HEART/NSTA, GSAJ team up to double cohort of certified BPO workers islandwide

Ever since the surge in growth of call centres and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector around 15 years ago, stakeholder companies have openly accepted persons aged 18 years and older, without formal training or certification, as they sought to fill available positions.

Often those employed are selected based on having a national identification card as well as a voice recognition and conversation test. They were not required to have a school-leaving certificate, passes in regional examinations, such as those offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council, or a diploma or degree from a reputable institution.

Additionally, for some agencies, for every 25 persons interviewed, often only one is worthy of being selected. This is a concern raised not only by the BPO operators, but the Government.

In an effort to remedy the situation, the Government, through its premier training institution, the Human Employment and Resource Training/National Service Training Agency (HEART/NSTA) Trust, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) inside the Edward Seaga Building on Oxford Road in St Andrew.

Taneisha Ingleton, managing director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, said the MoU was signed as part of an effort to double the number of trained and certified call centre workers islandwide.

“We welcome the signing of this MoU. We’re basically restarting a longstanding relationship that we would have had with the GSAJ ... and we can assure you that the successes you had in the past five years, we’re going to be doubling those for the years to come. We are going to work with you to prevent any further fallout where the industry is concerned,” Ingleton said before signing the MoU.

CRITICAL ROLE

“We have a critical role to play in broadening the talent pool and, yes, we would have had the data indicating that we are at an all-time low in terms of our unemployment, but certainly, we have a large grouping out there that we really need to tap into that pool to see how best we can utilise the skills and competencies of those individuals who are very well able to work,” she said.

With a lower-class stigma attached to the jobs in the BPO sector, Ingleton hopes the HEART/NSTA Trust courses will transform the mindset of those trained in order to foster a desire to move from entry level and up the ranks in the BPO sector.

Through the MoU, the HEART/NSTA Trust will be offering enhanced job readiness courses for six weeks utilising a blended approach – both face-to-face and online – from various HEART/NSTA Trust locations islandwide.

The other signatory, GSAJ President Anand Biradar, said the BPO sector has been upholding Jamaica’s promise to the world to satisfy the industry, but more needs to be done. The MoU is expected to assist in fulfilling that need.

“We need to widen the talent pool and support industry and, if we don’t, it will undo all the work done in the last 10 years. And it can very well happen, so I implore everybody to commit to this industry and work towards broadening the talent pool, so that we can embark on the growth. Getting the MoU signed today is a great step in that direction,” Biradar said. “I’m very excited to see the outcomes of this partnership and the programme [going] forward.”

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com