Demand for call center jobs seen

CALL center vacancies top the government’s online jobs portal this summer, a top official of the labor department said Saturday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz enjoined fresh graduates and jobseekers to register with Phil-Jobnet, a matching site that allows jobseekers to post their skills and employers to search for services.

Baldoz said the highest number of vacancies as of last week is for call center agents, which stood at 12,737 or 18.65 percent of the 68,291 jobs up for grabs.

The Philippines now leads the world in voice-based customer service, chalking up $6.1 billion last year, well enough to overtake India on that sphere, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said.

Overall, the country’s business process outsourcing industry generated revenues of $8.9 billion in 2010, a year-on-year growth of 26 percent.

A total of 525,000 people were employed by the sector in 2010, up 24 percent from 2009. Industry forecasts show that by the end of President Benigno Aquino III’s term in 2016, revenues will spike to $25 billion and generate 1.3 million direct jobs.

Employers are also looking for the following: customer service assistant (8,027), machinist (5,023), technical support staff (3,813), professional nurse (3,062), production worker / factory worker (2,302), domestic helper (1,436), sales officer (1,046), household attendant (913), and baby sitter (835).

Other vacancies include carpenter, sales clerk, pharmacist, mason, watchman, cashier, housekeeping supervisor, baggage porter, staff nurse, building electrician, production machine operator, janitor, mechanical engineer, laborer, salesman, welder, and heavy equipment operator.

Meanwhile, Baldoz advised new college graduates not to be choosy in finding employment.

“It is practical to accept the first available job and get the needed experience. The graduates need to acquire skills that are relevant to the key employment generators and to land jobs,” she said.

Earlier, Kabataan Representative Raymond Palatino said there is an estimated 400,000 fresh graduates that are facing a bleak future since the administration of President Benigno Aquino III could not provide a substantial job plan for them. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)