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Thursday, June 26, 2003
Fast track to an American accents
By Jenara Regis Newman
What a Call Center Academy (CCA) pposed to be was foremost on my mind when I attended apress conference at the University of Southern Philippines (USP) to introduce this, its latest short-term offering. To be better informed about it, I went back to interview Rhea C. Domingo, the academy’s program director.
Sun.Star Life and Leisure (SSLL): What is a
call center?
Rhea C. Domingo (RCD): It is traditionally defined as a physical location where calls are placed or received in volume. This is usually used telemarketing firms, fund-raising and collection organizations and other organizations that have specialized business activities.
SSLL: And what is a Call Center Academy supposed to do?
RCD: There is a need for training for those who want to establish a career in this field, and this, CCA does. The call centers to be established in Cebu are American firms so those manning them have to be trained to speak like an American and if possible, to lose their Filipino accent, so that the callers would think they’re talking to sales persons of the company they are calling, not to Filipinos. They are taught the etiquette of answering.
SSLL: Are there call center companies now Cebu?
RCD: As of the moment, none. But there are three prospective locators here in Cebu: Sykes International, which is already advertising for personnel, Western Wats, and C3 which would like to open its call center within the USP campus.
SSLL: Are these call centers already operating in Manila? Are there others?
RCD: Yes they are. There are about 15 of them Manila.
SSLL: How many operators will these three needing? RCD: They need, all told, 3,000 or more call center agents. And CCA graduates, because of their training, are sure of getting in.
SSLL: How was USP chosen to have this academy?
RCD: CCA in Manila was looking for a place to up the academy here. It was Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) that recommended USP because of its facilities particularly its speech lab) and because its environment is conducive to learning. Also USP has always been popular with short or vocational courses that are skills-based and Tesda accredited.
SSLL: How many enrollees do you expect?
RCD: There have been over a hundred inquiries but, so far, only 20 have registered.
For each training session, we will receive only 30 students because it will be a very intensive
training. All those who register will need to pass a very rigid screening test designed by the CCA.
This will be held from July 17-19, in preparation for the first training scheduled to begin July 28 to be conducted by CCA Manila trainors.
SSLL: Who are the people behind CCA Manila?
RCD: The CCA board of advisers is composed of Lourdes S. de Leon, who has an MA from the University of Michigan; Marinette O. Martinez, with an MA from the Ateneo de Manila University; Susan V. Ople, with an MPA from Harvard; Ramona R. Tan, who has a PhD from UP; and Michael Narciso, with an MA from the University of New South Wales. They will also be teaching
the first batch. The local counterpart is the USP executive committee headed by Dr. Ronald R. Duterte, university president, and USP vice presidents Geronimo Sta. Ana, Oscar P. Jereza, Engr. Rolando L. Villa, Dr. Alicia Cabatingan and Lourdes D. Jereza, with myself as the call center
program director.
SSLL: You say this is a crash program or fast-track program which will last only two weeks for 96 hours of intensive training. there enough time for students to acquire an American accent?
RCD: CCA Manila has so designed the training as to be sufficient for the trainees to be trained. Which is why we hold an assessment to know how trainable they are. The course consists of 15 hours on Exceptional Customer Service, 50 hours of Advanced English (including listening skills, pronunciation drills, grammar review, development of an effective voice), 15 hours of American culture and geography, and 16 hours of introduction to Call Center Technologies (including telephony, computer telephony and computer telephony integration, PBX, Interactive Voice Response System and Call Management System).
SSLL: Will you be handling any of these?
RCD: All classes will be handled by CCA Manila. I handle only inquiries and enrolment.
The plan is to train USP trainors to take over the training after the first batch.
SSLL: Which will be when?
RCD: The first training will be from July 28 to Aug. 12. If more than 30 people enrol, then we can always have another class of This will be a continuing program. I don’t think we`d run out of demand for call center agents because if there are no more call centers, there will be other organizations needike Globe and PLDT.
SSLL: What are the requirements for CCA enrollee?
RCD: He or she must be between 19 and 29 years old and a college graduate, or at least second year college.
Rhea Domingo spent 12 years of her life in the Sultanate of Oman, with her family, but she finished high school in USP, got a BS Psychology degree from the University San Carlos where she is presently taking hermasters degree in the same field.American accent American accent SPEECH LAB
(June 26, 2003 issue)
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