Jobs and St Helena

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had looked at a couple of Jobs in Scotland, but that they weren't too keen on me. I've had good feedback from the first Council, but not heard from the second yet.

I don't regret not getting the jobs as it is quite clear to me why I didn't get them but why I did get the interviews. And it's kind of interesting.

As a bit of Background: For the last couple of years my direct line manager has been a succession of Directors managing a succession of Directorates. That Director has always reported directly to the Chief Secretary, who is effectively the Chief Executive. In Management speak I was a third tier manager (ie. the top person is tier 1 and then directors are tier 2, etc). The interviews I had were for tier 3 and 4 management positions, which is around what I've been doing, the job I have is not management at all, and would best be described as tier 7.

So my application shows that I've been doing this senior management role for a couple of years, which sparks interest and gets me interviews, but when I turn up I don't get the job - why? I think it has a lot to do with the general style of management I've been involved in on St Helena and my resulting Management Style; I'm struggling to reset my mindset to the UK.

I know there will be some people on St Helena reading this (yes you) and hope that you aren't too offended. But the Management style on St Helena that I have witnessed is not the same as the UK, it's a lot more informal, it's a lot more flexible, it's a lot more laid back and relaxed. In short it's not very businesslike and not very effective. As most managers I came across are from the Ex-Pat community I have to assume they are either rubbish, inexperienced/out of their depth (like I was) or go native. Unfortunately I think that it's a combination of the first two rather than much of the latter; with poor quality senior managers doing the hiring you end up with not necessarily the right candidates in the middle management positions, and frequently they will then find themselves moving up a level (kind of like I did) because of the view that someone who is on-Island and can sort of do the job is better than someone who can do the job but has never been there. There are some very good people in management positions, but the good ones are outnumbered and find themselves outvoted at every turn until they give up or get sacked.

With the overwhelming number of managers operating in similar styles, there isn't much of a role model for junior managers, whether Saint or ExPat, to model their management experiences on and so the style is perpetuated and the ineffectiveness continues. For those Saints who have never worked overseas they presumably have very little idea what good management is as they have only rarely experienced it.

So what is the solution - I don't really know. I think St Helena really needs to work at recruiting good people when they recruit overseas. With the airport opening within 2 years there should be less emphasis on people who will cope on the Island (3/4 of the questions at my brief interview were on this subject) and more emphasis on competence. However to attract the really good candidates may require adjustments to the terms and conditions. I truly believe that when I applied I was the best candidate (they did offer me the job), but I also believe that I was the wrong candidate as I didn't have the skills and experience required for the job. Put simply the right candidates weren't tempted to apply - right in the middle of the Construction Slump in mid 2011. So perhaps contracts should be for more than 2 or 3 years (it put me off knowing it was a short term post), perhaps the salary/benefits system should be simplified and better explained, perhaps they need changing. I don't know the answers, but I am sure that something needs to be done if St Helena is going to benefit properly from the mega investment it is currently receiving.

SO, back to why I didn't get the job? Well, simply, I'm so used to dealing with people who don't really understand what I'm saying, I treated the interview panels a little to obviously like children.