Employment opportunities in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry await overseas Filipino worker returnees, especially those with background in the fields of information technology and healthcare, the labor department said.
This as DOLE and the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) collaborate to help the productive reintegration of OFWs and at the same time, fill the demand for additional manpower in the BPO industry.
Just this month, Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that the labor department is seeing the resurgence of the BPO industry as the subsequent global recession will force the West to outsource more jobs in the industry, a good size of which will go to the Philippines.
In a virtual meeting Thursday, Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay welcomed IBPAP’s initiative and assured the labor department’s support to facilitate the matching between employers and jobseekers.
The labor department will provide the database of OFW returnees who are interested or who are qualified for the job vacancies.
Meanwhile, career marketing activities, initial screening, and job matching will be conducted by IBPAP from August to November.
Complementing this, Tutay said that the department is gearing towards virtual job caravans for easier matching between jobseekers and employers.
National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) OIC-Director Roel Martin said that the partnership will further help the DOLE attached agency in linking OFW returnees, and even their families, for possible employment.
He said among the agency’s partners in OFW reintegration are SITEL; the Department of Public Works and Highways and DMCI for Build Build Build projects; Mega Sardines; and Motolite. He also said OFW returnees are referred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for retooling and upgrading of their skills.
IBPAP Executive Director for Talent Development Frankie Antolin said that despite the pandemic there are still numerous IT-BPM job vacancies because it encompasses the fields of contact center; animation and game development; global shared services; financial, IT, and HR shared services; software and IT outsourcing; and health information management system.
She added that OFW returnees have skill sets that are useful in performing jobs in the BPO industry.
(DOLE-PR)
