they will attempt to give qualified Caymanians the first shot at available positions before looking for equally qualified expats to fill the role? How will a foreign recruiter look out for the best interests of Caymanians, when he/she has no vested interest here?
I manage a medium-sized financial services firm. I am inundated weekly with emails and phone calls from the local recruitment firms, telling me about qualified expatriate professionals looking for jobs. Most often, these emails and calls are about qualified expats STILL WORKING FOR THEIR PERMIT HOLDER, but they are looking for other opportunities on island. That’s right. Emails and phone calls. Weekly. For employed expats looking for better or more favorable jobs.
I have yet to receive a SINGLE unsolicited email or phone call from a recruiter, telling me about an available qualified Caymanian.
No, I have to contact the recruiter myself to ASK for those.
And those recruiters will also process your permit renewal every year…cha-ching
As a qualified paper caymanian, I called the agency I was with and told them I saw they advertised xxx, she blatantly said on the phone – oh that is a work permit renewal. Now it seems that the agencies have split their firms into wp renewal and new hires. No overlap. The agencies should have to first cross match all jobs against qualified Caymanian and PR holders on their list first. PS – I was never sent any jobs from the agency.
And government refuses to allow the authorities to enforce the law, or otherwise equip them to do so.
Covid to the rescue…. After all this is over., its going to be like 1991 for air travel… Flight to London 10k flight to Tokyo… 17k
Caymanian employee priceless! You wait until October November when we in round 2
Well got to say the Uncle Tom HR locals aren’t much better…pretty slimy…firms think it better a Caymanians tells a Caymanians “Sorry position has been filled” (aka permit went through..hazahh).
I take it you don’t like white people. Doesn’t that make you a racist? BTW, Caymanians come in all colours.
Black people can’t be racist. Racism is an institution. Besides that, colorism is a dis-ease that infects the whirLed and sadly, that world includes Cayman.
Failed every other time but you know this time it should work now that only jobs are held by permit holders. You all still getting your fat salaries Alden and the Cheapunks?