Thursday, April 05, 2007 Civic group launches training in English proficiency in Cebu
IN ITS bid to help raise the competitiveness of Cebuanos in English proficiency and promote employment, a local group of businessmen is tapping the services of a local academe and a placement agency.
Junior Chamber International (JCI) Metro Cebu Uptown, Inc., in a joint collaboration with Saint Theresa’s College (STC) and Metro Manila-based People2Outsource (P2O) has launched a job-generation program for a free call center training that aims to provide qualified applicants a seat in a call center company.
“It is no secret. The Philippine call center industry is the fastest growing information technology (IT)-enabled sector. The demand for more career opportunities is shown in the number of billboards and print ads that these companies have invested in,” JCI Philippines national vice president for Central Visayas, Ray Salgado said.
Curriculum
According to a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed last Friday at the Lai Garden restaurant in Cebu City, the five-day curriculum primarily focuses on improving the trainees’ English communication skills.
Participants will be taught how to neutralize their accents, review grammar and pronunciation, and will also be provided with interview tips,” Salgado said in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu.
While call centers do not discriminate against its applicants in terms of educational attainment, religion, cultural background, race and age, he said a better grasp of the English accent will help candidates boost their confidence in landing a job, either as call center agents or supervisors.
The program is open to anyone who has finished at least three years of college and is computer literate.
Applicants will be pre-screened and interviewed, and all qualified applicants are entitled to participate in the free training, which will be held in STC.
Participants who will complete the training will then be endorsed to top call center companies for possible placement. Prospects
Earlier, Maulik Parekh, TeleTech Holdings Inc. Philippines vice president and general manager, said the local call center industry is showing bright prospects, with more call center companies and other business process outsourcing (BPO) firms are contemplating on putting up branches in Cebu.
This means, the demand for call center agents and supervisors will be showing significant increases in the coming years, he said.
According to Parekh, TeleTech will be hiring 500 more agents within the next two to three months to occupy its 1,500-seat facility.
“We have grown by 150 percent over the years,” Parekh said.
TeleTech Philippines, which started in 2003, now has over 12,000 employees nationwide. (MMM)
