Low hiring rate among college grads worries RP

Less than three out of every 100 fresh college graduates are hired in the business process outsourcing-contact center industry (BPO-CC) each year, raising concerns that the Philippines would not be able to sustain the growth of the $10-billion sector with the dearth of qualified Filipino agents.

Industry data showed that of the 400,000 new graduates who look for work annually, only 11,526 or 2.89 percent are accepted in BPO companies and call centers upon passing the competitive qualifying examinations.

"Most fail because they fail to understand the requirement of global job interviews, testing and process. Secondly, the spoken English becomes a challenge, in terms of conversational fluency, tone and accent," said Jim Santiago, president and CEO of John F. Kennedy (JFK) Center Foundation-Philippines.

Santiago said that unless the hiring rate in BPO companies and call centers improves soon, the Philippines will not sustain the BPO-CC boom and will lose its competitiveness to other Asian countries.

He said the only solution is to prepare fresh graduates for a job in a BPO firm or call center by providing them quality training that will significantly increase their chances of getting hired.

"The spoken English can be cured over a relatively short period of time. The workforce needs a bit more seasoning in English but they are trainable and very literate, possess excellent domain knowledge and superior work ethics," he emphasized.

Training programs conducted by JFK Center Foundation showed that an 80-hour training period distributed in 30 days can increase the average hiring rate of BPO firms and call centers from 2.89 percent to as high as 53 percent.

He said the hiring rate improved as the training prepared the students in terms of English proficiency, accent reduction, problem solving, analytical skills, decision making and execution, and customer satisfaction and experience.

At present, JFK Center Foundation, which seeks to revolutionize the BPO-CC industry in the country through the development of centers of excellence, is working with universities and colleges to develop their curriculum for a one-year, two-year, four-year and even MBA programs in BPO-CC Entrepreneurship and Management.

"The incubation BPO-CC in the schools benefits everyone in the Philippines. It is no longer restricted to the large metropolitan areas but can be accomplished in the provinces," he said.

The JFK Foundation has already started working with local government institutions, state universities, Catholic universities, Christian universities, other private universities, and local universities and colleges such as the Quezon City Polytechnic University, System Technology Institute (STI), St. Paul University- Manila and St. Paul University Tuguegarao.

Santiago noted that JFK Center Foundation and American solutions provider Five9 recently tied up to ensure the steady growth of the information technology sector in the Philippines, by developing a cottage call center industry.

Five9 is an international call center solutions provider that has chosen the Philippines as the site of its regional headquarters in Southeast Asia. In 2005, the company introduced its award-winning Five9 Virtual Contact Center (VCC), a revolutionary technology that allows small organizations to start a call center with minimal capital.

The new partnership seeks to assist the development of 400 to 500 small to medium-scale companies in the provinces that will generate around 88,000 jobs. "Our goal is to promote the Philippines aggressively as the premier choice for the global customer care capital of the world," Santiago said.

"With the development of low-cost and state-of-the-art technology such as Five9, we will be able to help differentiate Filipino BPO centers with higher skills, excellent or superior customer satisfaction and customer experience, high velocity delivery, and specialized value and increased knowledge," he explained.

He said that with the advent of new low cost technology by Five9, it is expected that the 100,000 jobs in the BPO-CC sector will increase by another 90,000 over the next three years, expanding the business by $5 billion.