Only 6% of applicants get jobs in call centers: BPAP

MANILA, Philippines – Call center jobs will be harder to find for those who are not prepared. Data from an industry group showed that out of every 100 applicants in a call center, only a handful are able to make it to the final cut.

About 3% to 6% of aspiring call center agents are able to land a job, data from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) showed. The bleak figure has caused concern among call center recruitment managers in the country.

“The quality [of call center agents] I can say is not as good as years before like on our end,” Vincci Lara, talent acquisition manager of E-Performance, told ABS-CBN News.

According to Lara, this may be traced to the lack of quality education in most colleges and universities. With a number of students not taught well in school, they tend to end up with poor English speaking skills.

“We’ve observed that the number one cause of the low hiring rate in call centers is the poor quality of education,” Lara said in a mix of English and Filipino.

The low hiring rate in call centers today has led to the creation of Teletalk, an online English proficiency program. Set up by a group of former call center agents, the program aims to train students and graduates who wish to be part of the call center agent force.

The course, which includes guidelines on grammar rules, comprehension skills and sentence construction, costs P900 for 100 hours worth of sessions. Teletalk promises its students a 30% improvement in English profiency by the end of the course.

Creators of Teletalk, however, continue to stress the need for quality education and more exposure to English programs so aspiring call center agents can meet the qualifications of their potential employers. Report from TJ Manotoc, ABS-CBN News