College grads ill-prepared for some IT-BPO jobs, says survey

Initial findings of a survey showed that a number of college graduates are not prepared enough for jobs in certain subsectors of the growing business process outsourcing industry, according to the Board of Investments (BOI), an urgent problem that should be addressed by both the private sector and the academe.

“Notably, the preparedness of graduates for the animation, game development, software industry and health information management sectors is low,” the BOI said in a statement on Monday.

The survey began in November and concluded on January. But when asked for more additional information such as the sample size and methodology of the survey, a BOI representative said the survey report has not been finalized yet.

Called the National Skills Mapping Survey, BOI said this was its initiative with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).

The survey, BOI said, aimed to identify the human resource development needs of the Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry and its subsectors in order to “develop work-ready and globally competitive workers.

Ana Maria Bongato, a former executive director of Talent Development of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), recently presented the results of the survey, said BOI.

“We have to work faster and together,” Bongato said. “Companies must continue to intervene to prepare new hires for actual work to be done.”

The survey recommended that the education sector should work hand in hand with the industry to upgrade the skill set of the students. It also suggested a review of the existing programs being implemented by various government agencies to ensure that they are still in tune with what the industry actually needs.

These include: the Bachelor of Science in Entertainment and Multimedia Computing for Animation and Game Development, BSBA and BS IT with specialization in Service Management, Nursing informatics subject submitted by the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP), as well as other programs under Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

“We hope to address the present and anticipate the future talent requirements of the country’s emerging industries and develop a more relevant, responsive, resilient, and sustainable talent pipeline,” said BOI Executive Director Ma. Corazon Dichosa.

“Our young and educated population is the most important value proposition that makes the Philippines more attractive to foreign investors and we intend consistently maintain this profile,” she said.