March 21, 2023
A regional recruitment and talent acquisition service is hopeful there will be more progress towards enacting the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in the future, noting it has the potential to revolutionize the region’s labour market while also resolving some longstanding labour issues.
Caribbean Employment Services Inc. is a market-leading digital talent acquisition service that aims to connect the top talent from the Caribbean with hiring managers, HR professionals and decision-makers in companies both within the Caribbean as well as abroad. Further, it aims to provide the region’s jobseekers and those who are already employed with news and resources related to Caribbean labour.
The organization was thrilled to see CARICOM launch its Skilled Workers Programme, which saw more than a dozen Caribbean teachers deployed to different countries in the region earlier this month. It lauds the initiative as a way to give teachers further skills training and hands-on exposure to new methods in new environments, while also possibly garnering CSME buy-in from Caribbean governing bodies that were previously on the fence about the programme or staunchly against it. While the assigned teachers wrap up their no-doubt fruitful deployment, Caribbean Employment hopes future cohorts and other categories of skilled workers will also have the opportunity to be deployed to neighbouring countries for career enrichment and skills development that will benefit all nations involved.
However, Caribbean Employment also notes that CSME has been long-awaited and highly-anticipated for decades. If fully enacted, it could potentially put an end to labour shortages and skills gaps. Likewise, it could potentially address the related, longstanding issues of brain drain and tension over expatriate workers in high positions. If CARICOM nations were able to freely recruit top talent from other nations, there would be less need to seek workers from outside of the region to fill the most elite roles. Caribbean Employment is poised to assist with this endeavour, as it allows employers to recruit from anywhere in the region. The organization believes in a modern recruitment strategy that extends beyond outdated measures that are limited to a physical area, which would facilitate hiring Caribbean workers if CSME were to fully be rolled out.
Caribbean Employment is encouraged by the recently launched Skilled Workers Programme, and hopes to see similar initiatives launched with the goal of working towards full CSME enactment in the near future.