The ninth Convergys Corp. contact center in the country is opening in Bacolod City in April and creating about 1,000 new jobs this year, Marife Zamora, its vice president and country general manager, said yesterday.

Convergys currently employs 12,000 people in its six contact centers in Metro Manila and two in Cebu , she said.

In Bacolod City, the firm has began training 100 applicants and aims to have 500 employees when it opens its new integrated contact center at San Antonio Park Square in Barangay Mandalagan in April, Zamora said.

Convergy's also aims to create another 500 new jobs in Bacolod City before the end of the year and more in the succeeding years, depending on the quality of talent they find in the city, she added.

“ Bacolod City has been providing well-educated English-proficient talent and we see a lot of potential,” Zamora said. Convergys is quite confident it will find more talent as it opens up more jobs in Bacolod , she added.

Convergys decided to put up a contact center in Bacolod because when it began recruiting employees in the city three to four years ago it found a lot of available quality talent, Zamora said.

‘BUSINESS-FRIENDLY'

And Bacolod City also has a pro-business environment, said Clint Streit, Convergys president for customer management, who met with Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday.

It is flattering that outside of Manila and Cebu , Convergys has chosen to come to Bacolod , Leonardia said.

“Our presence here and the kind of support we are getting is really a testament to the fact that Bacolod City is, indeed, the most business-friendly city,” Zamora said.

Convergys is a global firm that provides customer care, human resources and billing services and is the largest outsource contact services provider in the world, Streit said.

“We have set a target that over the next five years we will double that presence in the Philippines ,” Streit said.

Construction is currently underway for its new-state-of-the-art contact center in Bacolod encompassing 3,000 square meters with room for expansion, he said.

EMPLOYEE GROWTH

The facility will include a contact center, administration, recruitment and training rooms, advance language laboratory, and a cafeteria. It will also be outfitted to international standards with ergonomically designed furniture for contact center work, state-of-the art generators and back-up contingency systems.

Streit also stressed that Convergys is a firm that ensures growth for its employees through training and the opportunity to move upward into the management level.

We provide career paths for our agents, Zamora said.

Convergys has a management program that looks at developing talent and equipping them for the next role that they will have in the company, she said.

OUTREACH PROGRAMS

Aside from providing jobs, Convergys also has outreach programs in the areas where it puts up contact centers, Zamora said.

In Bacolod City , Convergys is working together with Gawad Kalinga in setting up a youth center in Barangay Banago, Jose Mari Mercado, Convergys business development director, said.

The youth center will work at developing values and English proficiency skills, he said.

Convergys has a reading program for elementary school children in Pasig and an English literacy program in Mindanao , which it can also replicate in Bacolod , Zamora said.

Convergys presence in Bacolod will be beyond providing jobs, because one of the values of the firm is corporate citizenship, Zamora said, noting that it has been Fortune's most admired firm for seven consecutive years now.

Convergys recruitment center is at Circle Inn at Lopez Jaena Street near the Shopping Center.*CPG/CGS

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