I have spent this week in Riga, I was here to attend the launch of the Baltic IP commercialisation challenge (http://balticip.wordpress.com/) , and also to interview for a new PA. Anastasia who has done such a great job of organising my life is moving on to run our growing Social Media business (www.cormackconsultancy.co.uk) so the time had come to find a replacement.
The office had done a great job at sifting through the over 250 applications we had, I was faced with a short list of six people to see. I do interviews in the UK, and so can compare between the average applicant in both markets. I have to say the Baltic win hands down. All the applicants I saw were excellent (though I was a bit taken back when one announced she worked in the Adult Service industry at the moment).
It must be daunting being interviewed in your second or third language, but all impressed and all had done their homework on CCB, so now I am in the process of deciding who to move forward with , but whoever I decide on will be based in the Baltic as I don’t want to be adding to the growing and serious problem of migration from Latvia and Lithuania.
A recent report confirmed that the mass migration of young talented people continues, and if the trend is not stopped and then reversed there will be serious demographic issues in the Baltic. It is a tragedy that so many highly qualified and motivated youngsters are heading to the UK to work in Restaurants or factories. In fact one of the girls I interviewed, who had completed her MBA had returned from the UK where she had been working in a warehouse.
These bright young people need to stay in the Baltic to build a future for their countries, and the governments of all three Baltic States need to focus on developing policies specifically focused on keeping the talent here. Inward investment is also going to be key, and the social benefits to the country when companies like Barclays and Call Credit bring high quality jobs cannot be underestimated, so when we get criticised as a company for trying to attract companies to the Baltic from the UK we know that the job we do is not about short term investment it is about trying to create a local jobs market that can keep and sustain the talent of the Baltic in the Baltic.