walk in vs. submitting resume online

One of the things you learn when you date a recruiting associate is that HR is human too. If you submit your resume online they usually sort it by WRE or work related experience. So if you are fresh grad you will probably not be a priority call out. If there is a huge ramp of say 300 reps, guess who gets entertained first?

1) Walk-in candidates: they are often entertained first because as a walk-in they can be processed right away.

2) Referrals- Its really different when someone in the company is rooting for you.

3) Endorsed by third party agency- the company assumes that you come prescreened.

4) Resume submissions.

So you see, the best way to get interviewed is by popping by and doing walk in. There is a big chance you will be hired the same day!

Cebu is number 1!

Since Cebu named in the Thorton list for a top BPO destination there has been a lot buzz regarding what new centers are locating here. Check out the article here

“Tata Communications, India’s largest telecommunication company, has reportedly decided to locate in Cebu, Mr. Yu said. Representatives of HCL Enterprise, another big technology company from India, were here about a month ago to conduct due diligence. Hewlett Packard is also looking at Cebu, alongside Makati and Davao, as possible sites for its planned logistics hub. Mr. Yu added.”

Indian Collections Agents feel sorry for Americans

You know its bad when people who make only $5000 dollars a start feeling sorry for you. Check out this article from Washington Post. Check out this excerpt

“Lately, 25-year-old Americans are telling me that they are declaring themselves bankrupt,” said Chaturvedi, raising her eyebrows in shock. “These days the situation is so emotional, so fragile. We have to have so much empathy and patience.”

Stability vs. Skill

Tenure seems to be a mantra nowadays, it wasn’t too long ago that call centers loved to say how quickly you can get promoted in my organization. We used to see advertisements of agents becoming Operations Managers over a three year period. It seems that things are changing, as recent comment from people who have been call center hopping have said:

• call centers especially those based in India value tenure and stability more than a quick rise in an organization. This is different from the culture of etelecare three  years ago which included quick growth as marketing.
• The maturity of the market and the small number of players mean that people who have been call center hopping to get promoted are easily identified. 
• New centers are looking more into the quality of the company that you hail from than before. 
• As the call center industry expands many second tier companies are hiring supervisors and promoting them to managers with training or setting expectations. This causes spectacular failures or bad blood between the two parties. 

My two cents are, these days it pays to stick with your company. One year is not stability, thing in terms of decades, three years should be the minimum and remember that call centers can be a career. 

Excel asia expands in Cebu?

There was an article in sunstar that was written more like an advertisement than actual news. It seems that excel asia is expanding in Cebu because of Wipro. I think the author mentions it several times, we all know that excel asia accounts for a tiny fraction of the agents that Wipro hires, the majority are endorsed by seasoned firms like viventis and John Celments. Sometimes I wonder why I even read the news….

Work at home options for the burned out Call Center Rep.

The first thing you have to realize, is that work at home means, well work at home. You can’t have a job where you play Warhammer online all day long. (I may be lucky to be the only one who does, I consult for www.Gamersloot.com) If, answering the phone and listening to irate customers is no longer your cup of tea, or calling people who really don’t want to buy whatever product you are selling is really wearing you down you can try a variety of options. 

My cousin makes a killing as a project manager who works from home. She used to work for Etelecare and realized that techincal support for VOIP phones just wasn’t cutting it. She’s earning around 60k pesos a month running a team for a US company. They all work at home and she coordinates with them through skype and YM. 

Now, you may think that my cousin had some connection in the US. She met the person through a very nice website called www.odesk.com. This website allows people to bid on work, the rates are a little cut throat but once you get some jobs and get feedback you can charge a little more. 

What kind of things can you do at home you may ask?

1. SEO (search engine optimization)

2. Outbound Calling/Inbound Calling

3. Email Support, transcription

4. Article writing, blogging, and all that 

5. Website, Graphic Design

6. Add more if you have any ideas

Now lets talk about the places you can find these jobs. As I mentioned earlier in the article there is www.Odesk.com, they do take a 10% cut on all your work so as much as possible you should take your work off the website. My cousin whos really a lot better at this than I am says that www.Craigslist.com is one the best places to hire for her team, ergo one of the best places to get hired!

There are a lot of local brokers here in Cebu, (to which I am trying to enter the ranks of) who offer a lot of home based work. A project that I am working on is basically transcription which pays on a per project basis. This can be done from the comfort of your home. 

Its not that easy to find work at home gigs, but it is possible if you put your heart into it.

Ayala has an incubation facility for BPOs in Cebu?! Really?

According to GMAnews.tv Ayala is putting up a SAP incubation facility at the University of the Philippines, Cebu. If anyone knows more about Ayala’s incubation initiative please elaborate or provide links.

Excerpt from GMAnews.tv

“The incubation facility is located in the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu campus, a state-run university. The facility is the newest site among the four in the network of Ayala technology business incubation (TBI) sites. UP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ayala Foundation only last June, said Mercedes Barcelon, Ayala Foundation’s senior manager.”

Call Center Rental Costs

I was reading an article by GMAnews.TV and was shocked to learn how expensive rental is in Manila. 

Excerpt from “Lower rent makes provincial cities attractive to call centers”

“Lease rates in the Makati and Ortigas CBDs range from P850 to P950 per square meter, said Radovan while rates in Cebu range from P330 to P450 per square meter, and Bacolod from P220 to P250 per square meter.”

What?! P950 per sqaure meter. Wow, I had no idea that office space was so expensive in Manila. Is the building boom in Cebu keeping up with the demand?

Cebu one of the Emerging BPO sites according to new study

I was scanning through some news stories about Cebu and I came ac cross a few Indian dailys which mentioned that Cebu was in the top 10 emerging BPO cities. Which explains the sudden influx of huge multinationals clamoring to locate here. Makes me proud to Cebuano. 

Excerpt from the Indian Times:

“Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune are the six Indian cities in the list of top eight outsourcing cities of the world, according to a study by Global Services, the media platform for global IT outsourcing and BPO industry and Tholons, a global investment advisory firm.

The other two cities are Dublin of Ireland and Mataki city, the Philippines, the survey adds. 

But China dominates the list of emerging cities for global outsourcing with Shanghai and Beijing leading the list along with Cebu City from The Philippines.”

Openings@ WIPRO

It seems WIPRO is ramping for a new account, it needs 500 reps with collections and/or retention experience. So all those WAMU people who are worried about their company failing, move to WIPRO now one of the most stable centers out there. Just head over to their office next to Ayala.