THE Cebu City government is helping the Business Process Management (BPM) meet its demand for manpower.
According to Councilor Joy Augustus Young, chairman of Committee on Education, the BPM industry continues to flourish here in Cebu, but they are facing challenges on hiring qualified applicants.
“Padayon nga ni-boom ang atong call center industry dinhi sa Cebu, pero ang problema kay dili nato ma-meet ang demand sa mga qualified applicants,” said Young.
He said that since the implementation of its call center program in 2000, the city has been trying to use social media to recruit people to work on BPM, aside from conducting job fairs.
Young also encouraged senior citizens, retirees and members of women’s organizations to undergo training and apply as call center agents.
“We have to think out of the box, apilon nato ang mga senior citizens ug women’s organizations basta mo-qualify lang sila. Gawas niana, magsilbi sab ni silang multipliers kay naa man ni sila’y mga anak nga pwede nilang agnihon. Atong ubang mga empleyado sa BPM gikan pa man gani sa ubang lugar sa Visayas ug Mindanao, apil pa ang taga-Manila,” he said.
The implementation of K to 12 program has also affected the BPM sector, since they have to wait for two years before the students will graduate in colleges and universities and later on apply for jobs.
Due to this development, the call center firms are eyeing to hire senior high school graduates, given that they undergo proper skills training.
Young added the city is also implementing carrier seminar in the different public high schools to encourage students to enroll in courses that would supplement BPM and IT industries.
This coming September 8, the city will be conducting a BPM job fair, where senior citizens and members of women’s organizations will be given priority.
The job fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Wilfredo “Jun” Sa-a Jr., managing director of Cebu IT-BPM Organization (CIB.O), said that there are at least 300 BPMs operating in Cebu with around 140,000 employees.
Every year, the industry needs an additional 14,000 employees or 10 to 15 percent increase on its manpower.
Sa-a said that aside from career caravans and seminars, they’re also implementing an adopt-a-school program and Learning English Application for Pinoy (Leap) training for public school teachers in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology.