The Award will also be an incentive for organisations to put in place effective mechanisms for the ongoing professional development of their staff.

The award seeks to get employers of all types and sizes in the country to register voluntarily. This would enable them to take part in a transparent assessment of their own HRD policies, relevant to their size and business sector, and the chance to win the SHRD award for the period of assessment.

The criteria for the assessment and award will be given to all organisations who apply to take part in the contest. The first award will be given in 2012 and it will be a biennial event.

According to a press release from the NHRDC, the best qualified graduates always look for job opportunities with the best organisations.

But it is hard to define the ‘best’ organisations in the absence of any assessment or rating system. An objective method of rating, such as the one proposed by the new SHRD award, will set a new standard for best practice in the industry and fill the need for job seekers.

Forward looking, progressive employers can grasp the opportunity to register early for the SHRD award and make HR a priority focus of their efforts within their organisations. This way, they could achieve as high a rating as possible and gain the benefits of attracting and retaining the talented and skilled employees.

The results will be circulated to all graduate students and employment agencies. Highly rated employers will thus get recognition and extensive exposure. Others will get useful feedback and be encouraged to improve their ratings in the next round.

Organisations that don’t register will be excluded from the results that will be circulated or published. This reduces their chances of attracting the best talents on the job market.

NHRDC believes that the SHRD award process will inherently develop and strengthen good human resources practice across all sectors of the economy. This aligns perfectly with the vision and goals of the NHRDC.

Seychelles’ competitiveness at international level will also stand a much better chance if there is positive competitiveness of this nature at national enterprise level. While most organisations state that people are their most important assets, this is an opportunity for them to ‘walk the talk’!