College grads unequipped for BPO industry — BOI survey

Several college graduates in the Philippines are ill-prepared to join specific subsectors in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, according to a survey by the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).
The BOI said that “the preparedness of graduates for the animation, game development, software industry, and health information management sectors is low.”
The survey — called the National Skills Mapping Survey — was conducted between November 2021 to January 2022.
Its goal is to identify the human resource development needs of the IT-BPM industry and its subsectors and “develop work-ready and globally competitive workers.
To address the lack of preparedness, the survey recommended that the education and the industry work hand-in-hand in upskilling the graduating students in various digital skills.
Additionally, the BOI and CHED suggested reviewing the existing programs implemented by government agencies to ensure they are still in tune with what the industry needs.
BOI Executive Director Ma. Corazon Dichosa stated, “We hope to address the present and anticipate the future talent requirements of the country’s emerging industries and develop a more relevant, responsive, resilient, and sustainable talent pipeline.”