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Enjoy the benefits of working abroad while living in the Philippines. Our website: http://www.workabroadlivehere.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITBPOCareers.

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Enjoy the benefits of working abroad while living in the Philippines. The IT-BPO industry is your ticket to a global career.

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY
The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the umbrella organization for the IT-BPO (information technology and business process outsourcing) and GIC (Global In-House Center) industry in the Philippines, forecasts IT-BPO to grow up to US$25 billion and direct employment of 1.3 million by 2016. The Philippines is the number one global destination for voice BPO, and number two for non-voice, complex services, which are the fastest-growing segments of the industry today. These services range from engineering and project management to risk management to application development. In all, the industry is composed of more than 20 distinct segments.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
The Philippine IT-BPO industry grew 24% in 2011 to more than US$11 billion. This fast-growing industry offers rewarding global opportunities to Filipinos to work abroad while living in the Philippines. Because non-voice, complex services are the fastest-growing segments of the industry, IT-BPO is generating global jobs for virtually everyone. And not just in major urban areas. IT-BPO companies are present in every region of the Philippines. Davao, Laguna, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cavite, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Malolos, Baguio, and Dumaguete, are fast-emerging Next Wave CitiesTM that are fast becoming IT-BPO hubs in their own right. Whatever you do; wherever you are, there?s a job waiting for you.

ABOUT THE TALENT
Meeting the incredible demand for talent has become a challenge for the IT-BPO industry. The Business Processing Association of the Philippines is undertaking a number of initiatives–with government, the academe, and the industry itself–to address this challenge. One of these initiatives is this Career Portal, which is meant to increase awareness of the opportunities the industry provides professionals, and to connect them to more than 700 employers. The portal, Work Abroad Live Here, provides a digital venue to bridge the gap between IT-BPO companies and job-seekers. Between now and 2016, the industry will grow from 640,000 professionals to more than 1.3 million. They will work in finance and accounting, health care, engineering, marketing, creative services and many other global, complex and rewarding jobs.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/09/the-empowered-employee-is-coming-is-the-world-ready/

Read this and tell me what you think. Is the world ready? Are you ready?

http://workabroadlivehere.com/

My friends and associates at the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) have launced a new web site to serve as a job portal for BPO companies. I think its a great way to bring more focus on the challenge ahead of recruiting, training and retaining top talent in the industry. By demonstrating that in the long run its better to stay and work in the Philippines as opposed to going abroad to make a livelihood. The success of efforts like this job portal are crucial to the future success of the Philippines and its progress as a nation.

For those of you working in or thinking about becoming part of the BPO community, check out the link and sign up as an employer or a job seeker!

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/gray-nation-the-very-real-economic-dangers-of-an-aging-america/254937/

Good article that sums up what I view as perhaps the biggest single threat to future success of the United States of America. Its painfully obvious that we are going to see a surging gap in the needs of older Americans and the ability of younger Americans to provide them the services they expect.

This point, more than anyother single motivator is why I’ve become some focused on the BPO industry. I forsee countless types of services that will have to be done overseas for the simple reason that there are not enough people here to do them. Our shortsighted immigration policies, our neglected vocational education programs and lack of global intergration all lead me to the conclusion that American will have no choice but to source more andmore servicing jobs overseas.

On the other side of the Pacific, the Philippines has a young, predominately college educated, English speaking popluaiton who undertsands American culture. To me there is no simpler math then 1+1=2… American demand and Filipino supply = a bright and lucrative future for BPO Elite!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/03/extending-the-narrative.html
After reading Seth Godin’s blog this morning, I was reminded of the day I decided to not follow the narrative anymore and started to change my story.
It was a cold and rainy morning in November and I had been considering leaving my stable, safe and financially enticing career of 15 years for several months. Up until that morning, I would wake up, think about an alternate path to the future, but in the end go about living the same narrative.
With so many considerations on my mind like health care, retirement benefits, financial stability it’s no wonder most people ever change the narrative of their lives. But finally I had decided to take the leap of faith, to dive off into the unknown… to start writing my own narrative and change the story.

Through a combination of love, faith, connectedness and passion I walked into my boss’s office and tendered my resignation. Since that day I have faced even more challenges and difficulties then before, but my capacity to handle them and my ability to remain positive have been supercharged. In the five months since that day the story changed from a slow-developing, methodically paced novel to an adventure story worthy of Indiana Jones.

When you wake up tomorrow, will you extend the narrative or will you change the story of your life?

I want to give you all an update on two incredibly significant events that happened last week and that have pushed our company’s Philippines expansion plans closer to being a successful reality.

In conjunction with my own viewpoint, please read this recent article from Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-outsourcing-philippines-idUSBRE8271C420120308

I attended a CEO briefing sponsored by the Business Process Assoicaiton of the Philippines. I was able to network with and meet with several significant players that will be beneficial connections as we build our credibility and tie-up with various BPOs to provide them with much needed talent. The figures are staggering when it comes to the projected needs of the BPO industry when it comes to the types of training we do… analytical skills, problem solving and critical thinking combined with hands on training are a very rare commodity and as the BPO industry grows they will only be more scarce. BPAP has a committee charged with instituting a BPO preparation tract within the top schools. The tract in includes classes in among other subjects, Fundamentals of BPOs, Analytics and Call Center Management.

I also had discussions with one of the top schools in the Philippines, De la Salle – College of St. Benilde, they will begin implementing these BPO centric types of classes as soon as the 2nd trimester of this upcoming school year. Its very exciting to see them take on some of the innovative ideas that will better prepare tomorrows leaders in the Philippines. Many, many of the things BPO Elite has been doing the past year with our analytics focus and our internship program line up with CSB’s plans.

Overall, we (meaning BPO Elite) are indeed looking at an opportunity that I will compare to the California Gold Rush of 1849. There already are and will be many more “prospectors” trying to get rich off of all the money being allocated by the government and invested by multinational corporations trying to get a piece of the pie. But it’s a huge pie and there is ample room for us if we are able to execute our plans.

Ok, I know that was a lot of information, but it’s the way I roll! LOL!

We have come a long way in just a week of me being here and with God’s grace our progress will continue to be productive and our efforts will bear much fruit!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/05/five-leadership-lessons-from-james-t-kirk/2/
Time for to let my inner geek out and imagine for a moment that BPO Elite is my Enterprise. LOL! Yes, it is kind of silly, but I really do believe that we can learn lessons from fictional captains especially ones from the Star Trek Universe. SO much of Star Trek is grounded in reality, which why its science fiction and not fantasy. That said, here are how I apply these leadership lessons to my own mission of boldly going where no man has gone before.
1. Never Stop Learning – “You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown– only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” – I 100% agree with this philosophy and am always seeking knowledge. I’m always reading, scouring the internet and connecting with new people. Lately I’ve been researching and networking to better understand the BPO recruiting industry in the Philippines. There is always something new to explore, and the best way to do it is by sharing experiences, teaching what you’ve learned and being open to differences of opinion.
2. Have Advisors With Different Worldviews- “One of the advantages of being a captain, Doctor, is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.” – This to me is one of the best things about Kirk’s management style. He listens to others to validate his assumptions, make corrections when appropriate and then make more informed decisions. I look at my partners and the people I surround myself with and know that they will shoot straight with me, but also have my back once a decision is made. For me, this is a key to my successes.
3. Be Part Of The Away Team – “Risk is our business. That’s what this starship is all about. That’s why we’re aboard her.” – Leaving behind a 15 year career, a good salary and lots and lots of stability to take a huge leap of faith is all about taking a calculated risk. I say calculated because, like Captain Kirk, I am not doing this alone. The choice to take the risk is based on research and done in partnership… blindly taking risks can be foolish, but knowing letting opportunity pass because of being afraid is even more foolish.
4. Play Poker, Not Chess – “Not chess, Mr. Spock. Poker. Do you know the game?” – A good poker face is so undervalued. I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve in general, but when necessary I can put on a pretty convincing façade. Its something that I’ve had to learn over time and the better that I get at it, the further I get in life. However, of the five lessons listed here… this is the one I need to continue to work on the most.
5. Blow up the Enterprise – “‘All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.’ You could feel the wind at your back in those days. The sounds of the sea beneath you, and even if you take away the wind and the water it’s still the same. The ship is yours. You can feel her. And the stars are still there, Bones.” – See Lesson #3… only I didn’t blow up my ship, I jumped off my stagecoach! Seriously though, we tie ourselves down to a place because of material commitments and societal pressure and we lose the ability to be free. I am so blessed that my life is in a place where I can set sail and seek adventure across the Pacific.
Special thanks to the author of the original post, Alex Knapp of Forbes for the inspiration for this blog post. His final paragraph summing up the lessons he learned from watching Captain Kirk are all very, very applicable to me right now. Like Kirk, “I need to keep exploring and learning. I need to ensure that I encourage creativity and innovation by listening to the advice of people with vastly different opinions. I need to occasionally get down in the trenches with the members of our teams so I understand their needs and earn their trust and loyalty. I need to understand the psychology of our competitors and also learn to radically change course when circumstances dictate. By following these lessons, I can lead our organizations into places where none have gone before.”

I was just cleaning out my inbox, when I came across an e-mail from a few months back with a timeline of upcoming activities for my company. It’s an amazing testament of faith to see that everything on the timeline has taken place exactly as planned. Some of the highlights include:
– Travel to the Philippines to set up business partnerships
– Lay the groundwork to teach a class in Analytics
– Expand our internship program to UC Berkeley
– Help small businesses develop a strategy through our consulting efforts
– Launch a BPO Elite Blog
– Finalize our business plan

I’m humbled by all that we have been able to accomplish in a few short months and now more than ever am empowered to set forth another timeline to outline the next few months in the adventure that is BPO Elite. Just thought I’d share this in the hope that it inspires someone else to reach for the stars themselves!

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/02/its_time_to_bring_manufacturin.html

To me this is the biggest threat to a manufacturing recovery… “Local talent and skills are essential to productivity and innovation. Long-term depletion of manufacturing skills will make it hard to reverse the trend.” We’ve gutted our education system and nothing going on in Washington or even the state capitals right now sounds like a solution to this issue! My previous post about the state of education speaks to that view.
So if the solution doesn’t come directly from the government, then it has to come from the businesses themselves. Ford did this. But how many big corporations can do this? Based on the recent NYT article, Apple surely is not in a position to that on a significant scale. The author asks if this is a trend or an anomaly. I sure hope it’s a trend, but in a lot of industries I fear it’s not.
As an educator, a businessman and an entrepreneur, I am constantly thinking about how best to make a living but empowering others with skills then need to succeed. Whether they are my students, my interns or my clients, I am always hopeful that my interactions with them leave them in better place than they were in before they met me. However, I have to also always be mindful of the costs of my doing business. Like any business leader, I want to provide high quality, but at a cost that is both affordable and still generates revenue.
SO how do we work within the confines of the current educational landscape of the U.S. to provide skills to workers here? That is the dilemma that we face and one that I deeply wish we were seeing more answers to.

As preparations for our Philippines expansion continue to move ahead at warp speed, I’ve been spending a lot of time increasing my knowledge of the recruitment industry in the Philippines. I know from personal experience that recruiting top talent is a lot harder than it might seem. So many hiring decisions are based on things that have nothing to do with being a successful hire. For those of you have seen Moneyball (and if you haven’t do so asap… its an amazing movie), the scene where the scouts are looking at all the obsolete way to judge talent and driving Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) crazy comes to mind.
To be sure there are many recruiting firms and HR departments that have figured it out, I’ve come across some really innovative ones in the past few days. In fact the level of talent currently employed in sourcing and placing candidates for the BPO Industry in the Philippines is pretty impressive. However, from what I’ve learned so far it appears that in general, the way recruiting is approached in the Philippines is on par the way the old school scouts in Moneyball value players. Watch the trailer here (http://www.reelz.com/movie/269136/moneyball/clips/) and you’ll pick up on several key concepts that are true in the world of baseball, are true in most professions, and appear to be true in the recruiting industry in the Philippines.
Online job boards, mass CV screenings, and large group interviews of candidates right off the street are still the primary ways to source new talent. Looking for candidates with experience over fresh graduates and not looking for red flags in previous positions are deeply ingrained in the mind set of the industry. With the lessons of Moneyball in mind, I’ve indentified several keys for success that I plan on implementing with BPO Elite-Philippines to take things in a different direction. They include:
1. Mitigate job hopping by screening out likely quick quits and potential bad hires before placement. Encourage self-selected termination.
2. Groom those with the right personality, expectations and career mind-set to succeed. Model and promote top talent and skills for success.
3. Focus mainly on fresh graduates and those with no pervious experience. Weave in veterans when and where appropriate. Use internships and volunteer experiences as likely indicators of trainability.
4. Tie-up candidates with jobs that match personality, work style, lifestyle and career plans. Teach them the agent life cycle and demonstrate career benefits. Use job previews.
5. Use assessments to greatly increase chance of success. Assess basic competencies, personality type, career expectations, critical thinking skills and communication skills.

Our goal is not just to recruit and place talent, but to educate and empower both employers and employees. In the end, we want to be judged not on the number of placements, but on the engagement and satisfaction our students have with their employers.

One final note, I owe thanks to one of my recently added LinkedIn connections and recruiting gurus, David Filwood, whose insights have been one of the primary sources of my key points listed above.