More than 200 workers in Bermuda have lost their jobs since December 2008.

And the total of around 11,000 work permit holders could fall below 10,000 in the next few months if the global economic crisis continues to have a big impact on the Island's job market, according to employment specialists Expertise Ltd.

The company has seen a greater demand for outplacement services, including interview coaching, CV writing, skills assessments, training seminars, redundancy counselling and job search planning, since financial turmoil took effect last year.

Expertise partner Doug Soares and business development manager Chris Bailey told The Royal Gazette in an exclusive interview that their company had carried out more than 100 outplacement consultations with individuals who had been made redundant since December 2008.

And Expertise are aware of a further 100-plus redundancies over the same time period. The redundancies were spread over 25 to 30 employers, they said.

Government conducts an annual employment survey every summer, but the results are not published until the next year, so the statistics are out of date by almost a year, with the current number of redundancies and work permits not being renewed unavailable.

Mr. Bailey said that there had been a total of 210 to 215 redundancies since December last year, which accounted for a significant part of Bermuda's workforce.

"We have conducted over 100 outplacement consultations with individuals who have been made redundant since December 2008 and over 60 of these meetings have taken place since January 2009," he said.

"We are aware of a further 100-plus redundancies that have happened as well. It gives some kind of weighting as to how many redundancies have actually taken place and how many are reported." Mr. Soares drew parallels with the US labour market, saying that the average number of significant job cuts per business from of the Island's approximately 40,000-strong workforce may be equivalent, for example, to an employer in America shedding 20,000 workers from an total US employment pool of 154 million.

"Employers have been very supportive of those employees that they have been letting go of, in my experience," he said.

"Redundancies inBermuda, particular for the last 10 years or so, have been a very unusual experience."I think a lot of employers inBermuda have a big heart and try to retain their employees where possible, but still I have been struck by the response to this outplacement service we offer.

"I think it remains to be seen how many of the job losses will be exported through work permits not being renewed there are 11,000 work permit holders, which accounts for 28 percent of the 40,000 workforce.

"If employers do contract, many of those losses will not be seen in the total job losses, but people will just go home after their work permits expire.

"It would not surprise me if the 11,000 work permits number shrinks below 10,000 in the next few months."

Based on a conservative estimate of an average $50,000 salary, the departure of 1,000 guest workers would amount to a loss to the local economy of $50 million.

Mr. Soares said he had noticed a complacency from a number of job seekers doing their research because the economy had been booming for so long, adding that they needed to rethink their strategy to an increasingly competitive market place. He also believes Bermudians will better appreciate the value of guest workers to themselves and the local economy when it comes to issues such as receiving rental income to pay off their mortgages during the global economic slowdown.

"Many of the employees seeking jobs now are up against two or three qualified and suitable candidates and employers are in more of a normal recruitment environment as a result," he said.

"For years, in Bermuda it has been the opposite of that, where employers have always struggled to find enough qualified candidates to choose between.

"That environment is changing and job seekers need to bone up and tune up on their skills, training, CVs and interview techniques.

"Similarly, employers can look at this labour market as an opportunity to retool for this post-recession era and job seekers need to put their best foot forward for these types of opportunities.

"The Bermuda Government did make a very positive statement in the Budget statement about supporting Bermuda's businesses that were finding it difficult in the current environment and urged employers to do their best to retain Bermudian employees but I think they should go further than that and encourage them to try to keep all of their employees.

"I think it is too early to tell what the future holds, particularly because of the turbulence in the financial markets and the banking sector internationally."

Mr. Bailey said he was seeing redundancies across all industries, mainly in the financial services sector (including fund management and administration) due to the fallout from the markets, but also in tourism (with occupancy rates below 60 percent for 2008 according to Government figures) and international business, with construction set to feel the effects in the third and fourth quarter as projects are completed, while it was affecting both Bermudians and guest workers equally.

However, there has been a rare positive to come out of all of this, with several re/insurance companies replacing staff that leave as they create new lines of business and boost their intellectual capital base in addition to taking advantage of hardening rates, he said.

Mr. Bailey said that Expertise, who had been dealing with a number of the companies that had made significant redundancies in the past few months, had been focusing on offering an employee consultation service to help individuals who have been made redundant, through the likes of redundancy counselling, with meetings being tailored to suit the needs of the individual.

"Some people can be in denial that redundancy is happening to them, but we want to help them move forward, get on an upward curve and to be more positive," he said.

"We cannot guarantee them that they will be able to get a job straight away, but they can say they will be able to put their best foot forward following a consultation with us.

"It is a lot more than just about how to write your CV."

Expertise offers pre-redundancy advice to employers to help them best comply with employment law and maintain its handbook policies and direction on corporate communication and redundancy consultation with employees.

"It basically means that the employer can go through the whole process from getting pre-redundancy advice to using the outplacement service and makes it a less unpleasant experience than it could be for all parties concerned," said Mr.Bailey.For more information about outplacement services, contact Expertise on 296-0336 or visit the website at www.expertise.bm