2006年VOA标准英语-Philippines Sees Job Opportunities in Call Cent

By Douglas Bakshian
Manila
12 October 2006

When people have problems understanding their computers, they often pick up a phone and call the computer maker's help desk. Increasingly, that help desk may be in the Philippines, a growing player in the outsourcing market. More companies from high cost labor¹ markets are shifting call center jobs to the Philippines.

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President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo², left, observes an agent at the Sykes Enterprises call center  
  
In the Philippines the outsourcing business has exploded. Just five years ago it accounted for only a few thousand jobs, but by the end of this year, about 266,000 people are expected to be working in the sector³.

Two thirds of those jobs will be in call centers - taking calls from customers needing technical help. The rest are in companies handling such work as medical and legal transcription, record management, animation⁴ and accounting⁵.

And the growth is just beginning. According to the Business Processing Association in the Philippines, the industry is expected to hit nearly one-point-one million jobs in four years. The English language has a lot to do with that. The Philippines, a former American colony, is heavily English-speaking, making it a natural choice for serving the U.S. market.

Mitch Locsin is executive director of the association, and says that 90 percent of the business-process outsourcing done in the Philippines is for the United States.

"We are very U.S.-centric," he says. "We have the same legal system, we have the same general accepted accounting principles as the U.S., we have a very good neutral accent. And of course it's because the strong affinity⁶ we have with the U.S."

One example of a U.S. business using the Philippines is computer giant Dell. By mid-year it employed about 700 people at a customer service call center, handling questions on how to fix problems with computers. Dell hopes to double that to 1400 workers by February. Mike Garrison⁷ manages Dell's Philippine business.

Two applicants⁸ fill out forms in front of poster of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for jobs at call center company during job fair  
  
"We're finding great talent in the Philippines," he says. "We look for three basic things. One is communication skills, the second is customer service skills, and the third is problem solving skills. These are fundamentally problem solving jobs where people are getting to the root of an issue. And on all three of those counts we're finding great talent here in the Philippines."

Among other companies that have customer service call centers in the Philippines are AOL, Sony and JVC. Customer satisfaction surveys and reservations for airlines are also handled in the Philippines.

Craig Rodger, the sales director of Customer Interactive⁹ Solutions for Dimension Data, based in South Africa, recently took part in a business conference on call centers in Manila. He says that the quality of service offered by call centers here and worldwide has improved greatly over the past few years, with both companies and their customers increasingly satisfied.

"If you had asked the question five years ago, all the offshore¹⁰ destinations would have taken an absolute pasting and hammering," he notes. "And as organizations have learned to work better and those destinations have matured, satisfaction has improved dramatically, significantly. In many cases a lot of contracts awarded to destinations like the Philippines are as good as what they are achieving in satisfaction scores inside the U.S."

Industry officials say call center jobs are popular with young people in the Philippines because they pay relatively¹¹ well. A starting call center worker gets about 15 thousand pesos a month, or $300. Equivalent start-up jobs in industries such banking¹² or hospitality are about half that.

The industry is seen as key to the Philippine government's efforts to cut unemployment and boost the economy. For years, the government has encouraged workers to leave the country to work overseas as either unskilled laborers¹³ or as educated workers in fields such as nursing, engineering and aviation mechanics. Often, a teacher in the Philippines can double her salary by moving to Hong Kong to work as maid, earning about $475 a month.

Unlike many Asian countries, the Philippines has a relatively high unemployment rate - eight percent - and a high birth rate. Nearly half the population of 80 million is under the age of 21. Call centers and other outsourced office jobs thus have great appeal for communities in desperate need of jobs for young adults.

But one problem in the Philippines is getting enough qualified¹⁴ workers who speak good English. Although most Filipinos speak some English, many have heavy accents, or they have trouble understanding the accents of English speakers from other countries.

As recently as one year ago call centers hired only five out of every 100 applicants. But industry officials say that, thanks to government funded English proficiency¹⁵ courses, now as many as 15 applicants out of 100 are hired. Businessmen say many of those passed over before were just slightly under the qualification margin¹⁶ and 100 hours of intense English training can bring them up to speed.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 arroyo   

n.干涸的河床，小河

参考例句：

• She continued along the path until she came to the arroyo.她沿着小路一直走到小河边。
• They had a picnic by the arroyo.他们在干枯的河床边野餐过。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 affinity   

n.亲和力，密切关系

参考例句：

• I felt a great affinity with the people of the Highlands.我被苏格兰高地人民深深地吸引。
• It's important that you share an affinity with your husband.和丈夫有共同的爱好是十分重要的。

7 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

8 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

9 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

10 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

12 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

13 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

14 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

15 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

16 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。