training courses, many at the Bermuda College, in the first few months of its existence last year, a training seminar was told yesterday.

Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, Quinton Edness, said the recession in the early '90s brought a significant shift in local employment trends.

He was speaking at a seminar at the Princess Hotel that marked the launching of Profiles of Bermuda by Liz and Cordell Riley. Profiles is an employee evaluation company, affiliated with Texas-based Profiles International Inc., a developer and supplier of employee evaluation instruments.

Under the motto: "Investing in People'', one major role of the local company is to use computer modelling to match the right people with the right job. Mr.

Riley said participating companies are able to improve productivity, staff morale and bottom line profits.

The three-hour seminar: "Hiring & Managing by Design -- A New Approach'' was conducted by area director and head of Profiles in the Caribbean, Peter Downes.

Mr. Edness said Profiles of Bermuda is a niche business that will take some of the pressure off busy managers by handling the skilfull art of matching people and jobs.

He said, "The skill level of jobs in Bermuda has gone up. The days when a young Bermudian could leave school and walk straight into a job the next day on a construction site, in a store or in a hotel are gone.

"Bermuda has become a more sophisticated community than it was, and young people who are looking for work need more than a strong back.

"Employers are looking for education. They're looking for specific skills and they're looking for young people who know how to present themselves.'' With the help of a group of international companies, the department put a dozen people through an international companies joint training and employment scheme. At the end of it, they were all placed in international companies.