With the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry predicted to grow exponentially over the next five years, Nations Inc. has partnered with Emerge BPO to launch a course that aims to properly equip potential recruits.
Emerge BPO is a contact centre that performs a variety of outsource services to clients in North America. Its services include general customer support, e-commerce website support, and loyalty programme support.
During an interview with Stabroek News, CEO of Emerge Heidi Solomon-Orlick and Vice President of Operations Dalgleish Joseph explained that two of their biggest costs are recruitment and attrition replacement.
“And as we look at the skillsets that we need to hire and the expectations of our client, having that basic skillset foundation is really important because when we look at recruiting, we may have 100 people come in and we have a whole process we take them through to determine if they are a suitable candidate and that process takes a total of three weeks, but we want to lessen that time to capture the best people as quickly as possible,” Solomon-Orlick explained.
She noted that often persons drop out during the initial training and the company would not only lose money but would also have to spend more to recruit and train others.
Max Persaud, who has been in the BPO industry for more than five years and will be one of the trainers conducting the course, also pointed out that he has noticed that persons applying for jobs in the BPO industry in Guyana have deficiencies, which the course aims to rectify.
“The biggest challenge we have had going back five to six years is not finding the right fix-in agents for the job [but] the preparatory work upfront to bring them up to that speed where they enter the industry…So the recruiting can start right away knowing fully well that they are certified with basic skills in how call centre operations and BPO operate,” Persaud said, while noting that the applicants’ ineptitude delayed the process of engagement and training by extension, which results in specific companies losing money.
The initial conversation about the course started less than a month ago and was initiated by Persaud and Director of Nations Inc., Dr. Brian O’Toole, who then reached out to BPO companies in Guyana. However, Emerge BPO was the first one to respond and will be working along with the school to pilot the project.
“We developed a programme and we contracted the major call centres in Guyana and Emerge was one of the first that came on board and said, ‘Yes we will endorse the course for you and we will be happy to move forward with any other partnerships,’” Simone Phillips, Nations Inc. Corporate Training Centre Programme Manager explained.
Solomon-Orlick further explained that there is a need for the course here since there is a lack of understanding about the dynamics of the BPO industry and its potential in the coming years, considering that right now, if all the BPO operations in the country were to total their workforce, it would come close to being one of the biggest local employers.
When questioned about the industry’s projected growth within the next five to ten years, she said that it has the potential to exponentially grow and not only to directly employ more persons than the developing oil and gas industry, but collectively, be the biggest player in the country.
“There’s no question about it. Ten years ago there was less than 1,000 employees in the industry and now there’s over 3,500… I think it could triple that in the next three years, and we’re making big investments as well. We are betting on Guyana as a company and right now it’s an emerging market but when you look at other Caribbean and Latin American regions, there’s a high saturation and so for us to not have 50 other BPO companies trying to compete with is beneficial,” she pointed out, while noting partnerships are also a testament to local content.
The course, which costs $55,000, is to run for six weeks, with the first batch slated to begin training on April 23rd. It will focus on topics related to interacting with customers, time management, skills development, technical support, customer care and the foundation of the BPO industry.
When the course ends, Emerge BPO will be able to accept those certified to be hired. Those persons who would not have passed the company’s training can also be referred to the course.
Persons interested in starting the course can contact the school directly for more information.
