Where Should You Work? BPO or Traditional Company? Tips From 10 Years of Experience

Hey just because I have 10 years of experience doesn't mean I'm old. I started working quite young. Blame it on old people who made bad investments. But nevertheless, there's no reason I shouldn't put this to good use.

I've worked in a traditional company and I've worked in a BPO company (business process outsourcing). They are very different industries with very different cultures. Where will you fit in? Here are some tips

• If you want to move up the corporate ladder quickly, try a BPO company - they are usually more open to that. Why? That's because turn-over is slightly higher in a BPO company - dog eat dog world. That's not to say that turn-over is any less in traditional companies, but you'll probably find a lot more older people (people who have been in the business longer) in traditional companies rather than BPO companies, making it rather difficult to move up the corporate ladder
• If you want higher pay/ salary right now - you'd probably be better off in a BPO company rather than a traditional company. Why again? That's because BPO companies are used to paying in dollars (and most likely receive their revenue in dollars) so compared to what they make, your salary equals peanuts. Traditional companies are more conservative when it comes to salaries
• If you want just to work days, then you should stick with a traditional company. The very nature with BPO is the fact that their clientele is outside the country (more often than not the time zone probably differs), so this will require some work hours that are rather uncommon (or unholy, however you want to put it)
• Depending on the how you would like to dress - a traditional corporation will require you to dress up, while a BPO company is not likely to care
• Also depending on how good your English speaking skills are, a traditional company will be more forgiving of your twang or your local accent, a BPO company on the other hand will be stricter with regards to your communication skills. If your English is deficient then you probably won't get very high in the corporate ladder in a BPO company
  
• If you're interested in stability, these days they say that a traditional company would be the way to go. I think it's not much different. Given the economic situation now. Everybody is having some difficulty - BPO and traditional companies.

One thing I've learned though is that if you work hard and go the extra mile, whatever the pay range... whatever the industry, whatever the company... someone will take notice and all that hard work will pay off.

Career Interests Game

Everybody wonders what career fits their personality. This is most obvious for kids who are graduating from college. The immediate question then becomes what will I do after I graduate? In the Philippines a lot of kids end up unemployed. I guess this is now true for most parts of the world.

Many say it's not easy to get a job, and I agree that's true. But I also have a stand that it's really not that difficult either. It only becomes a burden when people are picky.

There are a lot of call center and BPO companies springing up in Cebu City, the options are almost limitless. The local newspaper has half their pages devoted to classified ads on weekends.

I tell you the less picky you are, the easier it is really to get a job.

Below is the career interests game by Dr. John L. Holland, the premise here is that there are 6 groups of individuals all of which have a specific quality that stands out. You may have a characteristic in common with some or all of them but if you were to join a group of radicals separated according to the characteristics below, who would you prefer first?

So the general idea is that after you choose, the choice will give you additional ways of checking out your career-related interests and getting involved in your career planning.

Realistic	Investigative	Artistic	Social	Enterprising	Conventional
People who have athletic or mechanical ability, prefer to work with objects, machines, tools, plants or animals, or to be outdoors.	People who like to observe,learn, investigate, analyze, evaluate or solve problems.	People who have artistic, innovating or intuitional abilities and like to work in unstructured situations using their imagination and creativity.	People who like to work with people to enlighten, inform, help, train, or cure them, or are skilled with words.	People who like to work with people, influencing, persuading, performing, leading or managing for organizational goals or economic gain.	People who like to work with data, have clerical or numerical ability, carry out tasks in detail or follow through on others' instructions.

This RIASEC model of occupations is the copyrighted work of Dr. John L. Holland, and his publisher, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. (PAR). For an assessment of your career interests, contact the MU Career Center to complete a Self-Directed Search, or take it online.

Source: http://career.missouri.edu/students/explore/thecareerinterestsgame.php