05-08-2011, 07:00 AM
Linda, This is probably more to the fact that the communities here are older established agriculturally based places where you do know most everyone (it really hit home to me when I realized that if you play a sport here as a child, you have most likely played that sport with most of the kids around the island, more than a few times.... you really do get to know one another after growing up here...) but this is not an isolated thing that only happens on these islands.
Employers here can ask around easily to find the scoop on a potential new hire that has lived on the islands. For those that moved here, our reputations are totally clean slates.... for both good & bad, and our references are, for the most part, as good as foreign; most likely no one knows any of your references.
For anyone looking to get hired, ask yourself, how am I creating my reputation? What am I doing that will build up my reputation in the community I want to be hired into? This is not something that will happen overnight. It can take years to get known... but this happens in many areas that have a long-standing population that has lived & worked & suffered together.
We moved from a smaller midwestern neighborhood, much like some of the ag lots around Puna. We were still the 'new neighbors' when we moved out after almost a quarter of a century in the same house. just like there, it took about three years for our neighbors here to start to get to know us...
For your question of Kama`aina, it is a child of the land.... so my question to you, how does your drivers license reflect that you are a child of this land?
For a thread that covered much of this:
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11822
Employers here can ask around easily to find the scoop on a potential new hire that has lived on the islands. For those that moved here, our reputations are totally clean slates.... for both good & bad, and our references are, for the most part, as good as foreign; most likely no one knows any of your references.
For anyone looking to get hired, ask yourself, how am I creating my reputation? What am I doing that will build up my reputation in the community I want to be hired into? This is not something that will happen overnight. It can take years to get known... but this happens in many areas that have a long-standing population that has lived & worked & suffered together.
We moved from a smaller midwestern neighborhood, much like some of the ag lots around Puna. We were still the 'new neighbors' when we moved out after almost a quarter of a century in the same house. just like there, it took about three years for our neighbors here to start to get to know us...
For your question of Kama`aina, it is a child of the land.... so my question to you, how does your drivers license reflect that you are a child of this land?
For a thread that covered much of this:
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11822