Lack of staff holding back finance recovery?

Friday 10 July 2015

An “acute shortage” of staff for mid-level positions in finance companies means that ministers have to drop restrictions on bringing in staff from overseas.

That’s the view of employment specialist Gina Le Prevost of AP Executive, who says that in the wake of the 2008 crash the industry stopped taking on enough trainees, and that now there’s not enough mid-level staff with three-to-five years’ experience to fill vacancies in the trust and funds sectors.

Finance industry profits rose by 25% last year as the economic recovery started to take hold in the Island. That has led to an upturn in recruitment – but now some firms are struggling to find the staff that they need to grow.

Mrs Le Prevost’s warning is that more people will have to be brought to the Island to plug a gap in skills and experience in the finance industry – and the trust and funds sectors in particular – and that ministers will have to relax restrictions on immigrants coming in

Her comments come at the same time that there has also been some disquiet over figures that show overall immigration has been running at 600 per year over the last two years – almost double the States’ target.

Mrs Le Prevost said: “Since early 2015, we are noticing a recruitment upturn in the Channel Islands and other global locations which specialise in trust and fund professionals. However, companies specialising in these popular sectors are now struggling to find candidates qualified with the important three to five years levels of experience.

“Companies need support by the Guernsey and Jersey respective authorities to be able to employ non- locally qualified candidates if necessary, and strict work permits policies, which have been in place for so long now, should be more relaxed.

“Without companies being given more leeway with bringing in non-locals and if the numbers of jobs in specialist areas continue to increase in the islands, it is inevitable that salaries will need to rise in these industries. In fact, job seekers moving to the islands because of work offers would also improve the Guernsey and Jersey sluggish housing markets, which both islands are currently experiencing.”