Guatemala Wants More Call Centers

There are appeals to make teaching English obligatory and to encourage cooperation between private enterprises and the government in order to make the country more attractive to the contact center industry, and generate more jobs.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Government and the private sector aim to create a common initiative to attract more call centers companies, and create 50,000 new jobs for young people, mainly in the next few years ahead, said Elperiodico.com. Call centers already employ some 15,000 young people.

The rapid growth of call centers has shone a light on the lack of skilled workforce with the appropriate level of English.

"The ministries of Education, Economy and Labour, are planning an initiative to make the country's universities teach compulsory English lessons to students during the first two years of their course. Guillermo Montano, director of the Committee on Contact Centers, at the Guatemalan Exporters Association, said that in this way more than 50,000 English students will be eligible for jobs in this industry”, reported El Periodico on its website.

According to Montano, an investment of about $4.5 million is needed to pay the more than 375 teachers required for this specialized teaching, funds that could be covered through a partnership between the private and public sector.

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