Iloilo City’s hiring rate for a business process outsourcing (BPO) company is double than that of Manila’s, said Chris Mason, Vice President for Implementation and Solutions of European BPO firm Transcom, which is set to open in Iloilo this month.

“Iloilo City ’s hiring rate reaches 40-45% compared to Manila’s 20-25%. We are very happy working with the universities here in producing qualifi ed graduates,” Mason said.

Duncan Cowie, Transcom Worldwide Vice President and Regional Manager for North America and Asia said they have been hiring and training some 250 employees for the Iloilo site for more than a month.

With some 800 production seats, Transcom Iloilo is expected to hire 1,500 employees by March 2010 and more than 2,000 personnel before year-end.

Transcom Iloilo is the fi fth facility after the fi rm’s sites in Pasig and Bacolod cities. The company started operations in the country two years ago with only 800 employees who are now numbering to 6,000.

An inbound company servicing customers in Northern America, United Kingdom, and Australia, Transcom offers customer relations management (CRM), customer care, sales and support, credit management and additional customer related services, consulting, translation and interpretation, and legal services. It covers a wide range of industry sectors including telecommunications, fi nancial, travel and leisure, utilities, and retail/consumer goods.

(Philippine Business Report, January 2010)