Higher hireability rate for BPO workforce in Bacolod pushed

THE Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) underscored the need to further develop local talents and increase the hireability rate of industry workforce to be able to reach the target 60,000 jobs by 2022.

Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of BNEFIT, said the local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry currently employs about 30,000 jobs which might grow to 35,000 by the end of the year.

Batapa-Sigue said the hireability rate of labor force in Bacolod City is currently at 10 to 15 percent, the same rate 10 years ago, which is higher on a national level.

“I am appealing to the academe, we have to scale up by hitting at least 25 to 30 percent hireability rate within the next three years,” she said, adding that BNEFIT’s goal is also to identify and implement strategies in helping the academe grow the talent.

Batapa-Sigue pointed out that the schools have a major role in the bid to increase the level of hireability of graduates, who are the future industry workforce.

One measure is to strengthen the schools’ immersion initiatives.

Batapa-Sigue said she already suggested to Ubiquity Global Services, one of the locators at the Negros First Cyber Centre, to allow BNEFIT to bring 25 teachers to sit down inside the facility every now and then.

This would provide teachers a sort of orientation so that they will be exposed to the services and complexities of skills that are required by the BPO and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firms, she added.

“Theory is different from practical thus, we need more exposure and understanding on the nature of BPO jobs,” Batapa-Sigue said. “I think we really don’t have any problem with communications and computer skills.”

The problem rather is on comprehension and critical thinking because the BPO industry is going to expose local talents to global companies, she added.

BENFIT has expressed assurance that in the next several years, they will be working on harnessing the awareness and skills of Grade 12 students.

For 2018, the federation is seeing almost 10,000 senior high school graduates both from private and public schools in Bacolod City alone.

Batapa-Sigue said statistics would show that many of these graduates, since they are now of working age, will opt to actually find work.

“So this year will be a test whether the K to 12 program is really successful in helping our talent become work ready,” she added.