Some 25 Barbadians will soon be heading to Muskoka, Canada, to work as housekeepers at Deerhurst Resort.
The prospective candidates should know whether they are selected by next week, following a series of interviews that were started on Tuesday, March 3.
This was disclosed by Deerhurst’s Director of Human Resources, Brody Purser, who noted that with the building of condominiums on the property, and an increase in the number of rooms at the resort, there was a need to increase staff in the housekeeping department.
Explaining further, he said: “In Canada, we really struggle to find [workers], especially younger people, that want to get into this type of industry and in particular get into that department. It’s a very physical job. It’s not that glamourous; it’s cleaning; it’s looking after our guests; and we are really struggling with Canadians to be able to do that job.
“So, we are looking around the world for other countries that are more passionate and motivated and are more excited about doing those kinds of jobs. And, we certainly learnt from our competitors that Barbados has certainly been a country that has done that. JW Marriotts and The Rosseau Muskoka Resort and Spa and Blue Mountain in Ontario, Canada, have had a lot of success with these partnerships already.”
Acknowledging that in the past the resort had ventured to markets like the Philippines, Mr. Purser noted that right now the concentration was on Barbados, mainly because of interactions with officials at the Barbados Liaison Service in Canada.
He also noted that he had formed relationships with Barbadians while vacationing here 20 years ago with family, as a guest of Fairmont Royal Hotel, and had encountered their warmth and hospitality.
“Everyone we have interacted with from Barbados have just been nothing but incredible and easy to deal with and fun, so we are hopeful that that transpires into the people that we end up hiring at Deerhurst Resort. I think the ties to Barbados and what we’ve seen here from the people and what we strive to be, match very nicely and I think that’s a big part of the success we are going to have,” said Mr. Purser.
While pointing out that the maximum number of temporary workers that could be hired in the one-year programme was set at 25 by the Canadian Government, the HR Director said in the future there might be opportunities in the culinary programme at Deerhurst for Barbadians.
Mr. Purser also stressed that the resort strived for gender equality, and Barbadians who come up would recognize that there were about 50 per cent males and a similar number of females working in housekeeping, and above all Deerhurst Resort was “very multicultural”, with workers from about 36 different countries.