One of the biggest industries that hire approximately 275,000 people is the call center. The growth rate is 15% each year. According to Benedict Hernandez, president of Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), there is a high recruitment in the Phils. because only 80% of the newly grads are being hired. Filipino call center agents have strong English communication skills, higher educational attainment, and effective social skills.

CCAP stated that at present, call centers still experience recruitment problems. The hiring ratio is only 8:100 (i.e. 8 out of every 100 applicants). More than 324,000 are being rejected each year; the outcome is 57% attrition rate.

To increase the recruitment rate, CCAP established linkages with Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA). AdEPT or Academe Partnerships for Language Training will be introduced in private school students who dream of working in call centers. The aim of the training is to have 13,500 graduates which will result to 20% increase in employment rate.

Donna Grande, Dell Philippines human resource director, said that manpower will be retained by the company if they will learn the secrets of mentoring. This will provide professional development. Access to new tools and skills update will help to develop productive and professional employees. Penny Bongato, Logica Philippines Human Resource Director, said that the needed workers in the contact center industry are 60,000 but only 12,000 are being employed. [via]