How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - LMIS Website, Education, Entrepreneurial grants, Jobs in Call Centers and Tourism

“For persons, who are struggling to finance themselves, this programme is geared towards assisting you,”

Senior Labour Market Analyst in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Shaine Palmer at the ‘Life After Fifth Form’ career development exercise at the Holy Trinity High School in Kingston on Thursday, April 28 2016

Millennials and young people trolling my blog looking for work in Jamaica; are you a volunteer?

If you are then according to Ministry of Labour and Social Security there are education and entrepreneurial grants waiting for you as reported in the article “Labour ministry urges youth to take up education, entrepreneurial grants”, published Saturday, April 30, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

This was revealed at the ‘Life After Fifth Form’ career development exercise at the Holy Trinity High School in Kingston on Thursday, April 28^th 2016 by Senior Labour Market Analyst in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Shaine Palmer.

These education and entrepreneurial grants will allow high school students in Grade 11 and Grade 12, basically Form 5 and Form 6 as well as at the Tertiary (UWI and UTECH peeps!) to access funding to pursue higher education or establish small businesses

However, to get the educational grants, you have to have a volunteering spirit in order to qualify:

1.      30 hours of volunteer service at a golden age home

2.      30 hours of volunteer service at a children’s home

3.      30 hours of volunteer service at an infirmary

The Entrepreneurial grants from the JBDC (Jamaica Business Development Corporation) are also just as rigorous, with participants being required to do rigorous training and then create a business plan.

Lack of a credible business plan is the main reason why some 20% of applicants fail to get loans as pointed out in my blog article entitled “20% of Jamaican MSME's Fail to get Bank Loans - Why MSME's need Business Plans, Marketing Plans and Market Research”. 

So are their options to these education and entrepreneurial grants?

Shaine Palmer says Tourism and Call Centers Hiring - Call Centers not stable employment but neither is starvation

Shaine Palmer also pointed out the obvious elephant in the room; the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry is booming as pointed out in the article “BPO Operations to be Expanded”, published April 26, 2016 By Alecia Smith-Edwards, The Jamaica Information Service.

To quote Shaine Palmer: “BPO is one of the fastest growing sectors in Jamaica that is absorbing a lot of persons right now. A lot of investments have gone into the sector”.

Here's a quick list of employment opportunities available in the BPO:

1.      Customer service representatives

2.      Call centre agents

3.      Information technology technicians

4.      Telemarketers

Opportunities also exist in the Tourism Sectors as follows:

1.      Entertainment coordinators

2.      Tour guides

3.      Air conditioning technicians

4.      Housekeepers

Having a second Language is also helpful, especially in the Call Centers as noted in my blog article “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Spanish or French Translator as Global Outsourcing CEO David Crump isn't truthful”.

So are there any stats to back up his claims?

JAMPRO's 2014-2015 annual report - Call Centers by the numbers

 According to JAMPRO's 2014-2015 annual report as published in the article “New BPO Companies Coming”, published Friday February 12, 2016, by Tameka Gordon, The Jamaica Gleaner there are an awful lot of BPO companies in Jamaica:

There have been six (6) new entrants in 2014-2015 alone:

1.      Quality Works Consulting Group

2.      PCR Nearshore

3.      Advanced Call Centre Technologies

4.      MJ Contact Solutions

5.      DG Call Sales Solutions Limited

6.      Tritel Services Jamaica

In the last ten (10) years, the BPO sector has ballooned to some thirty four (34) Call Centers spread across the island with Xerox announcing in May 2015 plans to expand in New Kingston as noted in my blog article entitled “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Xerox's Three New Call Centers in Kingston for 860 employees for Future Expansion”.

Here's a list of the more popular ones:

1.      Xerox

2.      Teleperformance

3.      Sutherland Global Services

4.      Hinduja Global

Also, more clients are tapping local Call Center Operations to handle their accounts:

1.      Microsoft

2.      Amazon

3.      Humana

In all, these Call centers represent a huge number of employment opportunities for High School and Tertiary students when you consider the following stats JAMPRO's 2014-2015 annual report:

1.      34 Call centers established in the last ten (10) years

2.      6 New Call Centers in Jamaica in the 2014-2015 period

3.      2,047 permanent among the six (6) New Call Centers in Jamaica

4.      1,190 temporary posts among the six (6) New Call Centers in Jamaica

5.      6,400 jobs created in the sector since 2015.

6.      3,237 jobs permanent and temporary posts among the six (6) New Call Centers in Jamaica

7.      17,000 jobs among the total forty (40) Call centers in Jamaica

Albeit the jobs in this sector aren't stable as the rate of turnover is fairly high as pointed out in the article “Inside Call Centres: 'No More Jobs For Life' - JAMPRO President Comfortable With Attrition Rates Among Call Centre Employees”, published Monday April 18, 2016 by Andre Poyser and Jovan Johnson, The Jamaica Gleaner it's still more stable than starving to death.

In fact, if you're really smart, you can use the opportunity of being employed in a Call Center to apply for those education and entrepreneurial grants at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Even smarter, you experience gained from working in the Call Centers can be used to find another jobs as explained in my blog article entitled “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - How to use a Call Center to Hunt for your Dream Job”. 

So what if you still want to migrate?

Migrating High School Leavers - Jobs available at the LMIS

so even with those stats, many still seek a better life abroad according to a recent Respect Jamaica and UNICEF Survey as detailed in my blog article entitled “How Respect Jamaica and UNICEF Survey suggest Mass Exodus of High School Leavers in 2016”. 

For those who are more foreign-minded, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has the LMIS (Labour Market Information System) that can match student with certified skills to local and overseas employers. Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Colette Roberts Risden encourages High School leaver to get skilled, quote “The fact is that employers need workers, who have the ability to perform well on the job so that their goods and services can be competitive, and that they can make greater and bigger profits to pay you better”.

There are many strategies that you can use to find a job in Jamaica as detailed in my blog article entitled “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Job Agencies, Applications with Proposals and Reading the Sunday Gleaner”.

Finding work by immigrating to Canada is also possible as noted in my blog article entitled  “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Immigrating Permanently to work in Canada as a Skilled Worker”.  

Folks reading my blog, it's really up to you how you plan to find work and what you can tolerate as you seek your dream career.

Here’s the link:

LMIS (Labour Market Information System)