BPO job vacancies up due to talent shortage

CEBU, Philippines — The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry continues to lead the jobs market in Cebu in terms of job vacancies.

But while vacancies are up, the sector is facing talent shortage meaning the number of qualified applicants isn't catching up, Wesley Chiongbian, president of Cebu-based jobs site Mynimo.com, told The FREEMAN.

Citing official data from June to September 2018, he said talent shortage is also observed in other sectors.

One is the IT (information technology) sector which landed second with most vacancies for web/mobile developers and front-end designers.

Accounting is also where most jobs are available including general accountants and certified public accountants (CPAs).

Chiongbian also cited that most job vacancies are also in engineering, sales, marketing and retail sectors where corporate sales professionals are needed.

"Among these job categories, our 2018 data show that the number of engineering/architecture jobs increased by 22 percent while the number of accounting/finance jobs and IT jobs increased by 4 percent and 5 percent respectively," Chiongbian said.

While these sectors have ample vacancies but less applicants, there are sector that are attracting more applicants but vacancies are limited.

Topping the list is the production/manufacturing sector where production workers are needed, he said.

The tourism industry is likewise attracting more applicants including tourism attendants and front office personnel.

Job hopefuls are also attracted to working in the food industry as service crew and kitchen staff, IT as technical support and network administrators and administration as encoders and staff.

Earlier, PhilJobNet, the labor department’s internet-based job and applicant matching system, had posted a high demand for workers in the BPO, sales and food service industries.

In a report from the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), there are 4,616 vacancies in the sales sector; 4,173 vacancies in the BPO sector, particularly for call center agents; and 835 vacancies in the food service industry.