Georgina Moehle, client service manager at Rowlands Recruitment, said there had been an increased number of candidates in comparison to the usual summer period.
‘We’ve seen an influx of trainees, which we tend to experience anyway when it comes to summer with graduation and things like that,’ said Ms Moehle. ‘Obviously with what’s going on at the moment it’s happened a little earlier so we’ve definitely seen more candidates in the last three or four months then we would normally any other year.’
The increase of both graduates and school-leavers looking for work has been attributed to school and university terms finishing early, combined with travel restrictions, which have caused many to seek employment rather than taking a gap year.
According to Ms Moehle, there are still roles available at trainee level, although start dates might be delayed due to the changes many companies have had to make – including working from home.
‘There have been a lot of companies still continuing to recruit at trainee level who also have recruitment drives ready for the future. Some might have delayed this slightly, just based on not knowing when they will be in or out of the office, so there are definitely recruitment drives coming for trainees.
‘Start dates might be delayed. For a company, it could be tricky because they want to give the trainee the full experience of company values and guidance, so if they’re not in the office they don’t want the absence of that experience to have a negative impact, least of all on a trainee who is probably starting their first job. So that’s why there are delayed start dates for that level of candidate – I think the jobs will be there; they just might not be there right now.
‘We are still placing people. We still have trainee jobs that we are recruiting for now. Every company does things differently; it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.’
With every company having its own schedule and objectives, Ms Moehle said it was hard to predict whether the situation for job-seekers would improve towards the end of the year.
‘It’s hard to say, because we don’t know what each company’s objectives might be. Where one company could think of the future and recruit lots of trainees, another may not be able to as it just doesn’t fit their current schedule or business plan, especially as such plans will have been impacted by the last three months.
‘If things keep heading in the right direction in terms of everything in the Island improving and moving forward, then I would say it looks promising across the board – not just for trainees but for all recruitment levels.’
Assistant Education Minister Jeremy Maçon, who assists with Skills Jersey, said the organisation had been working to provide useful resources for young job seekers and urged any prospective employers to get in touch.
‘Any business out there that is interested in using Skills Jersey to promote any opportunities for graduates or young people should get in touch,’ he said. ‘We’re happy to liaise with them to help promote any opportunities they might have.’
