York: St. Maarten cannot lose contact with students abroad, then expect them to return on demand

GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Darryl York says St. Maarten must do a better job of maintaining contact with students and professionals abroad, warning that the country cannot lose touch with them for five or ten years and then suddenly expect them to abandon established careers and families when their skills are needed back home.

York said the country needs a more deliberate approach to attracting graduates and professionals back to St. Maarten, including earlier recruitment, faster government hiring processes and consideration of practical incentives such as housing.

Speaking during a radio interview, York said many young St. Maarteners build lives abroad after completing their studies, and the longer the country remains disconnected from them, the more difficult it becomes to convince them to return.

“A lot of times, St. Maarten loses connection with those students, and then what, you pop up five, 10 years later and say, ‘We need you’? It don’t work that way,” York said. He noted that during those years people establish careers, relationships and families that cannot simply be uprooted at short notice.

York said maintaining a relationship with students and professionals abroad would also give them a sense of connection to developments taking place at home and allow them to plan if opportunities are expected to become available.

He used the new hospital as an example, saying St. Maarten should already be identifying and communicating with local medical professionals abroad well before the facility begins operating.

York recalled questioning how many St. Maarten professionals abroad were already being contacted in anticipation of the opening of the new medical center. He said prospective recruits should be given advance notice, potentially two or three years, so they have time to organize their personal and professional affairs.

“Are you gonna wait until we open, say, ‘Hey, we need you. Pick up and pack up and quit your job and come down’?” York asked. “It doesn’t work that way.”

The MP said the issue is not simply patriotism. Professionals who have established themselves abroad are often being asked to give up secure jobs, higher salaries and established lives to return home, and St. Maarten must recognize the practical considerations involved in such a decision.

York drew on his own experience after studying and working in the Netherlands. He said he had been comfortable there, his career was progressing well and he had a good future with the company where he worked.

His decision to return, he explained, was driven more by his connection to St. Maarten and his family than by career or financial considerations. He said the loss of his mother a few years earlier also made him more conscious that while he was abroad, loved ones at home were getting older.

“My decision was more out of, you would say love for country and love for loved ones instead of my career per se,” York said, adding that returning was “for sure not a move to make more money.”

York said he applied for employment in both the private sector and government after deciding to return. The difference in response time, he said, was significant.

According to York, the private sector quickly determined whether it wanted to hire him and moved forward, while the government process was much slower. “I think if I had to wait on government, I would have still be in Holland today,” York said.

He said the private company that recruited him moved quickly, paid for his ticket and assisted with his return, giving him what he described as a relatively smooth transition. York acknowledged that his circumstances were also helped by the fact that his profession was in demand at the time and that not every returning graduate will have the same experience.

York said government’s lengthy recruitment procedures can themselves contribute to vacancies remaining unfilled. “It shouldn’t take six months for you to get an answer,” he said. A person may be interested in a government position when applying, York explained, but their circumstances could be completely different six months later. By the time government completes the process, the candidate may have accepted another job or simply no longer be interested.

He said the result is that government continues to complain about understaffing while some positions remain vacant, even though the speed of the recruitment process is one of the factors contributing to the problem.

York also raised affordable housing as one possible element of a wider strategy to encourage professionals to return.

He said a professional earning more abroad might be willing to accept a reduction in salary to return to St. Maarten if that person did not also have to face significant housing costs.

However, York acknowledged that such an approach raises legitimate questions of fairness. He questioned whether government should prioritize housing for a returning professional over a police officer, nurse or other worker already living and serving in St. Maarten who may also have been waiting for affordable housing. “There are choices that has to be made, but steps need to be taken,” York said.

His broader position is that St. Maarten needs to give its people abroad a clearer idea of what opportunities are coming and what place they could have in the country’s future. Advance planning, he argued, gives people time to organize themselves rather than expecting them to make life-changing decisions with little notice.

York said the challenge of bringing graduates home should therefore not begin when a vacancy appears. It should start while students are abroad, through continued contact, workforce planning and a government recruitment system capable of responding quickly when qualified St. Maarteners express an interest in returning.

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