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Paromita Pain

Take a look at the BPO sector from the fresher's point of view. What's the job like, and what must one look out for?

MUCH has been said about the BPO boom, and how India can make the most of the opportunity.

Let's take a look at the issue from the fresher's point of view — how different is this sector from the rest and what must young people eyeing a BPO career look out for?

Debasish Das, Vice-President — HR and Training, Keane Worldzen, sounds a note of caution: , "Traditional HR systems and processes are not applicable as the nature of business is very different and the employee profile is very different."

Navanit, CEO, Epicenter Technologies Pvt Ltd, believes, "The workforce here is usually young people thriving on healthy competition. The performance management system is based on measurable performance metrics. Most companies work hard and play hard. Parties, picnics, and a variety of motivational stuff keep happening. Again, processes are high on skills and quality benchmarks, the best talent in the market is hired and developed to satisfy clients."

Recognising the right BPO

Rohit Varma, Senior Vice-President, Talent & Engagement Development, Tecnovate, eSolutions, spells out some tips:

Step One: The management team: Do the promoters and the founders come from professional service industry backgrounds with international experience, which is critical to succeed in this business?

Step Two: Quality of infrastructure and financial stability: Determine the quality of the infrastructure the company has developed in India and overseas. What is the quality of the work environment, and how well does the company look after its employees. A strong international network of offices indicates that the company has a strong front-end presence, which again is vital for sustained growth of the organisation. A strong international client list is always a very positive sign.

Step Three: Work culture: Globally, transparent and open work-environment companies tend to be the best employers. Check for the reward and recognition programmes that the company has in place, training and learning programmes available and the kind of attrition the organisation is facing and how it is handling them.

What are BPOs looking for in freshers?

Navanit stresses that such environments need, "People with fairly good communications skills who can think on their feet in an impromptu live situation with diverse customer types."

Jyothi Menon, Head HR, Lason India, says, "Basic programming skills with knowledge about various inputs and output formats such as PDF, XML, SGML, QuarkXpress, NSF, ANSI and ASCII are important with knowledge about US health Insurance. The ability to learn and adapt to new technology are key requisites."

Rohit Varma stresses, "BPOs look for a promise of longevity. Business process outsourcing is not one homogeneous market but is an amalgamation of many different markets. Be agile enough to handle the challenging growth in this dynamic sector."

Navneet says, "Domain knowledge and target-driven performance are imperative."

Growth avenues

Raj Kondur, Chairman and CEO, Nirvana Business Solutions, believes that BPOs provide a combination of advantages. Rotation of work areas through varying projects enables employees to develop skill sets across functions and roles coupled with opportunities to work for multinational companies. There are also prospects of overseas travel to learn and transition the client's business to India or elsewhere.

Lopa Banerjee, DGM HR, TechBooks, says, "Often, high performers are tracked separately and have career paths defined for them."

Navneet points out, "Operations staff are most in demand due to numbers. For an entry-level executive with good performance, growth could be both vertical and lateral."

Myths and misconceptions

ZIA Sheik, CEO, Infowavz, takes on the top five `myths' to "set the record straight."

Myth 1: BPOs, like the dotcom phenomena, will soon end in a bust.

Fact: Unlike the dotcoms, built on marketing hype, the BPO industry is a real industry employing over 3 per cent of the working population in the US and the UK. India, with its qualified workforce and English speaking skills, combined with low delivery costs, will tend to capture a greater share of the global BPO pie and the industry is expected to expand exponentially in the coming years.

Myth 2: There is huge attrition in BPOs because the workforce is frustrated.

Fact: The reason for high attrition in call centres is more because of poaching by competitor BPOs by offering higher salaries and better designations. Rather than leaving the industry, most youngsters are busy job-hopping due to the tremendous opportunities available within the industry. The difficulties associated with night-shift working are highly exaggerated.

Myth 3: The workforce is exploited, so most treat this as a short-term option.

Fact: On the contrary, due to the better compensation, faster career growths and the wide range of rewards, recognition, benefits and incentives schemes that most Indian BPOs offer, the industry is sucking talent from all other industries, including retail, financial services, travel and hospitality.

Myth 4: Working here restricts future job prospects.

Fact: BPOs provide their people with invaluable international exposure of working for leading global corporations. In addition, the skills developed in this industry — communication abilities, process orientation, vertical and horizontal and domain knowledge — are highly desirable and cut across industries in India and overseas.

Myth 5: Working in call centres results in various ailments associated with working for long hours on computers or talking on the phone

Fact: Almost all jobs today involve working on computers or talking on the phone. These have become occupational hazards associated with the knowledge economy that the world is increasingly becoming. In fact, BPOs actually tend to be more careful about proper ergonomics, acoustics and overall work environment than most other employers in India today. Some of the best global BPO centres are in India, with state-of-the-art technology and world-class employee facilities, including 24/7 cafeteria, employee home pick-up and drops, recreational areas, career-counselling facilities, libraries and reading rooms.

paromita@thehindu.co.in

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