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.

The BPO Industry Set To Grow To Need 1 Billion Employees - So Who Are They Looking For?

With BPO growing at a break-neck pace particularly here in the Philippines, there has been a projection that the industry will provide more than 1 billion jobs in relation to BPO - otherwise known as business process outsourcing.

To correct some misconceptions, which is that BPO only relates to call centers and contact centers, which is a majority but not the entire truth, BPO is in fact composed of many different industries:

• We already know of the call centers and/or customer service centers that are now everywhere. They employ hundreds of people and also, exit a lot of them considering that many workers have to come in during the night and try to sleep during the day. That is a difficult job, but since the clients are on a different time zone then that will have to be a work-related adjustment many of us have to make if we indeed need and/or want the job
• There are also numerous back-offices that include finance or accounting offices that are outsourced, this employs numerous accountants, analysts and finance executives
• Design is also a skill that is often outsourced. More often supplied by freelancers that actual companies - website design and graphic design in general is very common as a service that can even be done within the convenience of home. Designers are quite lucky.
• There is also the medical-related back office which is mostly now medical transcription. These companies are paid a lot of money I hear and that is why I think they are investing in ways to train people before they hire them

There are many kinds of people that the BPO industry is looking for, I may have missed some of them but rest assured that there are a lot of job opportunities for different types of graduates available if only you work hard and not get picky at the job you want to do.