LOOKING for a home-based job? The business process outsourcing (BPO) model comes to the rescue with the enormous demand for call center applicants. What is good is that the home-based employment system is very feasible.
My exposure to call centers started even before I retired as University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) dean of the College of Arts and Sciences before 2000. There were a series of BPO seminars I attended to augment the Speechcom existing programs. By this time, too, the Information Technology courses of USJ-R were headed to a full swing implementation.
Browsing through my Diary, I remember that in 1997, when I moved into our Park Vista townhouse, there was only one small flat level building of then People Support, now Aegis.
Soon enough, after my series of seminars at the Expo Processing Zone, and through an alumnus, I was made to help the small call center unit of then Terradine, specifically in its communication department. Thereafter, I had a series of English courses at Sykes. Then Convergys enrolled some of its newly hired call center agents in Basic English at my Speechcom one-on-one classes. In fact, those who did not make it in the oral interview were made to join my English sessions.
I really enjoyed those projects and saw how call centering flourished and contributed to the massive employment of skilled young graduates.
The supply and demand for call centers continue. I was told that several batches of applicants are undergoing rigid training and home-based arrangements are met successfully. No doubt, the BPO industry will endure the threats of economic instability because the supply and demand are steady.
A good question to ask is, how effective is the matching of language communication with the tech-skills and employment requirements, conditions and logistics? I am very positive that the BPO industry will measure to the needs of the times. The industry is so far our saving grace during the pandemic.