Contact center group targets increasing hiring rate to 15%
The Contact Center of the Philippines (CCAP) is looking into improving the hiring rate in the BPO industry in the Philippines. The target is to reach 10-15% in the coming years.
According to CCAP Chairman Benedict Hernandez, the set target could be achieved through collaboration among the government, academe and the industry in order to bridge the gaps within the workforce.
The industry’s hiring rate ranges from 6.0 to 8.0 percent then improved a bit to 8.0 to 10 percent, Hernandez said. According to CCAP, this is an indication of the main finding of the National Employability Report for the Philippines done by Aspiring Minds that roughly 65% of college graduates in the Philippines do not have the right skills and training to qualify for the jobs that they want.
The result of the National Employability Report is based on Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test (AMCAT) of 60,000 fresh graduates from 80 colleges across the Philippines. The AMCAT assessed four skills: language, cognitive skills, behavioral or soft skills, and functional skills.
According to Hernandez, to keep up with the demands and bridge skills, the industry made some interventions. The industry worked with TESDA to create funding for the near-hire training program. The industry also partnered with CHED and DepEd.
“The industry is doing a lot. We’re happy that we’re doing partnerships with the government and schools in the past,” Hernandez said. “We had very successful results when we have interventions,” he added.
However, Hernandez stressed that there is still a need to further these interventions addressing the different challenges in the workforce as not to lessen the growth in the BPO industry.
