AMSTERDAM--Finance and Personnel Affairs Commissioner Xavier Blackman left Sunday afternoon on a recruitment trip to the Netherlands. His primary aim is to meet with St. Maarten and Antillean students who have completed or are close to completing their studies.
Blackman was originally scheduled to travel to the Netherlands last week, but this trip was postponed because of issues with the draft 2010 budget. The Island Council will handle the budget on Monday, March 22.
Students and professionals from the island who are working in the Netherlands are being sought by Blackman to return home to build Country St. Maarten, which should come into being by the end of the year.
Blackman told the press Sunday morning that he would also explore the type of incentives necessary to encourage students and professionals to return to St. Maarten.
The government has a large number of critical vacancies. Due to this, a number of departments are understaffed and services are not optimal. One such situation exists in the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment VROM. The department has been without an environment inspector since early 2009, and this has handicapped the issuance of some planning, building and hindrance permits.
The commissioner will provide information in two sessions to (former) students about the many vacancies that exist in Government, and about working in St. Maarten in general.
The sessions will also serve to recruit graduates. This group has been invited to have their Curriculum Vitae (CV) with them. They may apply for vacancies on the spot. Job interviews have been planned at the St. Maarten Student Support Services S4 office in Amsterdam on Thursday and Friday.
At these sessions, Blackman will also provide information on the trainee programme at the various Dutch Ministries, where students and future civil servants will be trained before returning to St. Maarten. The sessions entitled "Our St. Maarten, Our Future" will take place this Wednesday and Thursday in The Hague and Amsterdam, respectively. The sessions are being organised by S4. The session in The Hague will take place at the St. Maarten Information Centre, while that in Amsterdam will be held at the offices of S4.
This is the first time that (former) students are being specifically informed about vacancies that exist within St. Maarten's government, which is feverishly preparing for the status of autonomous country in the Dutch Kingdom by October 10, 2010.
In two earlier sessions in Amsterdam and The Hague last year, Constitutional Affairs Commissioner William Marlin informed students of the constitutional developments and how much St. Maarten needed them, especially when the island attained country status. On both occasions, Marlin urged the students to return to their island once they had completed their studies.
