Six new graduates from the region will be given the opportunity to hone their skills in banking and financial services, when FirstCaribbean International Bank begins the second year of its highly successful Graduate Development Programme, CareerFirst.
This year’s staging of the programme officially got underway on 5 April with a call for applications from interested people.
CareerFirst is an expression of FirstCaribbean’s ongoing commitment to the development of the region, which has resulted in a strengthening of its initiatives to attract new talent across the region through its recruitment strategy and to continue to invest in the development of the bank’s existing employees.
The bank’s commitment to providing support for regional tertiary education has been solidified, for example, through its Memoranda of Understanding with the University of the West Indies and the College of the Bahamas. These flourishing strategic alliances continue to offer unique opportunities for scores of undergraduates throughout the region.
The second staging of the CareerFirst initiative follows a highly successful inaugural launch in 2005 when five talented graduates were selected to undergo an intensive two-year programme with FirstCaribbean.
The five, Jamaicans Damian Allen and Denzil McDonald, Trinidadians Crystal Cunningham and Khalil Mohammed and Barbadian Shane Cummins, are about to enter their second year of internship come 20 June.
To date they have benefited from specially formulated training courses and practical work knowledge through various business attachments throughout the bank.
The graduates have also been proactively involved in the area of sponsorship and community relations.
Last Christmas they distributed toys and hampers to physically challenged children in the Mustard Seed Community in Jamaica and to three needy families in Barbados.
“It’s not simply enough to know our bank’s values, but living them in our words and actions makes all the difference,” the graduates said.
This year advertising for CareerFirst began from 5 April, with a three-week call for applications ending 26 April.
The advertising has been preceded by the launch of the CareerFirst Web site on the bank’s Internet site which is designed to target interested applicants.
Applications will be received online only. FirstCaribbean continues to be an Internet innovator following the launch of its new Internet banking platform in 2005.
The CareerFirst programme targets Caribbean nationals residing in any of the Bank’s jurisdictions.
Applicants must be university graduates with at least a first or upper second-class honours degree and ideally between the ages of 20-25 years old.
Each individual taking part in CareerFirst Graduate Development Programme will undergo two years of exposure to the banking industry at FirstCaribbean’s offices throughout the Caribbean.
FirstCaribbean is a major Caribbean bank offering a full range of market-leading financial services in Corporate, Retail, International Wealth Management and Capital Markets banking.
It is the largest, regionally-listed bank in the English-speaking Caribbean, with assets of over US$10 billion and market capitalisation of US$3.3 billion.
The Bank has over 3,500 staff; 100 branches and banking centres, and offices in 17 territories, serving 800,000 active accounts.
FirstCaribbean has maintained an “A- Stable” rating by Standard & Poor’s from inception, the highest rating of any commercial bank in the Caribbean Community. It was formed in 2002 with the merger of CIBC West Indies Holdings and Barclays Bank PLC Caribbean operations.
FirstCaribbean is ranked #445 of world banks (October 2005, The Banker magazine). In 2004 and 2005, FirstCaribbean was named “Best Emerging Market Bank” by Global Finance magazine of New York.
FirstCaribbean Bank is committed to prtnering with communities in the 17 territories in which it operates.
An active contributor to Community Relations through the FirstCaribbean International Comtrust Foundation, FirstCaribbean Bank commits to dedicate 1 per cent of its prior year profits (after-tax) to Community Partnership causes each year.