(In photo: Sylvia Jones, director of Bermuda operations for Elevate Executive Selection)
Bermuda’s international business sector is a world leader in providing expert solutions for complex problems. In order to sustain this position however, they need to recruit and retain the brightest minds available. Unfortunately, the island’s main jurisdictional competitors want this talent too. How can Bermuda attract them here?
We sat down with recruitment expert, Sylvia Jones, director of Bermuda operations for Elevate Executive Selection, who explained what the most in-demand jobs are, what challenges and opportunities Bermuda offers international experts, and what more needs to be done to fill these roles.
In recent years, actuarial, risk, compliance and corporate administration have been high-demand roles, with actuarial being the most difficult to fill: “There are not enough actuaries in Bermuda and there are not enough actuaries globally to meet the demand,” she explained.
A major hurdle is the specialised nature of this particular job, but companies, industry bodies and the Bermuda College have made a concerted effort to find ways to help potential candidates achieve the qualifications and experience they need.
“The actuarial accreditation is quite a lengthy process but companies are happy to hire actuaries who are not fully qualified, and they work with them through their qualifications while they’re in their employment here,” she said, adding that there is a lot more being done now compared to 20 years ago.
“The associations like Abic (Association of Bermuda International Companies), Abir (Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers), Biltir (Bermuda International Long Term Insurers and Reinsurers), the companies themselves by way of scholarships and internships, the Bermuda College and the various training bodies are doing everything they can,” she said.
To an extent, this is working. The number of Bermudians employed by the international business sector is increasing year on year. However, the problem remains numbers. “We don’t have enough people here to meet the need. It’s a population issue, not a talent issue,” Ms Jones said.
One possible area for improvement would be the education system: “In my ideal world, I would have every child love mathematics and then maybe we’ll be able to solve that problem,” she laughed.
In the meantime, Bermuda needs international talent, but the lack of appropriate housing, the cost of living and the cost of doing business here all pose a significant challenge. “Actuaries who have ten plus years of experience in the actuarial space, they’re very hard to attract to Bermuda because, by then, they’ve reached a stage in their life where they’re quite comfortable where they are and the compensation has to be there to get them to agree to come to Bermuda.
“But, there’s a very real awareness of the cost of living here, the cost of housing. They’re really big issues that prevent really good candidates from taking jobs here.”
Added to that is the increasing cost of hiring and Ms Jones has noticed that when jobs are lost in Bermuda, they are not always replaced in Bermuda. This, she said, is “shrinking our international business sector in a very quiet, subtle way”, thus creating a negative economic impact.
On the flip side however, Bermuda does continue to offer a high standard of living and a significant career boost: “For anyone coming in from overseas, the number one reason they take the job is because it represents a step up on the career ladder,” she said.
This is particularly the case for younger people who may have lower expenses and fewer commitments. She did warn, however, that these employees may only wish to stay for a shorter period of time.
In spite of the recruitment challenges, Ms Jones is confident that Bermuda still “marginally” maintains a leading position globally and the C-suite candidates and start-ups she speaks with choose Bermuda because “they feel that this really is the re/insurance capital and this is where all the action takes place and they want to be a part of it.”
Unless the housing crisis is solved and the cost of doing business is reduced however, she does believe that “we may have reached a peak in terms of growth and capacity for growth here. Those two big factors would enable the international business sector to grow significantly.”
