Cayman’s Minister of Education, Hon. Tara Rivers, said in the Legislative Assembly in Cayman Brac last Thursday (10), the “Government is working to prepare and protect Caymanians so they can partake in the economic opportunities that exist today” in the Cayman Islands.

She said the National Workforce Development Agency (NWDA) had expanded and now includes an Immigration Interface that insures the Immigration Department and its Boards has access to up to date information allowing informed decisions to be made when processing work permit applications.

She said the Immigration Department has welcomed this new facility and has said the online interface will make for a significant positive change in the way Immigration and the NWDA work with each other and will increase the transparency of the work permit process.

Rivers outlined the various steps after a Caymanian has registered with the NWDA seeking employment and the Employer has also registered with the NWDA seeking an employee.

NWDA system runs a query to identify job seeking clients who broadly meet the requirements of the post.

NWDA Employment Services Officer reviews the matches for appropriateness and with authorization from job seekers, refer candidates that are a reasonable fit for the post.

NWDA Job Seeking Clients are able to view job posts and have the option to self-refer.

Employer Clients receive notification of matches for persons who have self-referred or who have been referred by the NWDA.

The Employer Client is responsible for reviewing all candidates and determining their suitability.

The Employer Client is provided with a section on the database where they can record the outcome of each referral.

If the Employer Client does not select a Caymanian and chooses to apply for a work permit the Immigration Department and its Boards will be able to pull up the referral record and view the list of persons that were referred or self-referred, the rationale for the referral and the reasons the company gave to explain why no suitable applicant was found.

Rivers acknowledged, “that one of the challenges our country faces is the discrepancy between the skills an employer desires and the level of skills present within a segment of our unemployed population. My Ministry recognizes that in order to address this challenge there needs to be a focus on training and development. In response, my Ministry is currently working on the intake and assessment process for job seekers who desire the support of an Employment Services Officer as they engage in job seeking activities. This is being designed as a comprehensive assessment that will include: psycho-social assessment, mental health screener, career assessment and an assessment of employability skills.”

She gave the date the new system should be implemented as being the end of April 2014.

It is going to be very interesting how this whole system will work, because whilst it all looks very feasible on paper it is quite a different thing when it is practiced.

Two candidates might possess the same qualifications for the same job identified in the data base but actually on site neither are qualified but the employer has to employ at least one of them before going outside and seeking a work permit. If the first one selected doesn’t work out and he then employs the second one and he/she in turn is unsuitable what happens then?

Is it now automatic the employer can officially seek someone from overseas to fill the job vacancy or is he forced to employ the Caymanian who he says is unsuitable?

I can foresee many problems still with both sides becoming frustrated. Government saying the employer is deliberately finding fault with the Caymanian worker because he wants to employ the overseas candidate and the employer furious the government is forcing someone on him who cannot do the job.

The time taken to go through this process could also be a disturbing factor. How quickly are the decisions from the Immigration Department going to be made?

Jobs for Caymanians first and foremost is certainly a criteria I support but it is the employer who ultimately has the final say no matter what the NWDA computer says. He pays the salary.