First Kenyan Staff Arrive for Start of Guernsey’s Hospitality Season.
This year’s first group experienced hospitality staff from Kenya are due to arrive in Guernsey on Monday and, once they have completed their quarantine period, will start work in the Bailiwick’s busy hospitality sector.
The first cohort of 5 are all graduates of Kenya Utalii College in Nairobi and have already gained extensive experience of working in the hospitality industry.
They were taken on following a recruitment drive held in Kenya in 2019 and through an online recruitment portal specifically set up to help the hospitality industries in the Channel Islands. It’s managed by GR8, an employment solutions company that specialises in partnerships with colleges and other establishments in the Channel Islands, the UK and around the world.
They will be spending 9 months working under licence for Randalls of Guernsey and a further ten people from Kenya due to arrive shortly to begin working in the hospitality sector in Guernsey with further cohorts due to arrive in the coming weeks across the Channel Islands.
"I have been genuinely impressed with the level of skill displayed by the staff that have come to the Channel Islands and we are proud to have helped make connections between our islands and Kenya.”
Cathy Wanyoike, Recruitment Executive at GR8 Guernsey, said: “I am really excited to be welcoming our first group from Kenya to help work in hospitality this season. They have always proved to be an asset to the visitor and hospitality economy and these talented young people are bringing with them a range of experience having studied and worked as part of the Kenya Utalii College programme. It will be great to meet them properly once they have completed the mandatory isolation period and can start to familiarise themselves with their roles in Guernsey’s vibrant hospitality establishments.”
Lee Madden, Managing Director of GR8, added: “I have been working with Utalii College for a number of years and was lucky enough to visit them to see how hard the students work at the faculty. I have been genuinely impressed with the level of skill displayed by the staff that have come to the Channel Islands and we are proud to have helped make connections between our islands and Kenya. We are also forging links with world-class colleges in other countries including Rwanda and Bulgaria and by running our skills match software across our extensive database of quality candidates, we select and associate the best candidate matches for roles in Guernsey and Jersey. With the welcome news that island businesses are re-opening, we are hoping that the industries in both islands will act quickly to take on suitable candidates for the roles that are currently vacant.”
For more information on GR8’s services or charity work, give us a call on 01534 488 788 or email us at info@gr8jersey.com
