What you need to know before you apply for a call center job in the Philippines

Today, the BPO industry is one of the biggest industries here in the Philippines. It provides millions of jobs. Not only that it gives employment opportunities, it is also considered as a high paying career. Many are now trying to shift careers due to the high compensation and better benefits offered from this industry. I am one of those who shifted careers to taste the benefits given by this job.

First, we need to understand;

What is a call center?

How does it work?

Why are they investing here in our country?

What are the usual job positions available and their job descriptions?

A call center is an office where the company communicates to their clients or customers.

Here in the Philippines, call center companies are contracted by other companies to hire, train, and manage employees that will represent them.

For example:

Company X will hire a call center in the Philippines. Company X would just have to give the specifications and requirements to the call center. The call center will now hire, train and manage employees that will represent Company X in communicating with their clients.

What would the companies get if they hire a call center?

They would be saving money. The company would not have to buy office equipment, they wouldn’t have to use their own facilities, they wouldn’t need to advertise for the job posting and they wouldn’t be paying the standard salary in their country. All they have to do is hire the service of a call center and let them do almost everything.

And because the call center agents are not directly employed by the company that hired the call center, all benefits that would be given to the agents or representatives will come from the call center company.

We also have the in-house call centers. These call centers are part of the company itself. Instead of them hiring the service of a call center, they would just open their own call center.

What would they get from this?

They would also be saving money from the salary given. Instead of them paying the standard salary in their country, they would will just open an overseas call center and get lower salary rates for their employees.

For example:

A local from their country gets $8-$12 an hour while an overseas call center representative will get $2-$4 an hour only.

Now, if you’re planning to go to this career. You must have an idea what the job is about and what are the usual positions.

INBOUND Agent- This means you as an agent will RECEIVE the call or ANSWER calls.

OUTBOUND Agent- This means you are the one who would call customers or clients.

Customer Service Representative addresses customer or client’s queries regarding the service or the product they represent.

Technical Support Representative addresses customer or client’s queries about the technical aspect of a product or a service they represent.

Sales Representative offers products or services to clients or potential customers. Basically, they sell stuff.

Collections Representative collects payments or unpaid balances from clients or customers from the product or service provided by the company.

Chat/Email Support (non-voice) addresses customer or client’s queries through chat or e-mail.

NOTE - * The Collections and Sales representatives usually work with a specific number of quota or goal. They would have to hit these goals in order for them to be considered as efficient agents.

Right now there are a lot of different companies offering different positions. Most of the companies here are always open for walk-in applicants.

I hope this shed some light for those who are interested in becoming part of the call center industry. Next time I'll try to write tips on applying and what to expect during call center applications.

You can also check out my other hub about Tips on applying for a call center position. I also answered the question, "Why call center?" in this hub.