~Passaat Recruitment Days a big success~

ROTTERDAM--The third Passaat Recruitment Days (PRD) event in Rotterdam over the weekend was a resounding success, particularly for St. Maarten, one of the two main sponsors of the career fair for Antilleans and Arubans living in the Netherlands.

More than one hundred interested persons, mostly students and recent graduates, passed by the booth of the Island Territory of St. Maarten to check out the vacancies at government. Many also paid a visit to the booth of the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce to inquire about the possibilities of working in the private sector.

The Island Territory of St. Maarten has some 500 vacancies after October 10, 2010, the date when St. Maarten attains the status of country in the Dutch Kingdom. One hundred of these vacancies are critical and need to be filled soon, explained delegation leader Jorien Wuite, Director Public Health, Social development and Labour at the symposium preceding the career fair.

The audience at the symposium cheered when Wuite said that St. Maarten would pay up to 50 per cent of the study debt of future government employees as part of an incentive package to attract personnel for Country St. Maarten. A moment earlier at the symposium, Aruba House Director Desirée Croes had announced that her government would pay up to 35 per cent of the study debt of new employees.

Both Aruba's and St. Maarten's offers were overridden by Bonaire. A spokesperson of Ban Boneiru Bèk, an organisation encouraging the return of Bonairians living in the Netherlands, who was sitting in the audience announced that the island would eliminate the entire study debt of new government employees. The audience responded with loud cheers and clapping. Bonaire becomes part of the Dutch Constellation per October 10, 2010, along with Saba and St. Eustatius.

According to Wuite, St. Maarten has put together an attractive incentive package to convince students and graduates to come to St. Maarten and work for government. The package includes incentives like a specific allowance to match up the salary that the person earned or would have earned in the Netherlands, an allowance to cover the cost of moving to the island, good secondary labour conditions including a renewed re-numeration structure.

Law students and graduates are offered a legal training at the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations BZK. These persons will receive a salary from St. Maarten's Government while training at the Ministry. The Island Territory is in dire need of law specialists. Law students and graduates have been invited to come to an information session in The Hague today, Monday. St. Maarten's Acting Director of Support Louis Brown is in charge of this information session.

Brown, together with his colleagues Jorien Wuite, Island Receiver Sherry Hazel, Personnel and organisation Senior Policy Worker Soraya Agard, Personnel and Organisation Personnel Advisors Selma Adriana and Zinesche Antoine-Kruythoff have a full schedule while in the Netherlands.

Interviews

Interviews with prospective employees were set up for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. "The interview schedules are nearly full. We are trying to accommodate everyone," said Wuite. Prospective candidates were asked to leave their Curriculum Vitae and contact information.

According to Wuite, the response was "very positive." "These are professional people with good education and with a critical view that want to take a shot at it. It is a nice mix of people from Curaçao, Aruba, St. Maarten with different areas of specialism of all ages. We have had persons studying or graduated in social development, ambulance, nursing, economics, biology, pedagogic. Some already have a job in the Netherlands and want to come home," she told The Daily Herald.

Hundreds of Antillean and Aruban students and graduates swarmed the ground floor of the Beurs World Trade Center (WTC) where the PRD was held Saturday and Sunday. According to the organisers, the Antillean and Aruban student organisation Passaat, the fair drew a larger crowd than the two previous ones in 2006 and 2008.

Some thirty companies and organisations from Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire were represented at the fair, including the Foundation Government Accountant's Bureau SOAB, Government Tax Accountant's Bureau BAB, the Central Banks of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, several law offices, commercial banks and accountants' firms, United Telecommunications Services UTS, the Regional Service Centre for the BES islands Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, the Curaçao Tourist Bureau and the Amigoe newspaper. The Curaçao Island Government also had a large booth.

Symposium

The fair was preceded by a three-hour symposium about the dismantling of the Country the Netherlands Antilles. With the breaking up of the Netherlands Antilles and the creation of two new countries, many job opportunities are becoming available on the islands. Because there are not enough persons locally to fill the vacancies, the islands are trying to convince Antillean and Arubans graduates and young professionals to return home.

Speakers at the symposium included Chairman of the Project Group Dismantling the Netherlands Antilles and SOAB Director Geomaly Martes, Curaçao Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs Zita Jesus-Leito, Aruba House Director Desirée Croes, Antillean Minister of Finance Ersilia 'Zus' de Lannooy and St. Maarten Director of Public Health, Social Development and Labour Jorien Wuite.

Jesus-Leito explained that Country Curaçao would need to fill some 800 vacancies within five years, because a large group of civil servants is leaving government service to go on pension. She said the average age of government employees was 48. "This means that there will be enough room for new talent," she said. Minister De Lannooy asked Antillean students and graduates to return to Curaçao. "We need you," she said.

Jorien Wuite focused on the growth of St. Maarten's economy and the possibilities of working for government in her presentation. She said St. Maarten was looking for "new blood" to fulfil the tasks at the seven new ministries. She stressed that St. Maarten welcomed all talent, not only from St. Maarten but from the entire Dutch Kingdom. The audience appreciated her remark that it was important to look beyond one's own borders in finding sufficient qualified personnel. ~Suzanne Koelega