The Philippine call center industry has truly grown in the past year. This is because the Philippines offer all that outsourcing offshore businesses need. First and foremost of these is the available competent workforce and relatively lower cost of labor as compared to an onshore operation. The industry has developed well and lead race in the global outsourcing industry. Every since the industry was went full swing in 1999, there was no turning back in development. A significant number of such businesses established in India moved or branched towards the Philippine archipelago when the large potential for the country’s geographic location was realized.

So are you Ready to Work in a Call Center?

Call centers, also called contact centers are great places to work in especially since one does not need any specific degree to get into one. A lot of Filipinos, according to surveys, have college degrees. However, you could have either finished mass media or nursing and it would not matter. All you need are the right skills especially in communicating with people and you could get hired right away. The best part about getting into this kind of career however, is the pay. This industry offers highly competitive salary rates even for the entry level applicants. This is why the call center has so many applicants.

However, it is not all fun and games. There are also a lot of challenges that one must face when getting into a career as a contact center agent. So what exactly are these challenges?

Challenges of Working in a Philippine Call Center

There are many challenges to working the contact center conditions. Filipinos basically love to wake up early in the morning to work (as opposed to say people in Hong Kong where the night is alive and people sleep till almost noon). But this will have to change because the call center industry requires one to work during the night. This is of course because the Philippines is almost at the opposite end of the globe to the U.S. where most of the customer calls will most likely come from. Thus, the time differential is immense. Day time in the United States is Night time in the Philippines. Conversely, night time in the Philippines is day time in the U.S.

There some dangers to working at night that one should first be aware of before considering going into the contact center industry game. Remember that the body has a natural circadian rhythm also commonly called as one’s "body clock." The body biological clock’s time was determined by billions of years of evolution. Reversing this can have bad effects to some people with weak constitutions who cannot adjust well enough. Those with bad respiratory problems will exacerbate their problems. But those with heart diseases should not even consider going into such a career.

Other than these, working in a Philippine call center can be fun and comfortable if one can adjust well enough. The pay is good and there are always good medical benefits such as health cards.