Thursday 13 November 2014

Happy Thanksgiving


Although Thanksgiving is an American holiday, it is also celebrated here in the Cayman Islands and with Thanksgiving just around the corner; we thought we would share some Caymanian Thanksgiving traditions.

In Cayman, Thanksgiving is a weekend-long national celebration during the month of December to honor the Caymanian heritage, culture and way of life and for the community to express gratitude for our many blessings.
To learn more about Cayman Thanksgiving, click on the link: http://caymanthanksgiving.ky/

As we all know, one of the best parts of this holiday is the food! The menu for Thanksgiving usually consists of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, creamed onions and the list goes on and on. However, the treats and desserts are always a delight.


This Thanksgiving make the last course count by indulging in a classic Thanksgiving pie with your family and friends.
                           Southern Pecan Pie

The secret to this rich pie is cooking the sugar and corn syrup first. Preparing the crust following the filling also will make the appearance of the pie look delectable as well as shielding the edges with foil to prevent over-browning. This dessert will surely have your guests giving thanks long after the holiday.  

For the full recipe along with other Thanksgiving classics go to:

For information on our available jobs, check out our website: www.steppingstonescayman.com 

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Ahoy Matey!

Calling all pirates! November 6-16, 2014 pirates will be invading Grand Cayman for the annual Pirates Week Festival.  If you have never been involved in the Pirate's Week festivities, you are in for a real  treat! Pirate's Week is full of amazing local food, fun and music! Check out this link for more details, and have a swash bucket of a time! http://www.piratesweekfestival.com/  



This blog was written by Bethany Miller, Staffing Coordinator at SteppingStones.  For more information on available jobs, check out our website: www.steppingstonescayman.com 

Thursday 30 October 2014

Fat Chance - CNCF Production

Fat Chance, a comedic sitcom by well-known playwright, Donna Tull-Cox, will run at the Harquail theatre at 8 pm on October 30th through to November 1st and at 6pm on November 2nd. Don’t miss this opportunity to be entertained by talented local actors. For more information, click the link below:





For more information on jobs in the Cayman Islands, visit www.steppingstonescayman.com

Monday 27 October 2014

Body language secrets of successful leaders

Please read this interesting article written by Hayley Kirton, junior staff writer for 'People Management'.


Leadership ought to be about what you say, not the way you say it. But projecting yourself matters, as Richard Nixon found out to his cost: in a televised 1960 debate, he was deemed to have lost out to John F. Kennedy, who came across as more youthful and energetic. Those who only heard the clash on the radio, however, felt Nixon was the stronger candidate. “Ever since then you won’t find a candidate who hasn’t been working with some sort of communications coach, and usually a body language coach too,” says leadership coach Carol Goman. It’s an idea that has spread from politics to business, as image becomes increasingly important in the corporate sphere. How do you project yourself like a leader?
Work the shoulder
“Patting is patronising,” says Judi James, author of The Body Language Bible. “It’s a gesture we use to congratulate somebody lower down the pecking order.” But German chancellor Angela Merkel has turned this to her advantage. She tends to grip and then pat the shoulder of fellow politicians. James thinks this is because she is often the only woman in a group of men: “She has turned it into a positive power gesture rather than a deliberate put-down.”
Clutch the invisible brick
It might sound like a rejected Saturday Night Fever dance move, but in fact this refers to holding your hands out in front of you, with your palms facing inwards and enough room between them to clutch at a brick. “If it looks natural, as it does with Barack Obama, people just get an overall impression when they’re listening that this person can control the economy and knows what they’re doing,” says James.
Modulate your voice
Leaders tend to speak with a deeper voice, giving them an air of authority. Margaret Thatcher was famous for purposely dropping her tone. “She worked hard to get that schoolma’am-ish voice out of her repertoire,” says Goman.
Don’t sound aloof
Nigel Farage may be an ex-stockbroker from the countryside, but he flattens his accent to sound more ordinary. But James warns that Tony Blair’s infamous “geezer voice” and accompanying walk was taking things too far. More recently, old Etonian George Osborne has been ridiculed for talking about “briddish” people when visiting workplaces.
Stride purposefully
He was almost 70 when he was elected US president, but an energetic walk meant Ronald Reagan projected an air of vitality. Goman says it gave him a “youth, energy and vigour” that belied his age.
Grip powerfully
Bill Clinton, says Goman, has the handshake of a champion: “He has a way of shaking hands and making eye contact as he does, which is so powerful. Eye contact during the handshake just makes this double link. Then he drops the hand. He moves on and then he glances back as if to say ‘I couldn’t ever forget you’. It’s just amazing to watch him work a crowd with that handshake.”
Be authentic
James says it’s crucially important to make sure your gestures match your message. David Cameron, she suggests, is one leader who’s managed to navigate this dilemma. “There were moments when he spoke about Scotland [in the run-up to the vote on independence] when his vocal tone sounded quite emotional, as did his words. But he didn’t overdo the gesticulation.”

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Come back Home

Looking something different and unique to do this weekend? This is your chance to get in touch with your Caymanian heritage or to learn more about Caymanian music and history.   

The Cayman National Cultural Foundation will present an evening of entertainment with the Cayman Islands Folk Singers and Guests on October 24 and 25. The event “Come back Home” will be a unique and entertaining musical evening, which promises to take audiences ‘Back to the Heart of Cayman. Click on the link below for details on how to get tickets, show times, and location on where this amazing event will be held.  

For information about jobs in the Cayman Islands, please visit our website today www.steppingstonescayman.com

Thursday 16 October 2014

Dress for Success

Everyone is after success.  We all know that the first impression you make on a potential employer is the most important one. The first judgment that an interviewer will make is going to be based on how you look and how you are dressed. That’s why, it is important to dress professionally for a job interview, regardless of the work environment.
What’s the appropriate dress code for an interview? You’ll want that first impression to be not just a good one, but, a great one! In most cases, the candidate that is dressed in a suit and tie is going to make a much better impression than the candidate dressed in worn out jeans and a t-shirt.
Here’s more on what to wear to an interview:
The Ground Rules:
Do your homework. Many companies publish their dress code in their employee handbook — probably accessible online. You can also check the company’s brochures and do a Google search for staff photos.
Keep your key colors sophisticated and muted. This means varying hues of gray, navy, indigo, a quiet tan or beige (The one exception is for a company whose product has a strong visual component, then you can go bold.)
Acceptable Men’s Interview Attire:
  • Suit (solid color – navy or dark grey)
  • Long sleeve shirt (white or coordinated with the suit)
  • Belt
  • Tie
  • Dark socks, conservative leather shoes
  • Little or no jewelry
  • Neat, professional hairstyle
  • Limit the aftershave
  • Neatly trimmed nails
Acceptable Women’s Interview Attire:
  • Suit (navy, black or dark grey)
  • The suit skirt should be long enough so you can sit down comfortably
  • Coordinated blouse
  • Conservative shoes
  • Limited jewelry (no dangling earrings or arms full of bracelets)
  • No jewelry is better than cheap jewelry
  • Professional hairstyle
  • Light make-up and perfume
  • Neatly manicured clean nails

This blog was written by Bethany Miller, Staffing Coordinator at SteppingStones Recruitment, Ltd. For more information on our available jobs, visit our website: www.steppingstonescayman.com 

Monday 13 October 2014

Resilience: The Key to Success

Thought I would share some interesting Monday Motivation success stories for anyone having the Monday blues:

Henry Ford - the pioneer of modern business entrepreneurs and the founder of the Ford Motor Company failed a number of times on his route to success. His first venture to build a motor car got dissolved a year and a half after it was started because the stockholders lost confidence in Henry Ford. Ford was able to gather enough capital to start again but a year later pressure from the financiers forced him out of the company again. Despite the fact that the entire motor industry had lost faith in him he managed to find another investor to start the Ford Motor Company - and the rest is history.

Walt Disney - one of the greatest business leaders who created the global Disney empire of film studios, theme parks and consumer products didn't start off successful. Before the great success came a number of failures. Believe it or not, Walt was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because he was not creative enough! In 1922 he started his first company called Laugh-O-Gram. The Kansas based business would produce cartoons and short advertising films. In 1923, the business went bankrupt. Walt didn't give up, he packed up, went to Hollywood and started The Walt Disney Company.

Richard Branson - He is undoubtedly a successful entrepreneur with many successful ventures to his name including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Music and Virgin Active. However, when he was 16 he dropped out of school to start a student magazine that didn't do as well as he hoped. He then set up a mail-order record business which did so well that he opened his own record shop called Virgin. Along the way to success came many other failed ventures including Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothes, Virgin Vie, Virgin cards, etc.

Oprah Winfrey - who ranks No 1 in the Forbes celebrity list and is recognised as the queen of entertainment based on an amazing career as iconic talk show host, media proprietor, actress and producer. In her earlier career she had numerous set-backs, which included getting fired from her job as a reporter because she was 'unfit for television', getting fired as co-anchor for the 6 O'clock weekday news on WJZ-TV and being demoted to morning TV.

J.K. Rowling - who wrote the Harry Potter books selling over 400 million copies and making it one of the most successful and lucrative book and film series ever. However, like so many writers she received endless rejections from publishers. Many rejected her manuscript outright for reasons like 'it was far too long for a children's book' or because 'children books never make any money'. J.K. Rowling's story is even more inspiring because when she started she was a divorced single mum on welfare.

Bill Gates -co-founder and chairman of Microsoft set up a business called Traf-O-Data. The partnership between him, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert was based on a good idea (to read data from roadway traffic counters and create automated reports on traffic flows) but a flawed business model that left the company with few customers. The company ran up losses between 1974 and 1980 before it was closed. However, Bill Gates and Paul Allen took what they learned and avoided those mistakes when they created the Microsoft empire.



Thanks to “The One Thing Successful People Never Do” by Bernard Marr, Best-Selling Author, we learn that the moral of the story is this:  Don’t give up! Some of the world’s most successful people failed countless times before having to pick themselves up and carry on. Nothing worth having is easy. For the above influencers it was “their ferocious drive and hunger for success makes them never give up.”


For help finding your dream job, visit us at www.steppingstonescayman.com