Very quietly, an advertising monopoly is broken

The Department of Immigration’s new Work Permit Policy went into effect April 1, 2013, ushering in a new era of choice for employers where before there was none.

Employers required by immigration rules to advertise certain job openings in the local newspaper can now freely choose where to place those ads. 

It’s a monumental shift in policy, something the Bermuda Sun argued more than a decade for.

The Sun has long believed that if employers were allowed to choose where to buy advertising it would break up a monopolistic culture and force more competitive prices. 

And perhaps now more than ever, it’s critical to lower the cost of hiring in a countrywide effort to get more people back to work. The last government and the current government listened attentively to our pitch and on April 1, 2013, it acted. 

We have acted, too.  

We spent the past week meeting dozens of human resources and marketing professionals to let them know choice has arrived and more competitive prices have come along with it. Plus we’re building an improved product as well. Perhaps you’ve noticed our enhanced SunEmployment section, complete with editorial content to attract job seekers, We’re the only one in the market doing anything like it. 

Plus, all job openings in the paper are available online at SunEmployment.bm, where jobs are listed by category in a user-friendly manner. If you register with the website it will email you when a new job is posted in your area of interest. 

Hopefully you’ve also noticed the QR code in the employment section, connecting smartphones with SunEmployment mobile for job hunters on the go. All of our strategies focus on increasing the number of job postings in the Sun and making things easier for job seekers who read the Sun.

This week when we showed employers our plan they were genuinely impressed. I told them it’s pretty amazing what can happen when a monopoly is broken.

As you probably know, employers must advertise job openings in the local newspaper on three occasions before a work permit application is even accepted by immigration officials. The advertising rule is designed to protect Bermudian workers: to ensure a qualified, local applicant is properly sought before a work permit is even contemplated.

The rules

However, because of the way the Work Permit Policy was written many years ago, employers felt they had no choice but to place their job advertisement in a daily newspaper because those words — ‘daily newspaper’ — were actually written into the rules. As of April 1 though, the rules changed. The phrase ‘daily newspaper’ is gone, freeing up employers to advertise in a non-daily newspaper if they desire.

Here’s what the rule now says:

Generally, where a work permit is being applied for, the job must be advertised for a minimum of three (3) days in local newsprint within an eight (8) day period.

It’s pretty easy to see how the revised language we fought so hard for benefits Bermuda’s employers because it empowers them with choice. 

At the Bermuda Sun we’re working hard to give those employers reasons to choose us. 

Glenn Jones is Acting General Manager for MediaHouse (parent company of the Bermuda Sun).Email: [email protected]