BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS — The CEO of a regional recruitment service is hoping to see more youth accelerators and internship programmes that will help boost employability and help more young Caribbean people with job placement prospects in the future.

Joseph Boll is the head executive of Caribbean Employment Services Inc., a market-leading digital talent acquisition service that aims to connect the top talent from the Caribbean with hiring managers, HR professionals and decision-makers in companies both within the Caribbean as well as abroad. It is headquartered in Barbados but operational throughout the region. Since being founded in 2020, the firm has helped thousands of Caribbean jobseekers connect with employers and land their dream jobs.

“It would be fantastic to see more accelerator programmes, internships and training programmes that lead directly to employment for Caribbean people of all ages, especially those who may have never had an opportunity to receive formal training,” said Boll. “Some of these can be geared towards entrepreneurship, but it would also be good to see public and private business come onboard and partner with these programmes to help more people become highly-skilled and employed with formal jobs.”

Boll’s comments come on the heels of the final call for applications for the 2024 edition of the Caribbean Tourism Career Accelerator and Remote Career Internship programme, hosted thanks to a partnership between organizations like Global Startup Foundation — the non-profit arm of Haitian-American tech recruitment company Global Startup Ecosystem; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Labs; Google Cloud for Startups; IBM Clouds; and others.

The programme is a multi-week reskilling and internship programme open exclusively to young Caribbean professionals who are interested in pursuing careers in the tourism industry. While offering a unique upskilling and networking opportunity, the programme also promises participants job placement and internship opportunities.

“These are the kind of programmes the region needs to see more of, both to improve the regional economy and also to tackle long-standing issues with young talent moving abroad because it’s too difficult to find job opportunities here,” Boll said.

He noted that his firm, Caribbean Employment Services Inc., aims to make the job hunting and hiring process easier for jobseekers of all ages as well as for employers. However, he added that the World Bank cautioned that the Caribbean does not have enough of these types of services available.

At the same time, other international organizations have noted the Caribbean’s challenge with young, educated and highly-skilled individuals migrating away from the region en masse.

“Our services are available free of charge to jobseekers and we are certainly doing our part, but more of these kinds of programmes that offer to train and place young people for free would be a boon for the region,” Boll said.