Recruitment agency backs Premier’s full employment push

The CEO of one recruitment agency told Cayman 27 he can understand the perceptions fueling rhetoric like what we heard from Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin Thursday at the Fidelity CEO conference.

“We will also look again at the role of employment agencies, and their negative impact on the employment of Caymanians,” said Mr. McLaughlin in his opening remarks.

Steve McIntosh of CML/Nova Recruitment said his firm has an overall 70% placement rate for Caymanians. For permanent positions, he said the figure is 80%.

Mr. McIntosh told Cayman 27 he is wholeheartedly behind the premier’s push for full employment, and said his firm is working to advance opportunities for Caymanians through recruitment and training.

“We genuinely do the best we can to place Caymanians in every single job,” said Mr. McIntosh. “The remaining jobs that we haven’t been successful placing Caymanians tend to be highly specialized roles were a company genuinely can’t, isn’t able to find enough people in the local market, and that is something that we think could be addressed through education and training.”

Mr. McIntosh told Cayman 27 he supports a regulatory framework for recruiting firms that would level the playing field for local and international competitors, and indicated his willingness to work with government to achieve it.