It
seems that UWI (University of the West Indies) is now going the route of
equipping its graduates with some lifelong Customer Care skills; much needed
among graduates who may find work a little hard to get in Jamaica
The
prestigious Caribbean University decided in July 2012AD prior to the excitement
of the London 2012AD Olympics to debut a one-of-a-kind opportunity for Students
to earn money on Mona Campus by working at a Call Center - also hosted on the Mona Campus! This as stated
in the article “Students
on the line”, published Wednesday, August 15, 2012
by N Reid, The
Jamaica Observer.
Even
more interesting, this one-of-a-kind partnership may begin to spread to the
other Campuses of the University of the West Indies
and even to Colleges looking for creative way to make additional revenue from
empty buildings on Campus and at the same time assist Students in affording
their College Education.
This
is unique as no other University in the Caribbean
has done this; partner with a FDI (Foreign Direct Investor) to provide Call
Center Services using University Students. UWI is undertaking this bold new
adventure in partnership with US-based Sutherland Global Services, a specialist
in Call Centers both Inbound (Customer Care i.e. receiving Calls) and Outbound
(Sales Agent i.e. Making Sales), albeit it appears that UWI Students will
mainly do Inbound to avoid stressing them out….I hope!
Hopefully
too UWI will also consider other ventures and partnerships such as with
Alternative Energy Companies in a bid to bring down the cost of running the
University as stated in my blog
article entitled “How UWI can save money in a recession”.
According
to the UWI, the Students apparently will be paid about JA$200 to JA$300 per
hour as can be deduced from their Press Statement, quote: “The UWI/SGS
advantage will provide [Students] with an opportunity to work as a
customer-care consultant while taking home more pay than others in the industry
performing at a similar level”.
Sutherland Global Services has a total of thirty
(30) Call centers in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. This includes:
- The
Phillipines
- The
Their
core business being BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), a fancy name for Call
Centers, Sutherland Global mainly appears to deal with Inbound Customer Care
and Technical Accounts mainly in the following fields:
- Airline
e.g. Asia Air
- IT
and technology,
- Retail,
- Banking
and finance e.g. Deutsche Bank
- Telecommunications
Thus,
rather than just being CSA (Customer Service Agents), the University Students
may also be TES (Technical engagement Specialists) who mainly work on Technical
Accounts. Idle PAS (Pure and Applied Sciences) Student on Campus should love
this, as they finally get the chance to assist others over the phone using what
they know while making some extra cash working a maximum of twelve (12) hours a
day in a flex-work environment.
The
Students seemed to agree, as hundreds lined up for interviews at the Faculty of
Law by the University's Placement and Career Services Department in July 2012AD
for work that will begin in September 2012AD. What this means is that at the
time of publication of the Jamaica Observer article and the time of writing
this article, the UWI Students may be undergoing at least four (4) week’s worth
of training to qualify them to work on one of Sutherland Global Services
Accounts by the start of Classes in September 2012AD!
More
signs that Flex-work and Tele-working is the Wave of the future as predicted in
my Geezam blog
article entitled “Convergys
heralds Age of Empire for Call Centers and Jamaica’s Adoption of Flexi-Work and
Tele-Working” and “Digital
JAM 2.0 introduces Freelancer.com and MobileWorks to Jamaica as the GOJ readies
Flexi-work Legislation”.
In
fact, the GOJ is pursuing it as a means of creating more employment in Jamaica as stated in the article “Flexi-work
study: Employers happy but some workers resist change”,
published Sunday July 15, 2012, The
Jamaica Gleaner. So by the time many graduate in
2015AD, flexi-work on Contracts may be the ONLY type of work that exists!
UWI,
it seems, is awakening to the fact that there is a strong possibility that on
leaving the UWI with your Degree, you may have to sit at home for awhile before
getting a job. This in turn will impact High School leaver’s decision to come
to UWI to do a Degree.
High
school leavers are wary of Higher education, as they see no point in Higher
Education especially as it’s out of the reach of many Jamaicans. With the Damocles Sword of Student’s Loan
hanging over your head, having a Degree and a lack of employment is a sure
killer of your Social Life and your Life in General moving forward!
Hence
many High School leaves working in Call Centers like the fact that they are now
adults working on their own, albeit living with parents. Thus show very little
interest in going to University when they can get a job that pays as much as
JA$30,000 per month with just five (5) CXC (Caribbean Examination Council) or
CSEC five (5) (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) primarily
Mathematics, English and two (2) other subjects, the main qualifications of a Call Center
With
Cheaper alternatives to UWI emerging that are becoming more and more accepted
by the Workplace due to their emphasis on Practice Work related skills, most of
these High School leavers may therefore turn their noses up at UWI. Thus this Call Center
This
is UWI’s adjustment to the coming crush of competition from these low-cost
Colleges by offering to meet Students half way; create a non-discriminatory
work Environment on Campus so Students can earn while they learn a practical
work skill, that being CSA or TES, quid pro quo for landing a regular
9-to-5 job later on.
After
three (3) solid days of protesting, the UWI administration caved and gave the
students an extension as stated in the article “UWI
students given fee extension”, published Tuesday,
May 01, 2012, The
Jamaica Observer and “Protesting
UWI students not savages” Friday, May 11, 2012, The Jamaica Observer.
The
UWI need to allow students to pay after the exams have been sat, with a denial
of grades or further advancement if they don’t pay up; more time for parents’
to find the money.
To
put it in perspective, just was just like the victory of CURE (Citizens United for the Reduction of the
cost of Electricity), represented by claimants Dennis Meadows, Betty Ann Blaine
and Cyrus Rousseau over the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) and
the JPS co (Jamaica Public Service company) as stated in my blog
article entitled “Justice
Brian Sykes says JPS Co exclusive license invalid - Energy Sector
Liberalization CURE and Bourne Legacy for Phillip Paulwell”
this was an example of People Power, this was an example of Student Power!
The
UWI thus realized that to avoid the repeat of such an incident which was seen
around the world they need to give more financial support to Students to avoid
such an occurrence in the future. Such financial support is necessary
especially during the Senior Year, when many are considering graduating and not
returning to do the Masters Program at UWI, a second cash cow for the UWI that
is slowly being taken away by competing Colleges and Universities.
So
the offer of training and learning a Job skill as a CSA is really a plus for all
UWI students and serves to attract the High School Leavers to go to UWI. Working
in a Call Center also provides a means for Post-Graduate Students to support
themselves while doing their Masters or PhD and is more lucrative than working
as a low-pay TA (Teaching Assistant).
And
for the record this venture by the UWI is not unique; it’s a practice I’ve seen
among UWI and UTECH Students who work part-time at ACS-Xerox, Fullgram
Solutions and now ACCENT Marketing Jamaica Limited while going to College. Also
in most of these Call Centers, the CSA’s and TES share the various Call Queues
around the world with mostly High School and College Students in the various
countries that these Call Centers operate.
A
truly Global Village!!
Best
of all, if you have the experience of working in a Call Center while still a Student
at UWI, you can use that Customer Care experience to get a job in the rapidly
expanding Empire that is Call Centers as noted in my blog
article entitled “Convergys
and Aegis Communications Call Centers Coming – FDI powered Call Center
Renaissance in Jamaica thanks to our Good English” and “Digicel cuts 120 Call Center Jobs -
Fullgram Solutions to benefit as Antonio Graham speaks of an AEPP future by the
Ocean”.
Albeit
the salary is a lot less than JA$100,000 per month (UWI Student’s dream
salary!!) it is still good enough to get your parents and Student’s Loan off
your back. Even better, if you still live at home with your parents, you can
start the process of paying off your Student’s Loan. Just keep it in mind that
you can’t live an overly extravagant lifestyle for at least a year!
If
you scoff at the prospect of working only JA$40000 per month, here are a few things
for a UWI or UTECH Student to consider:
The US Recession in 2008AD which indirectly affects the Jamaica Economy may be
followed by a Fourth Recession as stated in my blog
article entitled
“EU,
USA and the Second Recession - Economist Dennis Chung's Andromeda and The Long
Night”. You don’t need to tell UWI Students all this:
they already are experiencing it on campus, which albeit in a bubble is
nonetheless a mini-Jamaican Economy.
Already
the PIOJ (Planning Institute Organization of Jamaica) is signaling that we may
indeed be headed towards a Fourth Global Recession as stated in “PIOJ
offers tentative economic forecast ... After getting March quarter estimate
wrong” Published Wednesday August
22, 2012 by Steven Jackson, The
Jamaica Gleaner and “Europe
on the edge of recession” Published
Wednesday August 15, 2012, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
This
is not even mentioning Peak Oil which is scheduled to occur in 2015AD as stated
in my blog
article entitled “Alternative
Energy and the Caribbean - Peak Oil in 2015 and The Day After Tomorrow”.
The
strong possibility of a Third Recession is still looming on the horizon. If the
EU (European Union) does not get its act together despite a Debt Deal being
reached in the Fourth Quarter of 2012AD to bail out Greece and by extension the
EU as stated in my blog
article entitled “EU
Debt Deal Reached on Wednesday October 27 2011 - Austerity measures for
sustained Recovery”.
Worse
if The People’s Republic of China
experiences a Real Estate Crisis to trigger off a Fourth Recession as prognosticated by London based journalist Gwynne
Dyer article “Brace
for China's impending crash” Published
Sunday March 18, 2012, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
Thus
those seeking higher education at UWI have to adjust their outlooks for a Long
Night without favorable employment. By “Favorable employment” I’m referring to
being employed directly via interview (no fren-fren ting, rasta!) and being
paid what you want for your qualifications (read JA$100,000 and up!). But alas,
this is not the reality, as many UWI graduates find themselves in the same boat
as High School leavers and those of us who have lost their jobs in the 9-5 Work
World.
Thus,
whether they accept it or not, until the GOJ manages to turn the Jamaican
Economy around by 2015AD, as a UWI Graduate, your first job may be working in a
Call Center! So get used to it from now, as other Colleges may begin to make
Partnerships with Sutherland Global Services to host their Accounts on their
Campuses as a means of making extra revenue and assisting Students with
affording their tuition.
Certainly,
the GOJ by now must realize that it cannot be the case that we as a country
only start working at 10am in the morning when so many productive hours around
the clock lie idle waiting to be filled with employees working. Meanwhile our American counterparts get lazier and
lazier and thus demand more Call Center Services powered by Natural English
speakers as stated in my blog article entitled
“Data
Outsourcing comes to Jamaica via MobileWorks and Freelancer.com - Flexi-Work
propelled by Crowsourcing and MicroWorking Anaconda”,
thus beckoning Jamaicans to work and fill these unproductive hours.
Thus
albeit this is the UWI moving to meet Student’s half-way in terms of tuition,
it’s also a wakeup Call for the GOJ to implement Flex-work and Tele-Working
Legislation to get idle skilled and the educated unemployed working again until
the Jamaican Economy rebounds.
In
addition, the higher level education of UWI and College Students in general
makes them great Foot soldiers. Necessary skills on the pitched and sometimes
expletive (from the customer, not CSA or TES!!) laden frontline battles between
CSA’s and TES vs the Customer as Call Centers experience their “Age of Empire”
driven by American and European Laziness when it comes to reading manuals.
Great
preparation for UWI Students for the Six Degrees of Hell (2012) in the Working World
when they decided to eventually leave the Flexi-work and Tele-working World to
go back into the 9-5 drudgery of the formal Brick-and-mortar Workplace as noted
in my Geezam blog
article entitled “Jamaica’s
100MBps Internet Silver Lining – Tele-commuting Workplace is coming”….that
is, if the GOJ has its way against the Church and 9-5 work somehow still exists
in the future!
