There are excellent recruitment and employment companies located on Grand Cayman. Some agencies specialise in finding talent for legal and financial firms, while others offer employment opportunities for candidates with IT or other technical skills.
Cayman Islands has numerous employment opportunities in the financial services industry, making it a desirable jurisdiction to be employed in, and it attracts professionals from around the world. Jobs in other sectors (medical, education, construction, retail) exist mainly to meet the demands of the local market. Many jobs are available in these fields, and we discuss them in detail here.
The Island has a well-educated local workforce, but the need for qualified accounting, legal, compliance and financial services professionals, especially those in high-level finance positions, completely outstrips the number of qualified candidates available locally. The 2021 Census puts the total number of employed adults in the Cayman Islands at 44,441, of which 19,494 are Caymanian and 24,947 are non-Caymanian. Therefore, foreign workers make up a large percentage of the workforce (56.1%) and come from around 135 different countries. The unemployment rate is 5.7%.
In the third quarter of 2022, four industries fuelled Cayman’s economy: finance, healthcare, construction and tourism. The latter has surged back to its pre-Covid level and the numbers are looking rosier than 2019. More and more financial service businesses and individuals, including family offices of high-net-worth individuals, are moving to Cayman. The need to show an economic presence in Cayman has incited some of this growth, as has the huge need for compliance workers who are quickly snapped up by legal and corporate services firms. The Global Citizen Programme also opened opportunities for people to move to Cayman who want to live and work in the jurisdiction, and although the programme ended in late 2022, some of the recipients are still and we have been reliably told that some Global Citizen recipients will then use the programme as a jumping off point for staying on the Island.
Despite a growing population, there are still many employment opportunities available in the Cayman Islands. Those with qualifications and experience in the financial services field, especially in compliance, are readily snapped up. Companies no longer have to advertise jobs in one of the two local newspapers in order to secure a work permit, although they do have to advertise the job for two weeks on the JobsCayman website (part of WORC), therefore all jobs that are advertised in the local newspaper can be considered genuine job vacancies.
This is a time of amazing opportunity for Caymanians in the financial services field as they are highly sought after and in much demand. Although there are 32,184 work permits in issue as of August 2022, these jobs have filled a genuine need and cross the span of everything from gardener to a managing director at a bank. Another option to investigate is whether your business could set up a branch within Cayman Enterprise City and you then work here. Another effective way to look for work in Cayman, whether local or expat, is to register with an employment agency as they are often tasked with finding suitable candidates and would be far better placed to know what is available and to suggest a candidate to a business which they know has an opening.
Also with Cayman being a global financial centre, and with businesses wanting to hire the best of the best in such a competitive global market, it is not surprising that the recruitment of human capital from overseas is necessary. Although we have an educated population, there are many specialised positions either currently filled or needing to be filled, that our small population cannot fill.
Cayman has attracted globally recognised and outstanding recruitment agencies, a few that specialise in finding talent for legal and financial firms. Often these firms have a lawyer recruiting for law firms, so they know what questions you will want answering and how the process works. Other recruitment firms specialise in candidates with IT or other technical skills.
Many of the agencies listed below post the jobs that are available on their websites and they are in constant contact with Cayman-based firms who know what their employment needs are going to be. Please note that you have to prove that you are double vaccinated or you will not be granted a work permit.