C3 opens 2,000 jobs as BPO industry continues to grow

Business process outsourcing firm CustomerContactChannels (C3) on Friday said it is hiring about 2,000 new employees this year as the company added two more locations to its Philippine operations.   “We are talking about doubling our revenue projections that… [will be] doubling our employee base. So, as we are approaching 2,000s], we are targeting a 4,000-employee-base by the end of 2013,” Andy Sarakinis, C3 vice president and Philippine country manager, said in a press conference.   “As we continue to grow, we already identified the second and even the third location for expansion. These locations are under the final negotiations on the lease contracts. And that—I will ultimately state —it will double our existing capacity,” he noted, adding that their new branches will still be located in Metro Manila. The company has a 1,500-seat center in Taguig City.   For the company’s 2013 revenue outlook, Sarakinis said the two-year old company is eyeing to double its 2012 revenue. Organic growth   “Pretty aggressive for us but pretty exciting… Our plans for a financial standpoint is to double our revenue from where we are currently at as we exit 2012 for 2013,” he noted. He declined to provide the exact figures of their target revenue.   “It will be from organic growth and the new businesses coming in,” Sarakinis added, citing that the Philippine operations is the company’s “largest single location.”   The Florida-based BPO company has other locations worldwide including Guatemala City, Panama City, Glasglow, Sofia, Dalian in China, and Mumbai in India.   Of every 100 walk-in job seekers, C3 hires about 20 percent, said Romer Tolentino, C3’s Talent Acquisition director. He added that 40 percent of the employees were referred to the company.   Tremendous growth “I think that we are still in the infancy stage,” Sarakinis said referring to the BPO industry. “The growth was tremendous… and it continues to grow.”   BPO is still a “sunshine industry,” noted Braden Wheeler, C3 Training and Quality Assurance director.   “There are two things happening which have been an evolution in the industry, one is the starting BPO associations, which now allow companies to come together and talk about the industry and how we can talk together to make it sustainable,” he explained.   “I think we are still in the sunshine industry in a traditional sense but a lot more things are opening up,” Wheeler added.   The Philippine BPO industry registered $13 billion in revenues last year, up 18 percent from $11 million a year earlier, according to the Information Technology and Business Processing Association of the Philippines.   The association expects the multibillion dollar industry to rake in $16 billion in revenues this year. — VS, GMA News