Bilingual Training Program Launched in El Salvador
With the growing demand for bilingual staff, private organizations and government agencies have created a program entitled "English Training for Call Centers".
Friday, December 9, 2011
The project, by nature public / private, aims to bring some 400 new employees who are bilingual in English / Spanish into the job market .
The growth of the call center industry has been maintained since 2005 at a rate of 29% per annum despite the lack of qualified bilingual staff. Guillermo Valiente, general manager of Transactel, said his company employs about 120 people a month, a task that is "a challenge". Companies like Transactel hire an average of 120 people per month and faster growth of the sector is expected for next year .
"To overcome this obstacle, representatives from several companies from this category met with international co-operation organizations and government agencies. The English Training for Call Centers’ program was created within this public-private partnership”. This will broaden the base of candidates with the necessary skills that their customers want", published Laprensagrafica.com
In the past six years the call center sector grew by 29%.
According to the Agency for Promotion of Exports and Investments (Proesa), the call center industry accounts for 60% of GDP, and is one of those responsible for injecting the most dynamism into the economy.
Companies that already operate in the country, El Salvador Sykes, Teleperformance and Stream Global Services, are now joined by U.S.
Current business needs do not match up with the supply of professionals nationwide.
Lack of public policies encouraging diversification of careers, and the limited interest of students in non-traditional careers are two of the reasons for the low supply of personnel in the country on offer to companies that come looking for laborers.
A lack of specialist professionals and technicians combined with poor levels of English is making the country less competetive.
Data analyzed from the latest Job Fair organized by El Salvador's Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Ministry for Employment, indicate that attendees qualifications, technical understanding and level of English were often below that sought by hiring companies.
The call center industry is finding it hard to grow, due to lack of qualified bilingual personnel.
From every 7 individuals who apply for a Call Center job, just one has an English Language level of 85% or above. The remaining 6 display a skill level of 70%.
Beatriz Peralta, Sykes general manager, told Elsalvador.com that “these deficiencies limit the growth of the industry.
×
ok
5893Government Procurement Opportunities in the region
español
5893
