Statesman, Bangalore
31 October 2005

Arunima Bera in Kolkata

Oct. 31. — A rise in the number of people hired in the BPO sector has caused the employers to seek better qualified candidates now.

Most BPO managements have upgraded the minimum qualification required from candidates applying for jobs, from Higher Secondary or class 12 pass to graduate.

Earlier, 70 per cent of candidates working in customer service, voice wing had only cleared their Class XII examination. But currently, graduates comprise 65 to 70 per cent of the staff strength while only 20 to 25 per cent are undergraduates, said Ms Kavitha Reddy, vice president of placement consultant, TeamLease.

“The big names always seek graduates. Even if they recruit undergraduates, these are candidates who have prior industry experience and are mainly recruited for data entry work,” she added. These candidates are mostly diploma holders or pursuing graduation through correspondence, said Ms Reddy.

“With the outsourcing industry becoming intensely competitive, candidates working in BPOs are expected to multitask. An undergraduate candidate fails to give the required output,” said Mr Sunny Bhattacharya, managing director, Technable Solutions. Again, companies frequently shift from one process to another. It is not feasible to employ fresh batches of candidates for every process. So, companies prefer people who can multitask, and have the minimum qualification of graduation, said Mr Bhattacharya.

Also, growing demands of this industry, where attrition rate is a major problem, require mature people who are not looking for a three-month job, added Mr Bhattacharya.

Although some low-profile BPO companies still hire undergraduates, the need to provide quality services has risen. Concern for client satisfaction supercedes issues of cost cutting, he added.

For companies working for back office processes like Acclaris Business Solutions, all staff are graduates. The company encourages its staff to upgrade themselves, said Mr Kalyan Kar, director, Acclaris Business Solutions.

Another reason behind this upgrading of skills at entry level is the immense opportunities in varied sections that have evolved. In customer service voice the requirement is: graduates, undergraduates (with at least a year of work experience in any industry) and post graduates for high end processes. In technical support wing, the requirement is BSc, BE, or any tech savvy graduate. Graduates and post graduates from streams like BCom, MBA Finance, BBM, BBA, MCom, and CA are taken in the financial services sector, said Ms Reddy.