Employers deliberately making job requirements hard for BVIslanders
The Acting Labour Commissioner Michelle McLean said employers in the Virgin Islands are making its job requirements increasingly difficult to opt out of hiring BVIslanders/Belongers.
Speaking at a recent stakeholder meeting to address concerns with the Labour Department, McLean said employers often look at the ‘semantics’ when trying not to hire locals for jobs advertised.
“Sometimes no matter how the person could be [qualified], they might say you have to have four years experience in such and such a field, the person may have three years nine months, they will point out that the BVIslander/Belonger does not have it,” McLean said.
She added that more things make it difficult to get a Belonger to fill a vacant position in the workforce.
McLean said the hesitancy to hire Virgin Islanders is present in both non-Belongers and Belongers who operate businesses in the territory.
“You might ask an employer and they say, ‘okay this BVIslander/Belonger lacking this and sometimes even the BVIslander/Belonger employers’. And I have to say to myself, ‘what does that speak to me as a BVIslander/Belonger and a proud BVIslander/Belonger?’,” McLean noted.
“You can try to do all the semantics they say are required, the person may have all the attributes, all the skills they state are required and when the person goes, it’s a problem. They may decide to hire this BVIslander/Belonger, but they still want the person on a work permit. Then we are going to have another pool of applicants. It is extremely difficult,” the Acting Labour Commissioner said.
Job advertised after the fact
McLean further said some of the employers in the territory often advertise jobs when they already have someone in mind for the post. Consequently, the advertisement is tailor-made for the person’s qualification and this often excludes a BVIslander who wishes to apply for the post. She added that when the Labour Department protests these actions, it becomes a big problem.
“If you are advertising something, you are advertising a position. That position really should identify who it is you want to hire. When you turn around and say you want to hire someone who is not a BVIslander/Belonger to fill that position, it exempts the BVIslander/Belonger because they may have seen that ad and because they did not meet the requirements, they did not apply for it. So, that is a shortfall,” McLean said.
Give locals a chance
She noted the Labour Department still has a mandate to find employment for BVIslanders and Mclean agreed with Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Wheatley’s statement that the BVI will not have locals to fill all available positions in the workforce but at least they need to be given a chance.
The Labour Department has been complaining about the difficulty the department faces in getting businesses to hire locals. In 2020, Wheatley had expressed that it was a challenge to place locals in jobs as businesses were intentionally failing to hire them.
Since then, Wheatley had maintained that too often businesses are not allowing BVIslanders to advance to the next level despite requisite qualifications but instead bring in expats. Wheatley said the practice is in all sectors and he believes businesses prefer to hire expats over locals from a cost-saving standpoint.
Last November, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Immigration announced they would launch a ‘Job Board’ which will serve as a recruitment hub aligning BVIslanders with job opportunities.
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I’d say work ethics have something to do with this? How many locals show up on time to work productively for a full day? I know locals who’d rather not hire their own on the basis that they don’t want to work.
Nonsense. You are brainwashed.
the locals who don’t want to hire locals are the employers who want to treat and talk to their staff any way they feel like.
I agreed Sturpss,
I have meet some natives who do not want to hire their own people, just because they don’t want to pay the salary that requires for a living wage. Therefore, some people would continue to live with low morals of the way they treat others in employment.
If there were a minimum wage of 15$ bracketed to fit into the living wage and a complaint board who are serious in follow ups it will change some perspective.
Exactly,,, we have all brought this upon ourselves over the years with our attitude.
These ridiculous , emotive and divisive statements show how out of touch these people are. Of course employers want to hire Belongers. It is way easier. No one wants to get involved with the work permit process and the complication and expense of it all if a local can be employed instead.
But the fact is there are not enough locals fo fill the positions needed for businesses to function. And often the necessary skills cannot be found among the small pool of 14,000 or so Belongers so it is necessary to go through the whole work permit rigmarole.
How do they make the applications hard for locals? Do they have to fill them in with colored crayons?
I like this lady because she is defending bvislanders to the bone…..Nice, don’t allow them to bamboze you
YOU CAN’T SPELL …LOLSorry it’s a requirement
I advertise my jobs just as job titles nothing more yet not 1 single BVIslander has applied as we are on an outer island and they don’t want to leave the big metroplois that they think the s**t hole tola is
This is a horrible disrespectful comment especially if it is made by a non belonger. We need to tighten up our labor laws some of these people live among us and pretend. We all know who owns the Businesses on the outer island. This comment reminds me of America before and during the civil rights movement.
Yep. I would not want to work for that person at all.
If we’re honest, we can all see that Tola is a sh*t hole. Garbage everywhere and the town stinks. Thankfully the incinerator has broken down, so residents out west get some respite from the toxic fumes.
You just could not contain your hateful bigotry and ingratitude. Biting the hand that feeds you, eh? With such loathing for BVIslanders you should not be operating any business here.
It is still our home. The only one most of us have.
No simply delicious?Not interested.
You just could not contain your hateful bigotry and ingratitude. Biting the hand that feeds you, eh? With such loathing for BVIslanders you should not be operating any business here.
you all missed the point and jump on the race/bigot band wagon, no BVIslander has ever applied for a job for us from Tortola even though we pay a starting wage of $10 plus tips with accommodation, food, drinks you see its you all that don’t bother your arses and complain there is no work and bigots yet you do not apply for the jobs….
They have not applied because they heard how racist you are, and know they do not stand a chance.
YES!!!DO NOT TOLERATE THESE DIRTY TRICKS TRYING TO AVOID HIRING LOCALS
@listen,If Tortola is such s**t hole, why are you in the BVI?
im not on Tola!
Back in 09 I was called from work by my wife to take our 9 month old baby for her check up,reason being her “local” co-worker had not returned from her lunch break in time to release her.its 2022 and that co-worker is still on lunch…This is what employers go through on a regular basis with locals.Ms commissioner you will full the ignorant.The employers in the BVI are not moved from the buls**t you’re trying to sell on the media.
Come back and comment when you learn how to read and write so that us, BVIslanders, can understand what you are trying to say
I’m thinking it’s the (ignorant)people like you the writer is referring too.its clear what was said,although he/she intended to say “fooled” rather than full..it’s clear cut.Do you even know the definition of IGNORANT?
I had to read this article over a couple of times to understand it. All I can say is: LOL It’s absolute nonsense.
maybe it’s time to start asking WHY employers are looking for expat workers.
We know exactly why.
I do know exactly why, but I’m not sure my theory is the same as yours.
Lots of employers have persons in mind well before advertising positions. Then they advertise using the person credentials, which are often not needed, for the position being advertised. It is absolutely true.
Everybody who migrate to the BVI has someone they want to bring and they are able to talk the employers into hiring them. I went to an establishment the other day, and met a guy who could not speak English, except to say “hold on”. I am asking a simple question and he had to bring someone to answer. How was he interviewed? Give me a break. If you ask me Labour needs to start interviewing some of these people themselves to get the real picture. The BVI is too small.
I engaged a mason the other day to do something for me, and he offered me a gardener from St Vincent. Engage a man from the Dominican Republic and he wants me to sponsor his niece and nephew and telling me not to worry about work for them, they will figure something out once they arrive. That is what is going on. Met someone from JA who came here some years on vacation and resigned his job from here and never returned home. BVI need to stop it. Lots of lies are being told on BVI belongers, but the truth of the matter is that no jobs are offered to them, but we offer jobs to everyone else because we can treat them differently.
It’s very simple, madam Labour Commissioner. Do not approve the Work Permits for certain jobs.
Ms McLean, you could not be more correct. I once worked in HR at a company, and that is exactly how it is done. They have their candidates, then they advertise based on what the candidates have.
i guess that is why you ‘once worked” and you aint no longer there.
Truth of the matter is, not all of us has to work until we are 80 because some of us know how to manage ourselves.
Then there are some of us who are marketable and can move on when we feel like.
Foolish comment. You remain stagnant and feel proud. You are probably in the same position for rolling of years.
Every week you this labor commissioner making excuses for your lack of incompetence. No one can make things hard for a bv Islander, if a job requires a specific skill, it is a means of getting suitable BV Islanders first and if we can’t get outside resources. From the time you started under this government there has been issues with the department, why wasn’t it that way with the previous government. You are incompetent and you need to resign or get a job with public works. When the government say they want someone with two years experience are they asking for someone with 1 year and 2 months? Stop your c**p
Yesssss very incompetent!!!! She keeps talking nonsense to the media when she suppose to be doing her job properly. This is the worst I’ve seen the labour department run worst since Ms McLean there. All she doing is giving bvi belongers the wrong impression about the business owners here!! And that’s so unprofessional.
Recently advertised a simple position, I had applicants have their girlfriend call in for them, applicants turn up late to interview, even one that request pickup and drop-off – If you can’t even turn up to an interview in a timing fashion, how you going to turn up to work? If you can’t even call to ask about the position and have to have your girlfriend / mother do it…. do I really want to hire you?
Have to beg for a chance in our own country. Wow. Lavity must be turning over in his grave.
that’s what happens when your leaders don’t have no vision and are for sale to the highest bidder.
job requirements are same for everybody but locals are not qualified means they dont have proper education or experience
The headline should say, “Employers deliberately making job requirements hard”. The fact is we have two main industries: financial services (highly skilled/technical) or high-end tourism (exceptional customer service skills and experience required). Neither or these fields lends itself to non-professionals who arent committed to their sector. These arent unskilled call centre jobs or working in an amazon warehouse jobs. Even a hotel cleaner is a skilled professional.
In both industries, only excellence counts as we’re in a competitive global marketplace. So yes, employers have very high standards, for all candidates because their longterm businesses depend on high standards. I am an employer, an expat, and i genuinely have always tried to recruit locally wherever possible because it is cheaper and a longer term solution. But I will never compromises my high standards simply because someone bahn here. My BVIslander team do not want me to do so either: they are brilliant, hard working professionals who go above and beyond every day, and they do not want to cover for a lazy, good for nothing, who cannot cut it in the real world. My team could cut it anywhere in the world in our sector because they are smart, highly skilled, well rewarded professionals and they know it. If I do not pay them market rates+ and treat them properly, they know the value of their skills and they will walk to my competitor.
THE TIME HAS COME TO PUT A CEILING ON THE AMOUNT OF EXPATS ALLOWED IN THIS COUNTRY…HOPE AYO SEE WHATS GOING ON…WE HAVE CREATED A MONSTER AFTER ALLOWING THESE PEOPLE TO STAY AND WORK INDEFINITELY…BVISLANDERS ARE BEING PHASED OUT SO THEREFORE WE NEED A GOVERNMENT WHO GOT THE BALLS TO PROTECT THE INDIGENOUS
You ain’t indigenous – the Caribs and arawaks were indigenous. Your ancestors were just brought here sooner than the Filipinos came. Stop your nonsense now.
Not so quick to judge before knowing the evidnce…
Black people were the first to populate every major continent for centuries, and travel all the oceans..
Who knows than if Black people did not live here, just as they did in South and north America, along side the Caribs, Arawaks and Indians??
Do note, the European came along later with a hateful vengance and hid, destroyed and buried our historical evidence… There is much we do not now know. We know we have been fed lies ever since they bcame dominant..
I thought it was Europeans that bring us here.???
Even Columbus was here after the amerindians. Then the Europeans. Thanks for bringing us over to this part of the world.
BVI, You are so correct. All other Caribbean has a strategic plan except for the BVI. It’s a “Free for All” in the BVI.
Aaaah! The elephant in the room that nobody wants to address. Guess what this nonsense has been going on for years. I have been back home from the 90’s and there is always some moving of the goal post or justification for not hiring locals. First it was there are not enough locals; then it was locals are not educated enough.
Now that there are enough educated locals the new justification is lack of work ethic. WHO keeps moving OUR goal post to satisfy their own needs instead of that of the VIslander??!! Our labour laws need tightening up so much so that employer or employee gets fined for any infraction!
I am in total agreement. Anytime there are excuses not to hire locals, there is a very serious, sinister plan to disenfranchise persons in their homeland. I am a local who work hard and achieves daily goals in the workplace.
In 2022, the disenfranchisement of locals is at an all time high. I will say this, the Labour Commissioner needs to look into the fact that most expats has three, four jobs in this country while young girls and young boys fresh out of High School and HLSCC are without an entry level job. Most of the working visitors with these multiple jobs only has a high school diploma, if that. The hairdressers are hairdressing at home. The waitresses, boat cleaners, hospital workers, restaurant workers, etc are cleaning homes in the evening and on weekends. The mechanics are working nights fixing cars and the list goes on. Labour inspectors are not doing their jobs. This should not happen in a small country like this uncontained. Entry level jobs are needed for new graduates from our educational institutions. So one expat with three incomes while locals are not employed is plain out wrong. It is time to do something about this huge elephant in the room as walking around him is not working.
@get real, Maybe its time BVI tell some of these expat workers where to go, you are in a norther mans country and you feel that you have a right to granted a work permit, you don’t have a right unless your a be longer.
We are not obligated to give out work permits
It look like they forget that it’s not owed to them.
I have never seen an ad the says ” Expats preferred” even when they come for interviews and hear the work requirements they run, even had some work one day and leave. it’s not that employers do not want to hire locals , its that most locals have preferences and in a small island like this, that mentality cannot work. You either want to work to survive or you work for yourself. this is why employers prefer expats, they will take whatever job to survive.
It’s just not any expat they are looking to hire. It’s mostly Filipinos that are being hired. They are known to undermine their coworkers, work for less money and pretentiously work longer hours (meaning they work slower to make the time stretch longer) and are the news carriers for the employer. All Filipinos stick together and you better believe it the other employees (Caribbean descent) will never get ahead in that company. We create vibes with our Caribbean brothers and sisters but they aren’t the problem. I am not racist just stating the obvious.
I can smell hatred and jealousy. Why don’t you ask yourself why employers here preferred Filipinos than you, is it because you will only work what you want, when you want and how you want it? Are employers crazy enough to believe if these people are just pretending to work without any clear output? Man you are undermining the employers here. Examine yourself if you are doing your best too and not just a mediocre always late, lazy and don’t want to work kind of employee. SMH
I agree. Labor need to attack M**rings and O*K* with his racist behavior. Tired of hearing their workers complaining.
post this on V**O. Actions are certainly deliberate. These white employers specifically. Rather work with other whites and would make things hard just to keep it that way. If you rather be amongst your own kind, stay where you were before. Don’t bring that mentality here. Its not welcomed.
Expats come to work with work boots/shoes on. Belongers wear slippers/flip flops and they expect the employer to pick them up then them home.
Those outsiders want a moomoo to work in Labour Dept who will be giving out work-permits left right and center but that wont happen. STICK YOUR FOOT MCLEAN, WE BVISLANDERS HAVE YOUR BACK…..IT’S ABOUT HIGH TIME WE HAVE SOMEONE TO DEFEND AND PROTECT US.
It’s mostly the ignorant, uneducated country people that come in here from down island. I say we hardly need any of them because they only came to prog and rundown the island with their nasty dirty ways. The vast majority of these people are very ungrateful because they have no say in their country of birth. So no wonder they are here trying to fight us for what is ours. Set ah badminded people.
Wish to agree with your statements with regret, because we should be aiming towards Black unity, in the face wwhite supremacy.
When one experiences the horribles first hand, it is often shocking.
Imagine giving one a place to lay the, eat and live, as that one had no place to live and could not afford one. Then that lovely thankful turns around and ask landlord to put you out so they can have the whole place for themselves..Imagine the horrible mentality that would think of and do such…
This is the same mentality we see in action with regards to our country. awful indeed…..
You have a shallow dirty mind. Ppl like you always feel other island ppl is uneducated and dirty when most of you “son of the soil” houses are dirtier than the incinerator and want the same expats you call dirty and uneducated to come clean your houses. Those same expats have better cleaning skills than many locals. Right now those other islands have to better education than us so be careful we might be the “uneducated country ppl” who are considered “down island ppl” to other islands from the West. Astop being dirtyminded thinking only we in the BVI is educated and clean cause ppl like you are the ignorant one who would talk yo expats how you want with your mentally.
Belongers deserve a chance? What about educating belongers? Stop the hand outs and make them responsible for their own destiny.
If you require a candidate to need 5 years and you have a local who has 4 but meets all other requirements of course we need to hire the local.
But a local without a degree, who hopped about 20 jobs in 5 years and has a reputation to make trouble, no. I won’t allow poor performers in my business regardless of where they are from.
It’s not the requirements that are hard. Work is actually hard.
If you would realize that and actually show up and do your best you may have a job in no time and actually keep it.
If you look for handouts you will probably have to keep looking.
she is exposing the evilness that lurks withIN, and according some of the bloggers , there are more with that evil ? mentality
if it was Really about providing BVIslanders with job opportunities, it wouldn’t be so expensive, difficult and interfered with to set up in business here.
and the kids would have proper schools.
No simply delicious?Not interested.
run their own businesses, or work for trust companies. The others are indulged by every government administration to expect a 6-hour day, air-conditioning, full benefits, “workshops”, sabbaticals, SUV and early retirement. This is why you end up with an entitled, unmotivated BVI workforce.
I know of locals young locals who went to collage and is doing construction work I admire and respect such person. Others can do same do not wait on a/c job, work and sweat for your salary.
Sad
to the historian/ so why so much racism / hatred and evilness is thrown at other black brothers and sister from different parts of the world in which we all live on/ all our ancestors came down on the same slave ships and we are all related so why we fighting eachother ?
Nonsense
As far as I know most government places need ppl but then again the locals are not qualified or should I say the are lazy that is why the government don’t want to hire the.
Y’all need to stop telling businesses to hire locals when ayo don’t want then to work in government places
Look at y’all hospital,,, is most expats work there
Again y’all locals are too dunce and lazy for a government job
Expats are doing the hiring that is why the hospital is the way it is. I know registered nurses who wanted to return home and received no responses to their resumes, so speak what you know.
I’ve lived here over 15 years worked with both locals and expats, There are good and bad in both!
I saw where expats tell my employer man dont hire them locals they are lazy here. I know so and so from wherever and they can work, then they come and don’t know anything.
At the end of the day, we are in a country no of our own and they should want to protect their own, its no different any where else.
I’m not from here but at the end of the day locals are entitled to make a living too and nobody should be able to go to a next man country and fight them for work.ppl from here have the right to talk so why outsiders should try to fight them down , where do you want the locals to get money from .
I am so happy to see that there are persons visiting and working in our shores who are kind hearted and right thinking. Why? Because if BVIslanders and Belongers had a problem with persons coming to our shores, we would not be outnumbered today. The ugliness being spewed in the blogs are very disheartening. So thank you for being kind and saying what is right. BVIslanders should be able to make a living and be happy at home. When I left High School many moons ago, I had three jobs. I worked in a real estate company by day, sold icecream by night and weekends. And between my day job and my night job for two hours I taught afternoon classes. Why? Because the opporunities were there for me to work hard and save towards my college education. Can high school graduates say that now? They cannot. They are looking and cannot find work. And, yes, they are looking. I have helped many. I have asked around. I have written and delivered resumes even to those who did not advertise and not one answer was had. That is not good enough in one’s own country, not good enough at all.
So kudos to you. You are right thinking and kind, more like the persons from other places that came here in the 80s, not the new wave visitors. Again, thank you.
Some work permits should not be issued period!
Some jobs are not technical.
She is right about the job advertisement being tailored around the candidate.
I hired 3 locals for the same Job in a period of 1 year. Leaving on the basis that it is too technical, they found a better job etc. So I ended up doing 2 people’s job. It was not worth training someone all the time and they leave after 2 months. So some employers hired expats because of that security. They can’t just leave. Maybe I just did not find the right candidate. It was not worth going through the work permit system to replace the person either.
This issue is a very broad issue with many circumstances surrounding why it happens. However, it is up to the government to set a standard for work permits.
Just happened to read classifieds at the Beacon. Ad for general manager for Quitos. “5 years Superyacht experience”. Say what? I know Quitos is up for sale and probably is a sinking ship,but their ad is a prime example of what’s wrong with employment and work permits in the BVI.