Hire workers outside Cebu to fill BPO seats, says official

Cebu should focus on recruiting people outside the province for its business process outsourcing (BPO) companies or risk losing its standing as a top global destination for outsourcing, an official said.

“There are still many firms coming here. What existing companies are doing now is  go out and conduct recruitment in other cities and provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao. I say we do that as a whole to make a bigger impact,” said Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the  Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) in an interview on Friday.

“We should now look outside Cebu for additional manpower if we want to maintain our rank as an emerged destination for outsourcing companies.”

He spoke after the First Quarter of 2012 Economic Briefing organized by the Cebu Business Club at the Marco Polo Plaza.

Yu said he is ready to commit  the CIPC as lead convenor for the

unified effort.

“I can approach them and we can go together in different cities to conduct recruitment. That way also we can better market Cebu to jobseekers as a good place to find a job aside from going to Manila,” he said.

Yu said Metro Cebu stakeholders should work with the BPO firms in recruiting people in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Cebu has 60,000 to 75,000 employees hired by outsourcing companies now. And the target is to hire 100,000 by 2014,

he said.

If Cebu City  cannot meet that target, Yu warned that  it may be dislodged from its ninth place global ranking in the list of “emerged cities” for outsourcing by the international consultancy group Tholons.

In the 2012 list of top 100 destinations for outsourcing in the world, Cebu was listed in ninth place   followed by Shanghai in China.

Yu said the cities ranked from 11th to 15th are within striking distance to dislodge Cebu from its post.

These are Krakow in Poland (11th), Beijing in China (12th), Sao Paulo in Brazil (13th), Dalian in China (14th) and Buenos Aires in Argentina (15th).

“We cannot allow that,” Yu said.

“If we want to continue growing and if we want to increase the purchasing power of our people, alleviate poverty and fuel economic  growth, we cannot rely on what our local universities are producing alone,” he said.

“If we rely on our internal population, then we will become insignificant.”

Yu said he will present these facts in his speech today at the opening of the 2012 Cebu ICT/BPO Conference held at Radisson

Blu Hotel.

“It will be a perfect venue to present this to the stakeholders,” he said.

The two-day  2012 Cebu ICT/BPO Conference is a highlight of  this year’s Cebu Business Month Celebration organized by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce

and Industry.