Shacolas hires 23 trainees out of 2,800 in Cyprus

The Shacolas Group, the island’s biggest retail and leisure collective of public and privately-held companies, has hired 23 management trainees out of 2,840 applicants, as part of the government’s incentives to employ young and out-of-work university graduates.
The Group, which includes retailers and distributor CTC, Debenhams Stores, malls, the Limni Resort near Polis and a major stake in Hermes Airports, said that the trainees will undergo a 9-month training programme in order to acquaint themselves with the Group’s operations. After that, they will take on management positions throughout the Group.
After an initial screening of the 2,840 applicants, to see which ones complied with the requirements, the University of Cyprus undertook to review the written exams of the shortlisted candidates, followed by personal interviews.
The Ministry of Labour has launched several programmes aimed at hiring unemployed graduates or other out-of-work professionals keen to undergo retraining to adapt to new sectors of employ. Some of the schemes include a fixed grant for six months, with the condition that the potential employer will keep them on after that, or subsidies for training and transport.
The Cyprus unemployment rate remained at a record 17.3% of registered unemployed in November, unchanged from October and up from 17% in September. The year-earlier figure was 13.3% in November 2012.