Call Center Industry In The Philippines: During And After Global Recession


The call center industry is considered as one of the most successful and fast-growing industries in the Philippines. Though it started very small, which only involves email responses and managing services, the industry have significantly grown to include Live Answering Service including customer care, technical support, financial services, travel services, and many more.

Its growth also entailed the solution to unemployment, allowing Filipinos with skills in English as well as basic knowledge with the use of computers to have a very competitive job as a call center agent. Many Filipinos have even said that call centers are known to give the most competitive salary in the market yet requires little from its applicants.

However, though the industry was once known as the biggest and the most successful industry in the Philippines, the call center industry today have faced a number of challenges which left the industry limping. This is because of the recession that affected almost all countries around the world, particularly the US.

Call center industry in the Philippines during global recession

Because most call center companies in the Philippines were outsourced from other companies, particularly in the US, the call center industry was one of the of the first industries in the Philippines to take a major downturn because of global recession which led to many of these companies, particularly the smaller outsourced companies, to close down, which also led to a large-scale unemployment in the Philippines.

Although the call center industry in the Philippines have taken a downturn due to the global recession, a number of outsourced companies from the US still stands even today, such as Convergys, Sykes, Accenture, and many others. However, because of global recession, a number of changes have been made in their recruitment processes as well as requirements to only hire those of competence and skilled.

Although most of these may only involve Live Answering Service, call center managers require graduates who are extremely fluent in English and (for technical accounts) above par IT skills. Other than this, their recruitment process have also significantly changed over the years by introducing a more challenging recruitment and training processes.

Call center of today

In spite of this condition, a very well known US outsourcing giant declared recent plans for five new customer contact centers in the Philippines which signifies jobs for at least 7,000 people. In 2006, 160,000 people were employed in a US$2 billion (S$3 billion) business.

Although the call center industry have started to pick-up its pace, its requirements and recruitment processes have not changed ever since. Though many of these are only known for their Live Answering Service, they still required their applicants to be skilled enough and competent enough to land a job as a call center agent.

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