Civil Service Head Stanley Oliver told yesterday how he had started a new training initiative to ensure Bermudians were skilled and trained to take senior positions in Government.

He said, at the moment, there were not enough qualified Bermudians to fill all of the posts within the Civil Service and on the Island in general, but said with additional training, staff would be able to reach their full potential.

In a new initiative, he said workers were being placed temporarily in vacant positions within the service, sometimes outside of their usual departments, to broaden their experience of Government and to provide them with additional skills, and even management training.

Mr. Oliver, who is head of the service, said he had already seen the benefits of the programme with the vacant position of Director of Government Information Services (GIS), which was held by Gavin Shorto until October last year.

He said although nobody suitable had yet been found to fill the $100,000 a-year job, a number of people had acted in the position for a couple of months at a time.

Mr. Oliver said, at some point, the job would be re-advertised, but said he believed a suitable Bermudian would be found to take on the role of directing Government's press and publicity team.

But he refused to explain why the candidates had not met the criteria, and would not confirm who had applied for the position. But it is understood that assistant director of GIS Valerie Pethen applied for the job, as did the department's public affairs officer Beverley Morfitt.

He said: “Basically, it will be re-advertised. The process I'm going through at the Civil Service is looking at vacancies and what candidates should have to fill vacant posts.

“Until such a time as I advertise again and think I have found the right person, we may have other people come in to act in that role to broaden their experience and skill level.

“I am definitely hoping to have somebody in Bermuda to fill the job.”

But Mr. Oliver said he was hoping to see a lot more people take on acting positions in the near future.

“When Mr. Shorto left, Ms Morfitt acted for a period, as did Stephen Lowe, who is assistant official receiver in the Register of Companies,” said Mr. Oliver. “Mrs. Pethen had already acted in that role last year.

“I feel there is a shortage of Bermudians to fill all the posts, both within the service and the rest of Bermuda.

“My role, as much as possible, will be to train and broaden the experience base of the talent that we have to help everyone to reach and realise their full potential.”

And he said the initiative it prevented people from becoming stagnant or bored in their job, and may even open their eyes to other opportunities in the Civil Service.

“Even though someone may have the qualifications for the post, the actual running of a department they may not be able to handle.

“What I'm trying to do was give people a broader grounding of positions, even if they find themselves in a more substantive role for a period.

“The intention was not to see if Mr. Lowe, for example in the GIS case, fits the post, and if he did fit it, then appoint him.

“It was to provide him and Ms Morfitt with additional skills.”

But the Civil Service chief said he was aware that leaving positions vacant for too long, with only acting positions in place, could have a negative affect in terms of changing leadership and management styles, and therefore was focussed on ensuring Bermudians were ultimately equipped to fill the posts.

And he said in the case of GIS, he was spending time every day in that department.

He said the job of director in GIS may not be re-advertised straight away - it could be in three months' time.

However, he said the Civil Service was also looking at the wording of their job adverts, because he felt in the past they had been too specific and may have alienated some people, resulting in fewer applicants.And he also said he wanted to enable Civil Servants to experience life overseas and was happy for some to be seconded to similar roles abroad.

And he was eager for Ms Morfitt to be seconded for a period to either London or Washington.

He added: “I think we are doing a lot with respect to providing training. Funding has been made available in every department for training.”

Mr. Lowe said he went into GIS with some scepticism, particularly because the Registrar's post was becoming vacant from January 1, which he was interested in.

But he said: “It was a wonderful experience. I'm so glad that I had an opportunity to do it.

“It got to the point where I could have stayed, but I was dictated by the fact that I had to get back to my department to act as Registrar.”

And Ms Morfitt said: “It was a wonderful experience for me as far as the management side goes. I have really strong skills in public relations and writing, so the opportunity to step into a different role was a learning experience.”