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The 1^st Outsource2Jamaica Symposium & Expo was held on April 11-13, 2018 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, Montego Bay, Jamaica.

This BPO event hosted by the BPIAJ (Business Process Industry of Jamaica) is the 1^st of its kind to be held in Jamaica bringing together a diverse group of global experts, technocrats, local entrepreneurs, Government officials, BPO leaders, buyers and service providers at the first ever Outsourcing Symposium and Expo in Jamaica. It was a great opportunity to network and interact with key stakeholder’s in the BPO industry and listen to presentations made by experts in the industry.

Debra Fraser, CEO for Caribbean HR Solutions, presented on “Industry Talent Composition & Improvement Areas to Foster Growth”. She examined the need for training in the BPO sector and possible improvements that could be made to the existing training avenues. She highlighted the importance of having pre-trained candidates and the need for assessments to determine the skills and talents of individuals prior to training as this will help to boost productivity and profitability.

Here are four steps that need to be used by the training institutions and the organizations in the BPO sector to ensure that they receive the best performance from their employees.

Better Pre-Assessment of natural giftings, skills, and attitudes and desire.

Assess #1- What industry and job is this job-seeker best suited for? BPO, Finance, Hospitality? Entertainment? Construction? -assessed for industry ‘fit’ – not just typing and talking, but a deeper and more objective assessment of natural proclivities
Assess #2 – If the person is suited for the BPO industry, what type of BPO job are they best suited for: Sales? Collections? specialized in areas like Customer Service, Sales, Collections and Technical Support, comprising while others Virtual real estate schedulers, remote data analyst, remote payroll administrators, virtual Executive assistants,

Use objective assessment tools. i.e psychometric assessment, computer-based test etc
Use technology to ensure the assessments can be fairly administered and administered in mass. If you have the discipline to screen persons ‘out’, then you will need a much higher number of persons to screen in order to supply providers with necessary requirements. We have developed a Prescreening Psychometric screening tool, cloud-based skills and personality assessment which our clients use to ‘weed out’ and find the best candidates.
Begin to use the same objective approach in selecting and accepting students for supervisory and leadership development courses. here is a large training gap in the BPO sector particularly as it relates to the training of middle-level management. Some BPO companies, for instance, Sutherland, Teleperformance, and Startek have invested heavily in training and development internally and this has contributed significantly to their sustainable growth.

In Summary, finding the right fit requires employers to source true talent. Employers in the BPO industry can achieve a greater ROI when more time, effort and resources are invested in effectively assessing raw talent by leveraging the use of technology and specific assessment tools.

Jamaica BPO Stakeholders Communicate Honest, Actionable Awareness of Talent Crisis

Jamaica BPO has been reaping the benefits of a desirable workforce, low wages, and cultural alignment with US customers, but talent is still a challenge, and the industry is vocal about it.

Whatever caused it, BPO buyers are now paying very close attention to Jamaica, with companies such as Amazon, Lyft, Hilton, and AT&T betting big on the sector. As a result, the country is under close external scrutiny, leading local stakeholders to identify what is holding Jamaica back from the next level.

As the third largest English speaking nation in the Americas, Jamaica and its BPO sector have been capitalizing on the benefits of a desirable workforce, low wages, and cultural alignment with US customers, but greater demand for talent is where the difficulties lie. As client demands also become more technical, Jamaica’s meager IT talent pool has become another top concern.

Offering another potential solution to the training deficit, Debra Fraser, CEO of Caribbean HR Solutions presented some examples of where technology is successfully being used to create a better fit between agents, employers, and roles.

“We need leaders that will bring the entire labor force up, and there are lots of tests that can help with that by identifying the right people to invest in,” she said. “We don’t just want the masses, we want quality masses, and we can do that with technology and objective standards. Pre-screening tests can weed out non-fit and high performers, along with tools that measure personality fit, basic skills in grammar, logical reasoning, math skills, and whether a person suits sales/outbound or service/inbound. I haven’t yet seen many companies use any of these in Jamaica.”

What is clear from the O2J conference is that Jamaica has a remarkable willingness to adapt, a willingness to find business, the country is open to change, and people are empathetic to the customer. These are all traits that clients want in their providers and agents, so, if the puzzle of healthy talent development is solved, particularly on the IT side, these core values will ensure the country retains its upward trajectory.

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Tag: human resources

Industry Talent Composition & Improvement Areas to Foster Growth

Working Your Way Through Talent Management Crisis in Jamaica by Talent Management Expert Debra Fraser CEO Caribbean HR Solution

Jamaica BPO Stakeholders Communicate Honest, Actionable Awareness of Talent Crisis