Call center fever wanes 05-11-27

	NORDIS WEEKLY November 27, 2005
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Call center fever wanes
BAGUIO CITY (Nov. 25) — Contrary to the promised placement in call centers, some trainees here profess hardships and uncertainties in landing a high-paying job. On the second week of September 2005, the Provincial Employment Service Offices (PESO) of the six provinces of the Cordillera started to screen applicants for the second batch of trainees to become call center agents in the future. Training-cum-employment Scheme for the Business Process Outsourcing industry (Traces-BPO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) train prospective workforce in cooperation with PESO and a Baguio-based call center. A brainchild of DOLE Director Jalilo dela Torre and Informatics Training Center (Informatics), Traces-BPO had planned 3,000 agents for call centers and 200 medical transcribers graduate soon. Recruitment in the provinces involves interviews, which are usually conducted on Saturdays or Wednesdays with results shown on Mondays following the interviews. Applicants who passed the initial interview were called for a written examination that would qualify them for the training. In the process of recruitment, applicants are told that they can have a high-paying job. A DOLE representative said that the estimated salary would be P15,000 monthly including benefits. However, some trainees were told that it is actually only P5,000-P8,000 monthly. Training All the trainees have to undergo a month’s training to get a certificate from Informatics and a recommendation from the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which gives the assurance of a job specifically as a call center agent in the future as that is what the training is for. The second batch, with some 300 trainees, started training on November 7 at the Informatics center here. There were 196 tranees in the first batch. The estimated expenses of a trainee for one month could not be less than P10,000 of which P1,000 goes to registration fee and P1,000 for the manuals and miscellaneous fees. Included also is the rent for the boarding house as most trainees are not from Baguio City. This does not include all other incidental expenses such as daily photocopying of some lessons. According to trainees from Abra, a local politician subsidized part of their training fee. Around 40 of the almost 300 trainees came from Abra. A trainee asks, “What is the purpose of our manuals?” According to one of the trainers, those in the book are much complicated to study that he prepares “simpler ones” which trainees get daily. Hooked but disgusted Some trainees said they have been hooked to the call center fever. However, some of them have lost hope of landing a job since trainors have insinuated that not everyone could be hired. Contrary to the promises during the recruitment period, trainees were just given false hopes, an informant from Abra told Nordis. “Ti ammo mi, isunga adda kamin iti training ket siguradon a maala kami,” (We thought we are on training because we will surely be hired) she said. “I really feel bad about this training, my money had been wasted because until now I still don’t have a job,” commented one of the first batch trainees from La Trinidad, a young man in his 20’s. “I’m going to tell my friends about this bad experience so that they will not be victimized like me,” he added. Some trainees have already backed out because of the expenses and it is possible that they have heard negative feedbacks about a call center here in Baguio City where only 16 trainees from the first batch qualified for pre-hiring as agents. “I did not continue training because there is no assurance of getting a job after our graduation and I’m also hard up with the payments,” said Josie, 25, a former trainee who dropped out on the second week of training. She adds, “I never thought it would be this hard. Had they told us that we are not assured of getting a job immediately then we shouldn’t have been here”. Other trainees agreed with her. “Finding a job nowadays is hard because there really is strong competition. You have to be equipped for the job you like and most go for this kind of training,” a trainee in her 20’s quips. Hopeful as the rest, many young people have to sacrifice all that they have just to get that job and hearing that being in a call center makes a lot of money, they risk a lot just to be on that seat after a month of training. # Cj for NORDIS
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	NORDIS WEEKLY November 27, 2005
Home \| To bottom	Previous \| Next
Call center fever wanes
BAGUIO CITY (Nov. 25) — Contrary to the promised placement in call centers, some trainees here profess hardships and uncertainties in landing a high-paying job. On the second week of September 2005, the Provincial Employment Service Offices (PESO) of the six provinces of the Cordillera started to screen applicants for the second batch of trainees to become call center agents in the future. Training-cum-employment Scheme for the Business Process Outsourcing industry (Traces-BPO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) train prospective workforce in cooperation with PESO and a Baguio-based call center. A brainchild of DOLE Director Jalilo dela Torre and Informatics Training Center (Informatics), Traces-BPO had planned 3,000 agents for call centers and 200 medical transcribers graduate soon. Recruitment in the provinces involves interviews, which are usually conducted on Saturdays or Wednesdays with results shown on Mondays following the interviews. Applicants who passed the initial interview were called for a written examination that would qualify them for the training. In the process of recruitment, applicants are told that they can have a high-paying job. A DOLE representative said that the estimated salary would be P15,000 monthly including benefits. However, some trainees were told that it is actually only P5,000-P8,000 monthly. Training All the trainees have to undergo a month’s training to get a certificate from Informatics and a recommendation from the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which gives the assurance of a job specifically as a call center agent in the future as that is what the training is for. The second batch, with some 300 trainees, started training on November 7 at the Informatics center here. There were 196 tranees in the first batch. The estimated expenses of a trainee for one month could not be less than P10,000 of which P1,000 goes to registration fee and P1,000 for the manuals and miscellaneous fees. Included also is the rent for the boarding house as most trainees are not from Baguio City. This does not include all other incidental expenses such as daily photocopying of some lessons. According to trainees from Abra, a local politician subsidized part of their training fee. Around 40 of the almost 300 trainees came from Abra. A trainee asks, “What is the purpose of our manuals?” According to one of the trainers, those in the book are much complicated to study that he prepares “simpler ones” which trainees get daily. Hooked but disgusted Some trainees said they have been hooked to the call center fever. However, some of them have lost hope of landing a job since trainors have insinuated that not everyone could be hired. Contrary to the promises during the recruitment period, trainees were just given false hopes, an informant from Abra told Nordis. “Ti ammo mi, isunga adda kamin iti training ket siguradon a maala kami,” (We thought we are on training because we will surely be hired) she said. “I really feel bad about this training, my money had been wasted because until now I still don’t have a job,” commented one of the first batch trainees from La Trinidad, a young man in his 20’s. “I’m going to tell my friends about this bad experience so that they will not be victimized like me,” he added. Some trainees have already backed out because of the expenses and it is possible that they have heard negative feedbacks about a call center here in Baguio City where only 16 trainees from the first batch qualified for pre-hiring as agents. “I did not continue training because there is no assurance of getting a job after our graduation and I’m also hard up with the payments,” said Josie, 25, a former trainee who dropped out on the second week of training. She adds, “I never thought it would be this hard. Had they told us that we are not assured of getting a job immediately then we shouldn’t have been here”. Other trainees agreed with her. “Finding a job nowadays is hard because there really is strong competition. You have to be equipped for the job you like and most go for this kind of training,” a trainee in her 20’s quips. Hopeful as the rest, many young people have to sacrifice all that they have just to get that job and hearing that being in a call center makes a lot of money, they risk a lot just to be on that seat after a month of training. # Cj for NORDIS
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