Graduates of TESDA's call center training program are in demand in the workplace, with 70 percent of them hired by employers.

Last week, I wrote about the TESDA partnerships with BPO sector associations led by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) in building Pinoy manpower for the sector.

For the BPO workers training, TESDA also worked with the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI), Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), and the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA).

Now, I will focus my column on our other training partners for BPO workers training from the national trade unions and workers organizations, notably the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and Federation of Free Workers (FFW).

On instructions of President Arroyo, I signed in behalf of TESDA memoranda of agreement with both TUCP and FFW for the training of union members and dependents as BPO workers.

The agreement with TUCP was for training in two qualifications – the Finishing Course for Call Center Agents (FCCA), and the Finishing Course for Medical Transcriptionist (FCMT). The skills training and job placement services for FFW members and dependents were undertaken through the Philippine Social Institute and Kaunlaran ng Manggagawang Pilpino, Inc. KMPI).

Priority target group

Displaced workers from member labor unions nationwide were given priority by TUCP in its two training courses for call center agents and medical transcriptionists.

Like other training providers of BPO courses, the TUCP Workers College and KMPI underwent the process of program registration to comply with the minimum standards for trainers qualification, tools, equipment and facilities and curriculum. TESDA issues a certificate of program registration to the training providers which comply with these standards.

The BPO workers training program is open to 18 to 55 years old and accepts applicants even without college degrees. Upon qualification, the trainees are entitled to a P5,000 training voucher which they use to enroll in the month-long program. We partner with different call centers like NCO, Allorica and Intellicare that conduct job fairs at TUCP regional offices.

My good friend and former TESDA Board Member Alex Aguilar, TUCP spokesman, has some good words about this training program: “The employment rate for our graduates is 70 percent and that excludes those who get hired for overseas jobs.”

He said further that Filipino workers should take advantage of the skills training to fit for jobs in BPO companies because the salaries are far higher than those in factories and industrial sites.

Aguilar said that workers who get jobs in call center companies earn an average of P15,000 to P20,000 monthly.

The latest training program report from the two training partner organizations is as follows: FCCCA NC II-1,178 graduates and FCMT NC II- 65 graduates.

From vendor to peer coach

One of the successful graduates of the TESDA-TUCP training program is Remedith Roque, a former vegetable vendor at the Farmer’s Market in Quezon City.

Remedith was a vegetable vendor with big dreams. Everyday at her market stall, she prays to God asking Him to build up her hopes for a better future.

She comes from a big family of 14 children. Early in life, she learned to contribute to the family income from earnings in selling vegetables. After finishing high school, Remedith dreamed of taking a two-year technical vocational course in computer operations.

Her parents tried their best to support her, but after a semester she was forced to quit school due to financial difficulties.

The billboard that changed a life

One day, however, a billboard on TESDA’s scholarship program caught Remedith’s attention. She applied for the Pangulong Gloria Scholarships at the TUCP Workers College, and qualified for the Finishing Course for Call Center Agents (FCCCA) which she completed in January 2007.

Immediately after the training, Remedith was hired by the NCO Group as a call center agent handling inbound accounts. She was earning a salary good enough to help her siblings go to school.

She then transferred to another company with a higher pay. In July 2009, she was promoted as peer coach in the company, supervising 11 agents. “Some of those I supervise are college graduates, and there are even a couple of board exam passers, “ she says. “And to think, I myself have not spent a day in college. Technical vocational training is indeed the great equalizer!”

Transforming Filipino lives

Remedith’s transition from vegetable vendor to highly-paid call center peer coach is part of the unfolding miracle of empowerment sweeping across the country, as TESDA and technical- vocational education and training transform Filipino lives.

Hundreds of other trade union members and dependents like Remedith have benefited from the training partnerships of TESDA with TUCP, FFW and other workers organizations.