A new wave of talented young Bermudians are coming back to the Island to take up new opportunities here according to a professional search and recruitment agency.

James Partnership managing director Britt Reiss said she is noticing a lot of Bermudians coming home to fill various positions from middle management level upwards.

Ms Rice said businesses here appreciate a good balance of professional and overseas experience and therefore Bermudians who have spent a few years abroad can be very popular.

With the recent slow down in the financial sector in both Europe and the US, and widespread redundancies in the banking sector in financial centres, this is a trend which is likely to continue as both recent graduates and those who have been working overseas for some time start to weigh up the opportunities back home in Bermuda.

Jonathan Young is one example of a young Bermudian who has recently returned to the Island having gained high quality professional experience in another business centre.

If Mr. Young looks familiar, you may have seen him on the hit HBO show ‘Band of Brothers'.

While still at university, Mr. Young landed some acting roles and after graduating he did a stint as a stand up comedian.

He eventually found he wasn't making enough money making people laugh so he decided to try to get into the information technology field.

Having taught himself the basics of HTML and design, he called up a web agency in London's advertising and e-commerce district of Soho.

He relates how the agency tried to turn him down because they did not have a vacancy. He said to them:”Look, I'll do anything, you don't have to pay me, just train me. I'm raw material.”

The agency, CD 9, took him at his word and started him off on ?13,000 per year - not a living wage in London.

However it turned out to be a valuable launching pad, providing both training and contacts. After the agency ran into trouble, Mr. Young and his colleagues succeeded in a management buy-out of CD 9.

They survived the bursting of the dot.com bubble and he has since worked on web sites for high profile clients such as Philips, Channel 4 and Norwich Union.

He now runs his own Bermuda based agency, Bermedia, and continues to work as a consultant for the UK based CD 9.

Bermedia is a full-service web agency specialising in Microsoft solutions and information architecture.

Asked how Bermedia differs from other local agencies, Mr. Young said: “Our expertise is in .NET, Information Architecture and website design whereas most web application companies on the Island focus on networks and do websites on the side.”

Mr. Young says that some local websites lack good information architecture.

This is the process of organising, labeling, designing navigation and searching systems that helps people find and manage information more successfully. In a nutshell, good information architecture makes a website easy to use. He says very few websites are user friendly.

“Most websites are a patchwork of brochures and similar marketing collateral stitched together with some contact details and an organisation chart. This seems fine from the company's perspective but, to the visitor, it's a mess.”

Mr. Young says that most companies spend too much time getting the website to work technically and very little time considering exactly who is using the website and how those audiences would use the website.

“If they came to look at real estate, don't send them to a dazzling Flash animation that takes four minutes to download - send them to the properties!” he says.

Another problem can be inappropriate animation. “I've seen a technically brilliant but wholly inappropriate animation on a funeral director's website.” He laughs. Apparently the image showed a coffin disappearing into the ground.

As for whether web design is a worthwhile use of company investment, Mr. Young says that more than ever, there is a need for expert advice so that companies do not waste money.

“Originally, companies were spending heaps of money just to see something when they typed in their URL. The primary advantage of our building technique is that there is a visible return on investment. For example, for one large international bank, we revamped a registration form and doubled their online customer base.”

For companies thinking of launching or updating their website, Mr. Young recommends they bear in mind the following simple points:

As quickly and clearly as possible, the Home page needs to answer the four questions:

What is this?

What do they have here?

What can I do here?

Why should I be here - and not somewhere else?”