Call centres to step up hiring in 6 months, says study

India is the most sought after destination for manufacturing, financial services and outsourcing companies to manage their contact centre (also known as call centres) business in Asia, followed by Malaysia and Singapore, reveals a study conducted by Kelly Services India.

The study notes that about two-thirds of contact centres in India are expected to step up hiring in the next six months.

The study "" first of its kind on Asia, titled "The Asian Contact Centre Industry Recruitment Index" for 2006 "" analyses major trends in both the in- and out-bound call centre companies in the region.

India still has the highest recruitment pace at 15-20 per cent depending upon the location, sector and whether it is captive or third party contact center, showing a strong pace of recruitment in the country, the report says.

It adds that India's contact centre business continues to grow despite closely emerging competitors like the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.

According to the study, which interviewed contact centres across nine countries in Asia, 44 per cent of recruitment is for new positions available in the contact centres and 88 per cent foresee an increased headcount over the next six months.

The overall Asian Contact Centre Industry Recruitment Index for 2006 stands at 6.5 per cent (derived by dividing the total number of new staff that was hired for the six months to March 2006 by the total number of existing staff employed by the contact centres in the survey sample).

Kelly Services, along with its research partner callcentres.net, surveyed 57 contact centres, from South East Asia and countries in the Indian sub-continent.

The key industries looking to hire contact centre staff in India comprise mainly the ITES, IT, banking, financial services, automobile, telecom, insurance companies.

Other countries surveyed in the region tend to require personnel in areas of banking, finance and insurance, IT/ telecommunications/ media, among other sectors such as travel.

"The call centre landscape in India reflects a very healthy growth pace in that it is in response to the demands made by outsourcing companies and multinational taking advantage of low cost labour environments," said Achal Khanna, general manager, Kelly Services' India.

According to the survey 54 per cent of Asian contact centres use a recruitment agency. India has the highest reliance on recruitment agencies (71 percent) among the countries surveyed.

According to the study, the most sought staff by organisations recruiting in India is those with verbal communication skills (75 per cent), extensive contact centre experience (75 per cent) and customer service skills (50 per cent).

"A competitive cost basis is critical consideration in setting up call centres, the effective selection, recruitment and retention of staff are paramount in managing call centres. Call centers in general see highest turnover particularly due to the work demands, talent acquisition within the industry in itself and also due to adapting to the work hour expectations," notes Khanna.