MANILA, Philippines — The global health crisis has left most people, if not all, with feelings of uncertainty and anxiety. Despite the pandemic’s economic impact, business process outsourcing (BPO) and tech companies remain unshakeable as wellsprings of opportunities for job seekers. However, many applicants still lack the necessary skills or knowledge to qualify for these jobs.
Free online courses
“When COVID-19 happened, we noticed a lot of displaced Filipino workers—local and OFW—were scrambling to find jobs in the BPO industry,” recalls Aya, co-founder of University.com. “Most of them are not fully informed and equipped to pass the BPO job applications so we decided to create free online courses to help them out.”
As board directors of BPO & Tech recruitment firm Siegen HR Solutions, the team behind Unliversity.com, Aya and Trifie, knew all too well the rigors of hiring, screening, and training employees for different partner companies.
Sympathetic to the need of Filipinos to provide for their family, Aya and Trifie Montebon co-founded Unliversity.com, an online platform that offers self-paced courses targeted to those who want to learn new skills or prepare for a job application. Building the website was led by the Siegen Solutions team, mostly psychology graduates and seasoned recruiters, in collaboration with foreign language teachers, marketing practitioners, and tech professionals.
Through Unliversity.com, those hindered by financial constraints or educational setbacks are given a chance to upskill and receive quality training that meets BPO and tech company standards.
Transforming lives
The 100% free online courses are primarily targeted towards displaced workers who are willing to shift to another industry that is more stable even amid the lockdowns, as well as high school graduates who cannot afford to go to college and would like to immediately get a job in pandemic-stable industries. The current courses include:
- Basic English Phrases for Call Center Customer Service Agents
- Technical Support & IT Help Desk Representative Essentials
- INTERVIEWS, VERSANT, SVAR, & BERLITZ: Effective BPO Job Application Course
- VERSANT Test Simulation Course
Extending beyond BPO
Unliversity.com plans on releasing new courses outside of the BPO industry in the near future, to cater to the needs of other companies and extend the reach of its courses, coming up with one to two free courses every month. With more industry skills and topics covered, more Filipinos in need of work will be able to enhance their know-how and start building a better life for themselves and their families.
“Some of the courses that we are currently working on are English grammar basics and Real Estate Online Marketing,” says Aya. “And all these will be available for free.”
Aside from being free, the beauty of the courses on Unliversity.com is that these are self-paced, meaning anyone can take and finish these anytime, anywhere. Each course finished entitles the student to a completion certificate, which they can add to their credentials and use for their future job applications. The courses are also voiced by Unliversity.com’s production partner in the United States, adding to the world-class quality of the curriculum.
Sponsoring a course
This is only the beginning. In order to provide more job seekers with free learning opportunities, Unliversity.com is looking for more sponsors to collaborate with them and sponsor students’ free learning. “Siegen HR Solutions, Inc. is the first major sponsor of the courses. We are looking at partnering with other groups and companies in both the public and private sectors to bring more and more free courses to the Filipino worker,” says Trifie.
How you can help
Know a company with a heart to empower Filipinos to learn and cope at this time? Unliversity.com could use your help. Spread the word, help sponsor a course and create a brighter future for some of the country’s most severely impacted people.
“We are hoping that by doing this, we are helping our country in economic recovery,” says Aya. “We’d like to remove the barriers of cost and location to raise the bar among Filipinos. All they need—apart from an internet connection—is to be self-propelled in upgrading their skills.”
Visit www.unliversity.com to learn more about Unliversity.com and how your organization can sponsor a course today.