The Pros and Cons of Working in a Philippine Call Center

What are the Pros and Cons of Working in a Philippine Call Center?

1. Pros
   1. High Salary and Compensation
   2. Minimal Hiring Requirements
   3. No Traffic
2. Cons
   1. Volatile Work Schedules
   2. Extensive Screening
   3. Monotonous Work

Numerous call center services in the Philippines have caused a boom economically. In the past 10 years, the BPO industry has skyrocketed and become a huge contributor to the Philippine economy. Because of this, more and more people have considered working in this industry.

Before you go and apply right away, however, you should have a good idea of what working in a Philippine call center is all about. To help you out, here are the pros and cons of working in a Philippine call center:

Pros

High Salary and Compensation

The entry-level salaries in call centers in the Philippines are relatively high compared to entry-level jobs in other industries. The minimum known salary of call center agents is around Php12,000, excluding multiple allowances for clothes, food, transportation, etc. They will also be providing you a load of benefits such as dental and health insurance. The insurance will also be usable by the whole family.

The best part is, you get everything even when you aren’t regularized yet. Everything will be available to you from the moment you start working for a call center service in the Philippines.

If you think that the minimum salary is still rather low, it should be mentioned that in these call center services, your career growth can easily get a boost. Most call center agents gain a promotion, and a significant raise along with it, in at least 1 or 2 years of working and providing results.

Minimal Hiring Requirements

Call centers give equal chances to everyone who wants to work for them. Everyone is welcome to apply. They don’t put too much stock on the age or the educational background of their applicants.

In many call center services, you would usually be working with people that are in their early 20s, working students, or fresh graduates, all the way to people nearing retirement at around 60. These BPOs don’t see age as a factor in filtering their workforce.

They also don’t care much about where a person graduated, or if they ever graduated at all. Most call center services would be satisfied with an applicant that has a high school diploma.

In the end, call center services in the Philippines care more about the capability to produce results rather than the age or educational background of an employee.

No Traffic

In contrast to businesses that follow the typical working hours during the day, call center services are usually active at night. Most BPOs are multinational companies, therefore they usually cater to clients on the other side of the globe. This gives the employees the luxury of not getting stuck in traffic during rush hour.

Cons

Volatile Work Schedules

One of the most well-known disadvantages of working in a call center service is the fact that you will almost always experience some kind of change. Sometimes, you would need to create a team for a particular client and work on it for about 3 weeks, and then you’ll be assigned to another team for another client, and so on.

This will take its toll on your social skills, especially when you are somewhat lacking in this aspect to begin with. If you want a job that has a form of consistency that you would be comfortable with, then maybe call center services isn’t for you.

Extensive Screening

It was mentioned earlier that call center agencies give chances to anyone and everyone who applies to them. While this is still true, it doesn’t take into consideration the screening process that happens afterward. Call center services are one of the few industries that have a very strict and rough screening period. They want to absorb personnel who are sure to provide results makes the screening process very hard.

Out of 6 applicants, only 1 would be accepted into the company, and even if he gets hired, it is still possible that he would be on a contract, or in a probationary status.

Monotonous Work

A common and somewhat true observation of the work of a call center agent, having monotonous work is considered an advantage for most people. Since you’re basically doing the same thing over and over again, the chances that you will get bored with your job is very high.

However, for someone who thrives in a job that requires you to be very good at doing one thing consistently, work will not be monotonous but an exciting learning experience

Key Takeaway

At the end of the day, the choice of whether you want to work in a call center service or not is up to you. Working in one has many advantages, while also giving you its fair share of disadvantages. When choosing to work in a call center agency, weigh the pros and cons, to make sure if working in one is right for you.