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196 Panel 5The general requirements for a call center agentinclude the possession of at least a two-year collegeeducation and excellent oral and written Englishlanguage skills. Companies prefer to hire youngworkers since they are considered to be more adept inthe use of computer technology, are faster learners, andthey adjust more easily to night shift work. There areno preferences relating to agents’ field of study; it isseen as more important to have a customer-orientedmindset. A 35-year-old female manager said,“When we did a case study on high performingagents, we found out that being a collegegraduate is not a good indicator of performingwell on the phone. It doesn’t matter what courseyou took, what college you graduated from or ifyou didn’t graduate. As long as you speak goodEnglish and you have good problem-solvingskills, then you’re okay”.In order to attract workers, call center companiesadopt various strategies. Billboards are placed in mainstreets. Banners are placed in neighborhoods and inbarangay offices around Metro Manila.Advertisements are placed on buses and trains.Advertising slogans include “we offer nothing but thebest opportunities,” “join the best place to work,” and“your passport to fast employment”. Advertisementsnormally also feature a photograph of a smiling youngmale or female worker with a headset on. Call centerwork is promoted as a desirable and skilled occupation(Mirchandani 2004).Websites and newspapers are also used to publish jobopenings. Some informants confirmed that they foundtheir current job by checking ads in such venues. Otherinformants mentioned job fairs or job caravans. A maleworker from Pampanga, outside Metro Manila, saidthat he learned about the industry and got his first jobthrough a two-day job fair in his hometown. At thefair, he was interviewed and took an exam at a nearbyfast food restaurant. (He was also given a free mealcoupon). Other common recruitment practicesinclude walk-ins and employee referrals. Oneinformant who had worked in several call centers saidthat he got his first job through the recommendationof a friend who worked in the company. In mostcompanies, staff whose recommendations result in ahire receive a bonus that varies from around 1,000 to5,000 pesos. The practice of referrals is seen asresulting in lowered attrition rates. Some informantssaid that workers hired through this process tended tostay longer, work harder and were more obedient. Thisseems to be related to the concept of utang na loob 6 or“debt of goodwill” which is quite unique to Filipinos.2. Selection processesThe majority of call center companies divideapplicants into those with and without experience.Applicants with at least six months experience follow ashorter screening process. In one major Americancompany this process is called the “express lane”. Theapplicant is required only to take an exam and a finalinterview.Those without call center experience have to followseveral steps. The first step is phone screening,especially for non-walk-in applicants. This stagedetermines voice quality and how the applicantresponds to a phone call. The second step is an initialinterview conducted by the human resourcesdepartment or an outsourced recruitment agency toexamine the applicants’ speaking skills, attitude andconfidence levels. Third, the applicant takes anexamination which includes aptitude tests, computerbasedcall simulations and emotional quotient (QE)tests. The final step is another interview. This assessesthe applicants’ customer service, technical or salesskills. In certain cases applicants are also then screenedand validated by a separate recruitment team. Theentire selection process generally takes between oneand two days. A company that needs to fill postsurgently may finish the process within half a day.The extensive screening process contributes to the ideathat call center work is a desirable occupation.However, many employees in fact do not intend toremain in the jobs for long periods, and many take thejobs due to lack of other job opportunities that offerthe same salary level.3. Training practicesThe basic training consists of English communicationtraining, cultural training and product-specifictraining. Training can take from a few days to twomonths. Given that the majority of customers areAmericans, most workers are taught to speak with anAmerican accent. However, for non-American clients,workers are usually required to neutralize their accent.Mirchandani’s (2004, 360) study of Indian call centerworkers has shown that, “The justification providedfor “neutralizing” accents draws heavily on discoursesof human resource development whereby Indian laboris constructed as a flexible commodity that can beThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows